Christopher D. Tyle (born 10 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, though there is also a so ...

, 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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

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 Nav ...

Jazz Band and the

Firehouse Five Plus Two The Firehouse Five Plus Two was a 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 of the Disne ...

. 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. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...

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". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conce ...

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 th ...

). 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 ea ...

(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 Jérôme Savary (27 June 1942 – 4 March 2013) was an Argentinian-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and ...

, and starring Nicolle Rochelle. 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 theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienn ...

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

''. 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 The Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) is an international organization of all types of media professionals who document, promulgate, or appreciate jazz. As of 2016, it has approximately 250 members, including professional journalists, students, ind ...

. 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 in ...

which is exacerbated in performance situations. He continues to play clarinet at home.

Selected discography

Chris Tyle's Silver Leaf Jazz Band of New Orleans * ''Streets and Scenes of New Orleans'' (

Good Time Jazz Good Time Jazz Records was an American jazz record company and label. It was founded in 1949 by Lester Koenig to record the Firehouse Five Plus Two and earned a reputation for Dixieland jazz. The label produced new releases and reissues, includi ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

) * ''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 Stomp Off is an American jazz record company and label founded in 1980 by Bob Erdos in York, Pennsylvania. The label's first release was ''Feelin' Devilish'' by Waldo's Gutbucket Serenaders. It was described in 1986 as concentrating on "jazz in t ...

) * ''Sugar Blues'' (Stomp Off)

Jazz Band * ''A Natural High'' –

Jazz Band (Bainbridge)

References

External links

Official Website
{{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 trumpeters 21st-century clarinetists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians