| Dick Cary | |
| Birth Name: | Richard Durant Cary |
| Birth Date: | 10 July 1916 |
| Birth Place: | Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Genre: | Jazz, swing, dixieland |
| Occupation: | Musician, composer, arranger |
| Instrument: | Trumpet, piano |
| Years Active: | 1940s–1980s |
Richard Durant Cary (July 10, 1916 – April 6, 1994)[1] was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger.[2]
He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, United States.[1] Cary earned a bachelor's 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.[3] In 1943, he also worked as a staff arranger for Benny Goodman and played with the Casa Loma Orchestra and Brad Gowans.[3] 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.[3] After his discharge he worked with Billy Butterfield, then was pianist in the initial formation of Louis Armstrong's All-Stars in 1947–48.[3] 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, touring, and studio musician.[3] He also began writing and arranging music for the Tuesday Night Friends, who convened at his home every Tuesday for decades, a tradition that continued following his death. 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. Cary also provided an extended interview to Floyd Levin in 1991. His life is the subject of the bio-discography Strictly a Musician: Dick Cary by Derek Coller, published in 2012.
Dick Cary died in April 1994, in Glendale, California, at the age of 77.[1]
As leader
As sideman