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Danny AlguireRemembered

by Chris Tyle

Danny Alguire, cornetiet and vocaligt, died July 8. He was 29 yearsold.

A.lguin ie beet remember€d for higlong association with the FbehowFive PIus Tvp, from 194$lf7r. Histenure with that band is available onmany Good Time Jazz recordince. Inaddition to hie nDrk with the-Firehouse 5+2, he wag a member of BobWille'Texas PlayboyB in l94l-{2. dur-ing which time he recorded "Hoie in$gn..4gton{' a hit record duringWorld \4rar T\o, which is now availlable on a Rhino compilation of Wills'

On a visit to hie parente in Oklahona City in 1941, Alguire went to eeethe Bob Willg band, ae a good friendand felloq, trumpet€r, BennyStrickler, had recently joined them.Although the Wille band waa enoneouely thought by margr musicians tobe a "hillbilly band," Bob Wills' fa.voritp music was jnzz and his bandwas becoming well knonrn ag a 6nejazz group in addition to plqying

"\lteetem Swing."Wills was riding high on a crest of

popularity hie band frequentlypacked ballmms, and thie was thecaee t}le night Alguire went to hdarthem-it took hin l5 minutee toreach the bandgtand! Alguire wasvery impresaed with the band. thatnight, Willg hired him, trmpetcrAIex Brashear. and clarinetietWoody Woode.

The effect of trumpeter BennyStrickler on both Alguirc and AlelBrashear was immens€. Strickler in.fluenced both men'e playing for theremainder of their pmfeesional ca-reers (Brashear diea in th€ l9?0safur a brief comeback plrving withMerle Hageard). In a writlen tributeto Strickler, AlSuire recalledStrickler emphaei"ing a cooperativeband epirit, which he termed a "meeting of the min& for a meeting ofmusic" Strickler etated "If vou don'tthinl together, you can't pliy togeth-er." Alguire commnted thatShickler "bmugbt to tbe bandgtandeach nigbt an entlrugiagm that actu-ally permeated tbroughorit the band.It was a feeling that we *rre allgoing to play good - and we did "

The Wills band brcke uo in 1942due to the mr, ud Alguire joined theNavy ae a radiomm, etationed in theSouth kcific. During his 8tint, h€and hia shipmates heard Willg' recording of "Home in San Antone"played on a radio show. Althouctr hisehipmatcs didn't believe il was Al.guire einging, the fac't wae confimedby the radio announcer! No doubt Al.guLe was very proud to knw thatlryills'record was a hit

Folloring the war, Alguire epenttime in San FYucieco, playing ".limegrinde" (dance hall jobe where adaace with a female employee costt€n cents) with Harry Mordecai(banjo) and Bun Balea (piano). Healso visit€d Hambone Kelly'e to hearLu Watters' band-eometimes sitting

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in, but more often just listenind. Al-guire alro played a ees8ion with TlrkMurphy (trombone), Bob Helm (cla.rinet), Burt Bales, Bill Dart (drume)of whicb private rcordinge exirt.

Retuming to loe Angelea Alguireplayed for awhile with T. Texas'I)1.er's West€m Swing Band, but evenlu.ally left firll-time music to work u afingerprint expert with the los An.gBles Police Department and lacer aga .listributor of claesical and jazz recordrng&

Alguire joined the Firehouse l'ivePlus Trrc in 19,19, played and recorded extensively with them.Through the band's association withWalt Disney Studioe he secured a jobas an assistant director of Dieneyfilms (mostly cartoon *ork). Hldayd with Dirney until the mid.1970s, when he retired and mwedwith hie wife to Beaverton. Oregon.While in the Portland area. he ion.tinued- to play music occaeionally,with Monte Ballou's Castle JazBand, the Jim Beatty Jazz Band andpicL-up groupe. He made fitquent apqearanoeq at meetinge of the OregonCity Traditiond Jazz Society, evenafter he quit playing (for medical rea.sone) in the early 1980e.

During the time Danny Alguirelived in the Portland area I had thepleasure of getting to know him, andt}re first time I played cornet in publicwas in a band with him in 1975. Al-guire was a coneummate musician -he knew exactly what he want€d todo and played everything from theheart Personally, he was a down.toearth man, and he had an infectioussense of humor. Although he loveiand lived jazz, he knew how to enter-tain. and his venion of the 1930s

radio thene "Little Orphan Annie"was an ofbrequested farorite.

Although the Firehoirse 5+2 hasbeen criticized by some writers forthe occaeional use of various soundeffec'ts (a tongueincheek approachthat wag actually ueed eparingly),the band was totally dedicatcd toplaying good jazz, *rd Alg:rlirc'sinput regarding tempo and pacing,based on his experience with BobWille, wa8 invaluable. Alguire's recoded sork with the band illuetratahis style - a simple, direct, nenon-sense appmach to plrving jazz -which *orked perfectly. Standoutperformances cen be heard on hisrolo on "San Antonio Rose," and hisensemble r*ork on his onrn composi-tion "Firechief Rae" Oased on theBob Wills compoeition, 'BeaumontRas').

FirehoureS+2 pianigt K.O. Ecklandcommented in the NOJC News,"Danny Alguire played a straightahead lead and the front o6ce did libtle circles around him, all tlie eet to afirm boom+hick beat. In reviervingDanny's aound, I realized that heprobably never played arrything pasta quarl€r note. He didn't have to, Hewae relaxed. The whole damn bandwas relaxed. And what the relua.tion brought about wae time for fun."

In a letter to Hal Smith turc year8ago, Alguire etated his intention of"just riding it out to the coda" - anapprcpriate sentiment fron a formerTexae Playboy.

rStrickler died in 1946. In the 1950eGood Time Jazz iesued four eidesfrom airshots of the band he led atthe Dawr Club in San Francieco in1942.

(Thanhs to Hal Smith for referenceass$tance)

Drnrry Al$ft!, worrlng hls Flr€hos!. Flu. outtlt, Juno i90A

r|cf,;lrl rtrE3r Hm N\\$. #sKJlJf,'TntE ts wnERE I GAME tN.

Wtth hl3'Summa Ocfrestnteaturlng Dan Banott, MartyGrosz, Bobby Gordon, Keith

- Ingham, Jon-Erik Kellso, PeterEcklund, Greg Cohen and Hal$nllh TIE ac d|. sn& dut @tcd ft6 $dl

ditt a '!ai.*f .rd TddL Condd9 in NdYqf! Ctawi($ WLgs...,.' FL'rd lant-Rld Fryt'l,lEMoRIES OF Y()|," (ARl9l03/

AnCDl9lo3) rc rcJercd u m of thc TopTs Rddr of l99l by Jlz Critic 0116cordlc in dE Madr ttz isE of JAAZME!and Td WYtrdhen in thc JsiYFcb t'2 bt@of gE! @8.ziG

1992 - page 24