Alton Purnell
Alton Purnell ( born April 16, 1911 in New Orleans, † January 14, 1987 in Inglewood ) was an American jazz pianist of the Hot Jazz; he combined elements from the New Orleans Jazz with the Harlem stride piano.
Life and work
Purnell first came out as a singer. As a pianist, he has been active since 1928. In the next decade he worked in New Orleans in Isaiah Morgan, Alphonse Picou, Big Eye Louis Nelson, Sidney Desvigne and cousin Joe. The mid-1940s he joined across America on with Bunk Johnson. In 1946 he became a member of George Lewis' Ragtime Band, of which he was the next few years and with whom he also went on a European tour.
1957 Purnell moved to Los Angeles where he worked the so-called Young Men From New Orleans, Joe Darensbourg, Kid Ory, Barney Bigard and Ben Pollack with Teddy Buckner. He made several albums as a leader on, for example, for Warner Bros. Records, GHB and Alligator Jazz and was in Europe with Trevor Richards, the White Eagle Jazz Band and the Maryland Jazz Band of Cologne to experience.