Johnny Best

Johnny Best ( born October 20, 1913 in Shelby ( North Carolina) junior Johnny McClanian; † 20 September 2003 in La Jolla ( California)) was an American jazz trumpeter of swing.

Life and work

Best played piano as a child; From 1927 he learned trumpet. During his college years he played with the Sunnyland Serenaders, then with the Duke Blue Devils. He started his career in 1934 with Les Brown and then played with Charlie Barnet and Artie Shaw ( 1937-1939 ). From 1939 to 1942 he was a member of the orchestra of Glenn Miller. He then moved to Bob Crosby before he was drafted for military service and the military bands of Shaw (1942-1943) and Sam Donahue (1944-1945) worked. After joining Benny Goodman (1945-1946), he moved to Hollywood to work in the studio of NBC.

He also starred in the film The Glenn Miller Story with. In 1953, he was with Billy May on tour and founded in the 1950s and his own band. He also worked as avocado growers. In 1964, he was with Crosby in Japan; He also worked in nightclubs such as the Honeybucket in San Diego. In the 1970s, he was with Ray Conniff, as well as traveling with The World's Greatest Jazz Band, where he replaced the stylistically quite similar Billy Butterfield. Despite a heavy crash in his avocado Garden in 1982 and made ​​him dependent on a wheelchair, he continued his musical activities: With Zeke Zarchy he was in 1990 in Japan; In 1992 he visited the Glenn Miller Alumni Reunion Great Britain.

Best is also on recordings by Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, listen to the Andrew Sisters, Al Jolson and Mildred Bailey. After Digby Fairweather he is regarded as " one of the best and most underrated swing trumpet players."

Lexigraphic entries

  • Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather & Brian Priestley: Jazz. The ultimate guide ( "Jazz. The Rough Guide ", 1995). Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 978-3-476-01892-2.
  • Brian Peerless: Harry Order In: Barry core box (ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 3rd edition, St. Martin's Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-19-516909-3.
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