About
Topsy M. Durham was born in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
A paralegal by profession, I self-published a biography compendium of the life of the late jazz musician, composer and pioneer Eddie Durham. I emcee and co-produce the annual outdoor Eddie Durham Music Festival in San Marcos, Texas. As president of Swingin' the Blues! Durham Music Publishing, I oversee copyrights on such hits as "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire", Wham Re Bop Boom Bam, and "Topsy". I greatly contributed to and appear in the 2024 PBS Documentary "Wham Re Bop Boom Bam - The Swing Jazz of Eddie Durham". As an activist in the jazz community, I served on the Board of Dir. of The International Women In Jazz, The Harlem Swing Dance Society, and AmSong, Inc., a grassroots organization that spearheaded the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1996. Articles have appeared in The New York Times (re: AmSong), Just Jazz Magazine, the Swedish publication, Jefferson Blues Magazine, and The San Marcos Daily Record.
Featured Work
Swingin' the Blues - Eddie Durham & The Ladies of Jazz
This third of four books in the "Swingin' The Blues" series, touts over 100 photos and chronicles the life, extensive musical contributions and career of one of the world's most prolific and influential artists overlooked in the 20th Century. In the 1940's he toured as Musical Director for several all-women's Orchestras, starting with The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, under the direction of Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt. It was Eddie Durham's 1939 arrangement of "In The Mood" which was inducted into the N.A.R.A.S. Hall of Fame. Eddie was born in Texas in 1906. As a teenager his career began in the southwest circuses. As a performer, he innovated a non-pressure technique on his trombone, amplified his own guitar, built his amp, innovated a whammy bar, and was one of the first to record on amplified and electric guitar. He pioneered 6-part harmony in his compositions and arrangements, and was a showman who choreographed brass sections for visual excitement. He was also a composer, a "hit-maker" scouted by promoters and bandleaders such as John Hammond, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford and Glenn Miller, who hired him to be the primary creative force in their bands. The Bandleaders won't reveal their secret weapon, and Eddie's unique perspective has never been revealed...Until now...
