Dick Cary

Dick Cary (July 10, 1916 in Hartford, Connecticut – April 6, 1994 in Sunland, California) was an American jazz pianist, trumpet and alto horn player, and prolific arranger and composer, leaving behind at his home in California 1,856 original compositions and over 3,200 arrangements.

Cary earned a bachelors degree in music from Wesleyan University in 1938 and started working in Connecticut and New York. He landed full-time solo work at Nick's in Greenwich Village in New York City in 1941 (through 1943) and played with Joe Marsala in 1942. In 1943 he also worked as a staff arranger for Benny Goodman and played with with the Casa Loma Orchestra and Brad Gowans. During a stint in the Army in 1944-46 stationed on Long Island, he managed to continue recording with Muggsy Spanier and Wild Bill Davison among others. After his discharge he worked with Billy Butterfield, then was the pianist in the initial formation of Louis Armstrong's All-Stars in 1947-48. In 1949-50 he was in Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra, and in the 1950s worked with Eddie Condon, Pee Wee Russell, Max Kaminsky, Bud Freeman, Jimmy McPartland, and starting in 1957 a long-term collaboration with Bobby Hackett at the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York.

When that engagement ended in 1959 he moved to Los Angeles, where he became an active freelance, studio and touring musician. He also began writing and arranging the tremendous legacy of music he left behind there for a succession of rehearsal groups that attracted the top tier of Los Angeles based professionals, the Tuesday Night Friends, who convened at his home every Tuesday for decades, a tradition that continued following his passing (returning to the music he left, which they estimated would take over 10 years to play in that format). The band was rarely heard by the public except for annual appearances at the Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival and Sacramento Jazz Jubilee.

In the latter days of his life some of these rehearsals were recorded, forming the basis of the posthumous release "Dick Cary and His Tuesday Night Friends Playing Dick Cary Originals". The ongoing group, directed by Dick Hamilton, recorded the album "Dick Cary's Tuesday Night Friends: Catching Up" in 1997. Both of these albums have extensive informative liner notes. Cary also provided an extended interview to Floyd Levin in 1991.

Discography

With Ruth Brown

• Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1957)

References

• Scott Yanow, Dick Cary at Allmusic