Clyde Lucas

Clyde Lucas
Clyde Lucas promotional picture
Background information
Born	c. 1901
Genres	Big Band
Instruments	Trombone

Clyde Lucas (c. 1901 – after 1945) was an American big-band leader who was popular in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. He was the leader of Clyde Lucas and His California Dons.

Lucas grew up in Los Angeles, California and was of "Chicano" (American Mexican) background. He began his career as a singer and trombonist in the Herb Wiedoeft orchestra, and launched his own band in the early 1930s. The band was versatile, playing a range of styles including popular Mexican tunes, Swing, Hawaiian and Hillbilly. The typical line-up at that time included four saxophones, two trumpets and a four-piece rhythm section, often with violins. Musicians were expected to be able to play more than one instrument.

In 1934, the Morrison Hotel and the Terrace Garden, both in Chicago, employed Lucas and his Dons. As the thirties progressed, "Clyde Lucas and his California Dons" grew in popularity, releasing records and playing on the radio. The band also recorded background music for some of the early talkies. In September 1938, Paramount Pictures released an 11-minute movie "short" called Lights, Action, Lucas, featuring the band. Other headliner shorts released around this time included Listen to Lucas (1938), Meet the Maestros (1938) and Clyde Lucas and His Orchestra (1939)

Gloria Wood, a popular singer from the 1940s through to the 1970s made her first recordings with the Clyde Lucas band. Singles released for Elite Records in 1941 included Sometimes and Somebody nobody knows, with flip sides Rose O'Day and When roses bloom again. Other singles from Elite that year included Shrine of St. Cecelia, I said No and Deep in the Heart of Texas. In 1942 Lucas released a cover of Glenn Miller's A string of pearls, but reviews were not favorable.