Clyde  "Sugar Blues"  McCoy

by Joseph E. Bennett, MPS

A Memphis newspaper carried sad
tidings on June 14, 1990. The article
announced the passing of Clyde McCoy
three days earlier, along with a short
biography covering a few highlights of an
illustrious career. The text was an under-
statement of great proportion, for it
simply failed to say that an institution in
big band music had passed into history.
Probably not a name in popular music is
more widely known than that of Clyde
McCoy, famed for his rendition of the
Sugar Blues, augmented by his patented
"wah wah" mute. He made his final
professional appearance in 1985, at Sara-
sota, Florida, and was compelled to de-
liver two successive renditions of his fa-
mous number by a tumultuous standing
audience. Clyde was 81 years of age.

The McCoy story began many years
ago in Ashland, Kentucky. When Clyde
was born on December 29, 1903, into the
family of one side of the famous Hatfield-
McCoy feud, nobody even dreamed that
he would gain international fame as a
musician. He did, though, in a profes-
sional career that spanned well over 60
years.

Clyde's father was a railroad detective
working for the Chesapeake & Ohio in
Ashland. He was transferred to Port-
smouth, Ohio before the youngster was
in his teens. It was in Ohio that Clyde
clasped the trumpet to his breast and
mastered the instrument. By the time he
was fourteen years old, in 1917, the
young musician was employed on the
riverboats out of Cincinnati - the "Island
Queen" and the "Bernard Swain." Not
exactly a late start for a budding
musician.

McCoy assembled his first orchestra in
1920 on short notice. Learning from a
friend that the Whittle Springs Hotel and
Spa in Knoxville, Tennessee, had a two-
week booking for a band, Clyde as-
sembled a group and rehearsed for the
audition on the train. George Whittle
himself listened to the boys and signed
them up on the spot. A two-week stay
expanded into eight when Clyde's band
received enthusiastic acceptance. The
Clyde McCoy Orchestra never faltered
after that engagement. They worked
their way north and finally landed in
New York City, where they jobbed
around until 1925. That year Clyde de-
cided it was time to try their luck on the
west coast. Before long, they were book-
ed into the Dome Theater in Ocean Park
at Los Angeles. The band improved all
the time, and began to accumulate an
impressive circle of fans. The key to suc-
cess was hard work, and plenty of it--
leaving scant time for recreation. Never-
theless, Clyde and his brother Stanley,
the bass player in the band, managed to
find time to take their first airplane ride.
Securely belted side-by-side in the front
cockpit of an old open biplane, they were
treated to an aerial view of Los Angeles
by an equally young pilot, Charles A.
Lindbergh. Imagine their surprise two
years later when they learned that Lindy
had made a solo crossing of the Atlantic
Ocean !

The band continued to travel and build
their reputation over the next few years,
finally earning a major booking in 1930
at the brand new Drake Hotel in down-
town Chicago. Clyde had been experi-
menting with a tune written by Clarence
Williams back in 1922 called "The Sugar
Blues. " In order to achieve the effect he
wanted, Clyde developed a mute that
produced a sort of "talking trumpet"
effect. It took several years to perfect the
device, but eventually it was ready. The
famous arrangement of Sugar Blues was
the end result. Clyde's new mute was so
successful that he patented it and sold
manufacturing rights to the King Instru-
ment Company. Although thousands of
the mutes were sold, no one ever learned
to produce the same results that Clyde
had achieved. The song and sound be-
came the McCoy theme and trademark.

Chicago was a great city for a good
band in the 1930's. Clyde received ex-
tensive radio exposure there over power-
ful station WGN. They made nightly
broadcasts from the leading hotels, one
of which was the Drake. Following a long
engagement at the Drake the band was
booked into the Terrace Garden for a
year. Completing that stay, they re-
turned to the Drake Hotel for an addi-
tional two years. With such an impres-
sive record at Chicago, it was only natu-
ral that the band's reputation would cre-
ate a demand for their music in the thea-
ter. Clyde proved to be a natural show-
man, and produced a very popular thea-
ter performance, complete with a min-
iature trumpet and the Sugar Blues. His
records were beginning to catch on, too.

An amusing incident occurred at one of
the theater appearances of the McCoy
Orchestra. Clyde and orchestra leader
Don Bestor, of Jack Benny Show fame
were scheduled to open at an Indian-
apolis theater on the same date, due to a
booking error. Clyde solved the dilemma
by originating the "battle of the bands"
idea, and both groups alternated on
stage. The winner was determined by an
applause meter. It turned out to be a
popular idea, and was adopted by many
bands from that time on. McCoy slyly
admitted that it was always rigged to end
in a tie.

The first recording contract was signed
in 1931, and with it the first pressing of
Sugar Blues. However, it was not until
Clyde signed with the new Decca label in
1935 that his recording career really took
off. He made a second recording of Sugar
Blues, and it became a national sensa-
tion. Contrary to some critical opinions

McCoy's music was not limited to wah-
wah mute arrangements. He demanded
a high degree of musicianship from his
band, and their library contained many
swinging Dixieland arrangements.
Many of those became classics over the
years, starting with his own composition
"Tear It Down," a number on the flip
side of the Decca recording of Sugar
Blues.

George Simon, a musical critic of con-
siderable statue during the Big Band
Era, gave Clyde less-than-flattering re-
views in "Downbeat," a leading trade
publication. Simon was not a little em-
barrassed to learn that McCoy was one
of the owners of the magazine. Simon
went on to become the editor of " Metro-
nome," another major trade publica-
tion, but later admitted that Clyde and
the band played surprisingly "good"
Dixieland. McCoy never commented on
the incident. He was too busy pleasing
his legion of loyal fans.

Natural modesty prevented Clyde
McCoy from publicizing his personal life
or accomplishments. Although his name
was a household word in America, little
was known of his personal history. Few
knew, for example, that his wife was a
member of the famous Bennett Sisters
trio, a vocal group that joined the band
in 1937 during an engagement at the
Peabody Skyway in Memphis. Clyde
and Maxine were married in her home
town, San Antonio, Texas, on January
20, 1945. The fine trio was expanded to
a quartet when Maxine, Charlie Bell,
and Marguerite were joined by sister
Billie Jane a few years later.

Clyde's list of record successes over the
years is long and impressive. Among
them were " I Found A New Baby, "
"Honeysuckle Rose," "Hell's Bells,"
"Alley Cat," "September Song," "Dix-
ieland Jazz Man," and the old Bix Bei-
derbecke favorite, "Jazz Me Blues"--
just to name a few! Eventually, record
sales topped fourteen million. No little
credit to the band's success was due to
some extremely fine musicians who play-
ed over the years. Among them was a
famous pianist, Lou Busch, who went on
to the Hall Kemp Orchestra, and even-
tually a popular single act as "Joe Fin-
gers Carr. " Eddy Kusby, an outstanding
trombonist, was another who finally
moved over to the Hal Kemp band, and
then on to the movie studios. Vocalist
Freddy Steward went to the Charlie Bar-
net Orchestra in 1945, and drummer
Frankie Carlson played with Woodie
Herman after leaving Clyde. Frankie
later joined the 20th Century-Fox or-
ganization.

One of the more memorable incidents
of Clyde' s long career occurred one night
in 1942 at the Peabody Skyway. When he
was introduced to a table of U.S. Navy
brass, he was invited to enlist. Clyde
obliged and took the entire orchestra into
the service with him. During WW II, the
band made hundreds of appearances at
military installations in the United
States. When he returned to civilian life,
his popularity had not diminished one
whit. Clyde and the boys took up where
they had left off, maintaining a full 15-
piece orchestra until 1955. By that time,
the Big Band Era was definitely on the
wane, and bookings for a large group
were few and far between. Most of the
large bands disappeared as musical focus
switched to individual singers. Clyde
shifted gears and kept right on going. He
gave up the large band and by 1960 was
fronting a scaled-down version that con-
tinued to feature his popular trumpet.
He operated out of Memphis, where he
and Maxine maintained a luxury condo-
minium. They continued to play in the
linest rooms in the country, all the while
traveling to any location where the
McCoy brand of music was in demand.
The Sugar Blues was still a winner and
Clyde was as popular as ever.

Maxine McCoy recalls that Clyde nev-
er really retired. When they wanted a
vacation, he simply booked the group
into Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, or some
other plush location. Over the years they
remained supremely happy. There were
never any children, but it didn't matter.
Clyde McCoy was the greatest husband
a woman ever had, and Maxine was
supremely happy. This statement came
from Mrs. McCoy herself.

Clyde received his Masonic work in
Daylight Lodge No. 780, in Louisville,
Kentucky. He received the Entered Ap-
prentice Degree onJanuary 9, 1926, the
Fellowcraft on May 8, 1926, and was
raised to the Sublime Degree onJuly 26,
1926. Later, he became a life member of
his Lodge. His 50-year recognition from
the Grand Lodge of Kentucky was con-
ferred concurrently with his induction
into Kosair Temple of the Shrine at
Louisville in 1976.

A door closed forever on June 11, 1990,
as Clyde McCoy passed from this mortal
scene. The Big Band Era was many years
in the historic past, but he endured as one
of the last of the great figures of that time.
Millions of Americans, including my-
self, look back on the years before World
War II with happy memories of a more
carefree time in which swing music was
an integral ingredient. The picture of
Clyde is vivid for most of his old fans, for
we remember that distinctive style of his .
That young Kentuckian came swinging
out of an Ohio River town back in 1917,
and never laid down his horn for seventy
years. None of us will ever hear the Sugar
Blues without getting a lump in our
throat and a tear in our eye. It represents
a magic time that is gone forever.

Clyde left a legacy of love of family,
exquisite musical craftsmanship, and
distinction in matters Masonic. Millions
remember him with affection, including
thousands of Freemasons. What greater
reward can life offer?
References and Material Source
Dave Dexter, Jr., Playback, Billboard Publications
NYC, 1976.

George T Simon, T hl Big Bands, MacMillan Co.,

Leo Walker, Thc Big Band Almanac, Vinewood En-
terprises, Hollywood, CA., 1978.

Biographical Annotator Articles, Brad McCuen
Hindsight Records, Bregman, Vocco, and
Conn, Inc., Music Publisher, NYC, 1939.
Masonic Records and Archives, Grand Lodge of

Kentucky, F. & A.M., Kosair Temple
A.A.O.N.M.S.
Information provided by family; Mrs. Maxine
McCoy .

The Philalethes, October 1991