Boyd Raeburn wasn’t a great soloist. However, his brief-lived big bands of the mid-’40s featured some the most sophisticated arrangements of all time, especially those by George Handy. Raeburn was actually a leader of commercial orchestras in 1930s. Jazz only became popular after 1944. He had a forward-looking band of musicians that year. They included Benny Harris and the Johnny Hodges-influenced Johnny Bothwell. They were influenced by Count Basie but also recorded Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia”. Dizzy even appeared with the group. Raeburn’s music was much more radical by 1945 when George Handy’s charts, which were sometimes influenced from modern classical music, dominated the repertoire. David Allyn’s vocalists and Ginnie Powell, Raeburn’s wife, sang cheerfully despite all kinds of dissonant happenings behind them. Raeburn’s orchestra grew in 1946 despite the constant struggle to keep it together. The reed players doubled their woodwinds, and added French horns, a harp, and the reed players increased their size. Lucky Thompson, Ray Linn and Dodo Marmarosa were just a few of the many musicians who made it through the band. Johnny Richards was the main arranger for 1947. However, by the end the band had stopped recording and Raeburn returned to dance music. Although his Columbia records from 1956-1957 are not of much interest, Boyd Raeburn’s older bands are represented on sessions for Musicraft, Savoy, radio transcriptions by Circle and broadcasts by IAJRC, Hep. Allmusic
