Bobby Byrne

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Bobby Byrne played trombone with such control and tenderness that Tommy Dorsey once remarked, "You sit on the edge of your seat waiting to feel the next note." Bobby's long career in the big bands included gigs with Tommy Dorsey and his brother Jimmy Dorsey before Bobby established his own band in 1939. The songwriters Peter de Rose and Mitchell Parish (who also wrote "Stardust") were so impressed by Bobby's melodic playing that they wrote his theme song, "Meditation at Moonlight" to fit his style and skills.