The nickname of this trombonist, spun off of his surname, makes him sound like someone about to run amuck with a pair of scissors. Cutty Cutshall was armed with a trombone, however, and the main cutting he did was either besting other bonemen in jam sessions or simply making records. He evolved into one of the grand old men of the swing revival of the '60s and is on the list of journeymen musicians who passed away alone in their hotel rooms while on tour. Cutshall came out of the Pittsburgh music scene and was pulled away from that town in 1934 to tour with Charley Dornberger. The trombonist worked for two years with Jan Savitt beginning in 1938, then was in and out of the Benny Goodman band through the first half of the '40s, at one point pressed into service by the American military.

In the late '40s he was a regular collaborator with Billy Butterfield but also skimmed the New York City freelance cream, filling up several pitchers with discographical entries. By 1949, he had begun a long term relationship with Eddie Condon, whose work in the name of swing included not only bandleading but running a club in which he ruled the bandstand. Cutshall toured England with Condon in 1957; he was also with Condon in the thick of a stint at Toronto's Colonial Tavern at the time of his death. The trombonist also performed and recorded with clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, singers Bob Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald, and the great Louis Armstrong during a contract with the Decca label. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi