Ed “Turk” Darlington

 

  Ed Darlington’s life changed when he was handed a saxophone in the junior high.  From that point on, he began analyzing every solo he heard on big band records.  By 15, he was playing professionally around his hometown of Ames, Iowa. 

 

  After serving in the U.S. army, Darlington returned to Iowa to study music at Drake University.  A year later he transferred to the Chicago Musical College to specialize in jazz studies.  Contact he made in Chicago led to a a career on the road with the bands of Gene Krupa and Ray Anthony.

 

  In 1954, Darlington returned to Drake to complete his formal educatin and began teaching at Woodward-Granger community schools, and later at Southeast Polk.  Along with Jack Oatts, Darlington helped energize Iowa’s high school jazz band competition scene.

 

  Throughout his teaching years, Darlington continued to perform in the area, including taking a leadership role in the early days of the Des Moines Big Band.

 

  Upon his retirement, Ed and his wife, Wanda (Killinger), moved to Florida where he continued to play on a regular basis in a variety of venues until his sudden death in 1984.