Clyde Hurley was a trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

er during the big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 era. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth, Texas

Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

. Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...

 describes Hurley as "a(n excellent) trumpeter with a fat tone and a hard-driving style". He died in Fort Worth.

Self taught, he learned to play the trumpet by playing along with Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

 records. He began his career working with territory bands. In 1937, Hurley joined Ben Pollack

Ben Pollack

Ben Pollack was a drummer and bandleader from the mid 1920s through the swing era. His eye for talent led him to either discover or employ, at one time or another, musicians such as Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Jimmy McPartland and Harry James...

’s band. After a while with Pollack, Hurley became a studio musician in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. Hurley was playing with Paul Whiteman

Paul Whiteman

Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...

 when Glenn Miller sent for him to join the Miller band on its Glen Island Casino opening in May 1939.

During the time he was with Miller, Hurley was one of the key soloists. He appeared on the bands studio recordings and live performances throughout America, including Carnegie Hall, Cafe Rouge in Hotel Pennsylvania and the Paramount Theatre, New York. He shared trumpet solo honours with John Best - Hurley taking the "hot" solos - Best taking the rest. Hurley played the trumpet solo on Glenn Miller’s "In The Mood", "Slip Horn Jive" and "Tuxedo Junction." After a difference of opinion with Miller over the style of music the band was playing, Hurley left Miller in May 1940 to work with Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey

Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...

 and then joined Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw

Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....

 in 1941.

After his stint with Shaw, he did freelance work for the movie studios. He worked for MGM from 1944 to 1949 and for NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 from 1950 to 1955. During the late 1950s, Hurley played in Dixieland

Dixieland

Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...

 groups, recording with Matty Matlock

Matty Matlock

Julian Clifton "Matty" Matlock was an American Dixieland jazz clarinettist, saxophonist and arranger born in Paducah, Kentucky...

's Rampart Street Paraders. In 1954, he recorded live with Ralph Sutton

Ralph Sutton

Ralph Earl Sutton was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller....

 and Edmond Hall

Edmond Hall

Edmond Hall was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. His father Edward Blainey Hall and mother Caroline Duhe had eight children, Priscilla , Moretta , Viola , Robert , Edmond , Clarence , Edward and Herbert .-Early life:Born in Reserve, Louisiana, about...

 at the Club Hangover. His studio work in the 1950s included sessions with Paul Weston

Paul Weston

Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer and conductor. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts...

. He played solo on "Memories of You" on Weston's "Solo Flight" album.