Cat Anderson

William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson ( born September 12, 1916 in Greenville, South Carolina, † April 29, 1981 in Norwalk, California ) was an American jazz trumpeter. Cat Anderson, was especially known for his five -octave -range game in the upper registers.

Life and work

Anderson lost both parents at age four and grew up in an orphanage in Charleston, South Carolina, on. There he learned to play in the Jenkins Orphanage band trumpet. His nickname Cat is said to come from his fighting style in wrangles his school days and was used by him for life.

He went first with the Carolina Cotton Pickers, a band of former members of the orphanage, on tour and took first plates. After that he played with guitarist Hartley Toots and Claude Hopkins' big band, Doc Wheeler's Sunset Orchestra, with Lucky Millinder, the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, Sabby Lewis Orchestra and with Lionel Hampton, with whom he recorded the classic Flying Home.

A new step on the career ladder he climbed in 1944, when he became a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He quickly became a central part of the Ellington sound. Anderson could play a variety of jazz styles, but his game in extremely high vocal registers was his trademark. According to his own words, it was the fact that another trumpet player by his playing at high altitudes him constantly the girls took away what Anderson hoped remedy the fact that he constantly played so. There are filming, is seen on those as well audible Anderson plays a solo without a microphone, while the other band members played in front of individual microphones. He played 1944-1949, 1950-1959 and between 1961-1971 at Ellington, interrupted by periods when he tried to lead his own orchestra. In 1972 he joined the Berlin Jazz Festival with the Charles Mingus Quintet ( " Perdido ").

After Ellington's death, Anderson settled in Los Angeles where he continued to make studio recordings with local bands like Louie Bellsons and Bill Berry's big bands. Occasionally, he toured Europe, particularly with Lionel Hampton. He died in 1981 of a brain tumor.

Swell

  • Jazz: the Rough Guide ( 2nd edition ). The Rough Guides, 2000. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
  • " Cat Anderson " - Scott Yanow at All Music Guide
  • Cat Anderson at Discogs (English)
  • Jazz trumpeter
  • American musician
  • Born 1916
  • Died in 1981
  • Man
Jazzfest Berlin Perdido (song) Bill Berry (trumpeter) Clark Terry Integrated Authority File
170045
de