Chris Tyle (born May 1955) is

dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

jazz musician who performs on

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

, trumpet, clarinet and drums.

Career

Tyle grew up in a musical family. His father, Axel Tyle (1912–1981), was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

drummer and member of the Portland, Oregon-based Castle Jazz Band. Tyle's first musical job was with Don Kinch's Conductors Ragtime (1976–1979). Kinch (1917–2011), played with Axel Tyle in the Castle Jazz Band in the late 1940s, and went on to work with the

Turk Murphy Melvin Edward Alton "Turk" Murphy (December 16, 1915 – May 30, 1987) was an American trombonist and bandleader, who played traditional and Dixieland jazz. Biography He was born in Palermo, California, United States. Murphy served in the Navy ...

Jazz Band and the

Firehouse Five Plus Two The Firehouse Five Plus Two was an American Dixieland jazz band, popular in the 1950s, consisting of members of the Disney animation department. Leader and trombonist Ward Kimball was inspired to form the band after spending time with members ...

. In 1979 Tyle played and recorded with the Turk Murphy Jazz Band in San Francisco, then returned to Portland to form a

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

band named Wholly Cats (named after a number written and recorded by

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

and

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

). The band was a popular fixture on the Portland scene from 1979–1984, releasing an album in 1982. After disbanding the group's vocalist and guitarist, Rebecca "Becky" Kilgore, went on to become a popular freelance artist and has made many recordings and festival appearances. Tyle moved to New Orleans in 1989, immediately becoming an in-demand performer with a number of groups, including Steve Pistorius's Mahogany Hall Stompers, Jacques Gauthe's Creole Rice Jazz Band, and John Gill's Dixieland Serenaders . He also worked with jazz greats

Danny Barker Daniel Moses Barker (January 13, 1909 – March 13, 1994) was an American jazz musician, vocalist, and author from New Orleans. He was a rhythm guitarist for Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter during the 1930s. One of Barker's earli ...

(guitar) and Albert "Pud" Brown (clarinet/sax). In 1992 Tyle formed the Silver Leaf Jazz Band which worked six nights-a-week at the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street. In 2002 Tyle returned to the Pacific Northwest to pursue a freelance career. Up until 2015 he performed regularly with the Titanic Jazz Band of Los Angeles, Combo DeLuxe of Seattle/Tacoma, and "subbed" with Bob Schulz' Frisco Jazz Band of San Francisco and other West Coast traditional jazz bands. He also has frequently performed in Europe, most notably with the Gambit Jazzmen of England. In 2006 he became a member of the orchestra for the musical A la Recherche de Joséphine (Looking for Josephine), directed and written by Jérôme Savary, and starring

Nicolle Rochelle Nicolle Rochelle, often credited professionally as Nicole Leach, is an American actress, dancer, and jazz singer, best known for her appearances on television including ''Shining Time Station'', '' The Babysitters Club'', and made for televisi ...

. The show ran for six months in 2006-2007 at the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

in Paris, France, and has subsequently toured in France, performed in Vienna, the United States, and Lebanon. Tyle has made over 70 recordings with a variety of groups, including eight with his Silver Leaf Jazz Band. A song from his Silver Leaf Jazz Band album ''The Smiler'' (Stomp Off) was used in the PBS documentary ''

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

''. Another Silver Leaf Jazz Band album, ''New Orleans Wiggle'' (Jazzology), received the highest rating in the ''Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 2003'', one of only ten recordings in the book to receive this rating. In addition to musical performance, Tyle is a writer and educator. He has written many articles and is a contributor to Jazz Standards. He is a member of the International Association of Jazz Educators and the Jazz Journalists Association. Tyle moved to France in October 2015 and retired from full-time performance, due in part to a medical condition known as

essential tremor Essential tremor (ET), also called benign tremor, familial tremor, and idiopathic tremor, is a medical condition characterized by involuntary rhythmic contractions and relaxations ( oscillations or twitching movements) of certain muscle groups i ...

which is exacerbated in performance situations. He continues to play clarinet with the New Orleans Jazz Trio.

Selected discography

Chris Tyle's Silver Leaf Jazz Band of New Orleans * ''Streets and Scenes of New Orleans'' ( Good Time Jazz/ Concord) * ''Jelly's Best Jam'' (Good Time Jazz/Concord) * ''Great Composers of New Orleans Jazz'' (Good Time Jazz /Concord) * ''New Orleans Wiggle'' ( Jazzology) * ''The Smiler'' ( Stomp Off) * ''Sugar Blues'' (Stomp Off)

Jazz Band * ''A Natural High'' –

Jazz Band (Bainbridge)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyle, Chris 1955 births American jazz cornetists American jazz clarinetists American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz drummers American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Dixieland jazz musicians Living people 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American trumpeters 21st-century American clarinetists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians