Hal McIntyre Big Band, is now directed by Don Pentleton

Alto saxophonist and bandleader Hal McIntyre formed his first eight-piece band in 1935. In 1945 after working with Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman's orchestra, Hal took his band (billed as "The Band That America Loves") overseas on the USO tour.  Featured were vocalists Gloria Van; Ruth Gaylor and Al Nobel.  The group remained together into the 1950s.  This live recording from the '50s orchestra is a rare and historical document of how the band evolved.  Danny Hurd's notes below offer insight on the glory days 1943-46 for Hal McIntyre and the Orchestra

John Jungklaus, Hindsight Records

"You are in for a jazz treat! Masterfully recorded live, this extraordinary orchestra is captured at its finest. A rare and priceless collection from a truly great band."

Danny Hurt reflects on the 1940's band in its glory days:  Hal McIntyre and I met by accident, by being in the same place at the same time, neither of us looking for the other, both of us, it turned out, looking for something the other had to offer.  I had dropped in to see Leo Talent at Mutual Music, Glenn Miller's New York publisher, to sign a contract for an original tune I had written for Claude Thornhill.  Hal, who was leaving the Miller band to form his own, had also come to talk to Leo about the new band.

A prospective band leader; a pianist is always ready to talk about a job.  Leo introduced us and suggested we talk.  When musicians begin to talk music they usually end up playing what they want to say.  I played a few of my things for Hal there in Leo's office, bit it was what Hal played for me that told me more about Hal McIntyre and the kind of band he wanted than all the talking I've forgotten.

To show me the ballad sound he wanted, Hal played me Duke Ellington's record of "I Never Felt This Way Before."  I remember the beautiful Ben Webster solo, the unintrusive brass background, the simplicity of the arrangement.  It was tasteful, understated, and it had that sheen so familiar in the Ellington/Strayhorn mood pieces.

It was arrangements like this and the bolder Ellington charts like "Chelsea Bridge" that were to influence the McIntyre ballad style, warm, full-band sonorities with alto-saxophone solos by Hal, reminiscent of Duke's way with a pretty tune.  And it was meeting Hal for the first time and discovering his taste for this subtle, silken, style of playing that made our collaboration so extraordinary for me.

In October, 1941, I joined Hal in the pre-rehearsal stage of putting the band together, writing the arrangements with Dave Mathews and Howard Gibeling, heavily influenced by Ellington. Between then and November, 1943, when I left the band to join the U.S. Coast Guard, I think of the band as having gone through three musically separate periods.  The first, of course, was the Ellington phase, which was de-emphasized abruptly when one of Hal's managers asked, "When are you going to stop playing all this Duke stuff?"

That question brought on a period in the band's history when it seemed to me that all we played were commercial wartime ballads, but it led to the reaction, the return to sanity in my opinion when we went back to the tasteful ballads and duke-inspired originals that featured the unique abilities of the players.

Danny Hurd, 1981

 Danny Hurd was a pianist and arranger.  He began piano at the age of eight also taking up the violin, trumpet and later the saxophone and trombone on his own.  He wrote arrangements for Jimmy Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald, Hal McIntyre, Claude thornhill, Peggy Lee, Patti Page, and was the musical director for Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera in the 1960s.

John Jungklaus, April 2007