HURLEY, CLYDE LANHAM, JR. (1916–1963). Jazzqv trumpeter Clyde Lanham Hurley Jr. was born in Fort Worth on September 3, 1916, the son of Clyde L. and Esther B. Temple Hurley. He first studied music with his mother, who was a professional pianist and vocalist. Influenced by early Louis Armstrong recordings, Hurley switched from piano to trumpet and worked with local bands. He attended Texas Christian University in Fort Worth from 1932 to 1936 (playing for all four years in the school jazz band) and joined the Ben Pollack orchestra in 1937 when it was touring Texas.
He moved to California with the band and in the spring of 1939 joined the Glenn Miller orchestra. With Miller Hurley was recorded playing perhaps the orchestra's most famous solo, the one for trumpet on Miller's "In the Mood." Hurley also took other fine solos, including appearances on Miller recordings of "Stardust," "Glen Island Special" (a tune written by Texan Eddie Durhamqv), and "Rug Cutter's Swing," as well as on "One O'Clock Jump," recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1939. In 1940 Hurley left Miller to join the Tommy Dorsey orchestra, and the next year he signed on with the Artie Shaw orchestra. During the rest of the 1940s he worked in Hollywood. He worked in the NBC television studios in the 1950s and later freelanced for various television, film, record, and radio companies. He was seen in many films, including The Five Pennies and The Gene Krupa Story. Hurley died in Fort Worth on August 14, 1963. He was survived by a wife and two sons.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: John Chilton, Who's Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street (London: Bloomsbury Book Shop, 1970; American ed., New York and Philadelphia: Chilton, 1972; 4th ed., New York: Da Capo Press, 1985). Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 16, 1963.
Dave Oliphant
