Milt Larkin

Milt (on) Larkin ( born October 10, 1910 in Navasota, Texas, † 31 August 1996 in Houston, Texas) was an American jazz trumpeter.

The self-taught Larkin stepped in Texas on with musicians such as Chester Boone and Giles Mitchell (Birmingham Blue Blowers ). From 1936 to 1942 he led a band Territory, later greats such as Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, Eddie " Cleanhead " Vinson, and Wild Bill Davis belonged. 1942 occurred the band that was on tour nationwide, in Chicago with T -Bone Walker. The band was then compared with the orchestras of Jimmie Lunceford and Cab Calloway. Larkin refused because of the discriminatory low wages for African-American musicians by the record labels to go into the recording studio.

From 1943 to 1946 Larkin was with the U.S. Army, where he was part of a military band under Sy Oliver and valve trombone learned to play. After his military service he took up his "Chicken Blues" and led other bands ( including The X - Rays ), with whom he was on tour. His trumpet playing is documented on Arnett Cobb Album Flower Garden Blues / Big League Blues from 1947. Since 1956 he lived in New York City, where he led the band of Harlem's Apollo Theater and often performing with its own septet at Celebrity Club. Since 1977 he was back in Houston as a bandleader; he was honorary chairman of the Milt Larkin Jazz Society and head of the Organization Get Involved Now that the promotion of young jazz musicians devoted himself.