Al Hirt
Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (* 7. November 1922 in New Orleans , Louisiana ; † 27. April 1999 ) was an American with the Grammy excellent jazz - and easy listening - trumpeter and bandleader .
Life
Hirt was born the son of a police officer; he was known under the name "Al" or "Jumbo". He started playing the trumpet at the age of six and was a professional trumpeter at 16. In 1940 he went to Cincinnati to study at the Conservatory of Music there. After World War II , he played in several Swing - big bands .
During the 1960s, Hirt, at times under the name "Al (He's The King) Hurt" (sic), was one of the most popular trumpeters alongside Herb Alpert . Between 1961 and 1968 he placed a total of 19 albums in the top 200 of the American Billboard charts . Four works were awarded gold for 500,000 units sold: Honey in the Horn (1963, with Hirt's biggest single hit, Java , a fourth place in the USA and a Grammy Award winner), Cotton Candy , Sugar Lips (1964) and The Best of Al Hirt (1965). Hirt's collaboration with actress and singer Ann-Margret on the joint album Beauty And The Beard (1964) also received a lot of attention . His close friendship with the jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain , who played in his band in the 1950s, is also worth mentioning. The two often played together, including the album Bourbon Street (1962).
Among other things, Hirt was selected to record the theme music Flight of the Bumblebee for the short-lived TV series The Green Hornet . This piece, arranged by Billy May , is based on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's flight of the bumblebee and demonstrated Hirt's technical sophistication. The piece regained popularity when it became part of the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film Kill Bill .
From 1961, Hirt ran his own club named after him in the French Quarter of New Orleans for two decades. In 1967 he appeared as part of the Super Bowl I halftime show . A year later he recorded a tribute album with Al Hirt Plays Bert Kaempfert for the German composer and orchestra conductor Bert Kaempfert , whose songs were very popular in the USA at the time. This was his last placement in the top 200 of the US albums chart.
Hirt died of liver failure in 1999 after spending a year in a wheelchair due to edema . Ten years later, he was posthumously inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
Discographic notes
- The Best of Dixieland: Al Hirt ( Verve Records , 1956) with Pete Fountain
literature
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
Web links
- Al Hirt at Discogs (English)
- Al Hirt at Allmusic (English)
- Al Hirt in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/al-hirt
- ↑ http://www.spaceagepop.com/hirt.htm
- ^ Joel Whitburn: Top Pop Albums 1955-2001. Billboard / Record Research, 2001, ISBN 0-89820-147-0
- ↑ Music Sales Awards: US
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Al-Hirt-And-Ann-Margret-Beauty-And-The-Beard/master/589829
- ^ The green Hornet.Retrieved February 13, 2013
- ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-al-hirt-1090277.html
- ↑ https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/just-because-trumpeter-al-hirt-was-former-super-bowl-halftime-staple/
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Al-Hirt-Hirt-Plays-Bert-Kaempfert/release/2318219
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/28/arts/al-hirt-76-trumpeter-and-symbol-of-new-orleans-dies.html
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Shepherd, Al |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Shepherd, Alois Maxwell (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American trumpeter and band leader |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 7, 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Orleans |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 27, 1999 |
| Place of death | New Orleans |