Billy Mackel

John William " Billy" Mackel ( born December 28, 1912 in Baltimore, † 5 May 1986 ) was an American jazz guitarist ( electric guitar) and banjo player.

Mackel first played around Baltimore banjo and joined in the 1930s to the guitar. Beginning of the 1940s he had his own band before he went in 1944 to Lionel Hampton, where he stayed for long intermittently for over thirty years and with whom he made ​​many recordings. In addition to the game in the rhythm section he also had solos and arranged for the band.

He also took with Arnett Cobb, Herbie Fields and Milt Buckner on in the 1940s, and played in the 1960s with Billy Williams. In 1977, he took them under his own name ( At Last, Barclay Studio, Paris) with Frankie Dunlop, drums, Eddie Chamblee, saxophone, Milt Buckner, electronic organ, Michel Gaudry, bass.

Lexical entry

• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley, Jazz Rough Guide. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1999