Benny Powell

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Benjamin Gordon "Benny" Powell (born March 1, 1930 in New Orleans , Louisiana , † June 26, 2010 ) was an American jazz trombonist .

Live and act

Powell, who lost his father in early childhood, was influenced at an early age by the music of marching bands and parades, initially played drums and began playing the trombone at the age of twelve, which his uncle got for him. He attended Alabama State Teacher's College for a short time and then went on tour with local bands. He had his first professional job at the age of 14 in troop support; at the age of sixteen he was in Texas for one year in the band of King Kolax ; after that he was a member of Ernie Fields ' Territory Band in Tulsa in 1947 . From 1948 to 1951 he worked for Lionel Hampton . His early role model was trombonist JJ Johnson ; one of his patrons in the Hampton Band was Betty Carter , who encouraged him to play bebop . In early 1951, after a guest performance in Ottawa , he left the Hamptons Orchestra and lived for some time in Hull , Québec . He then moved to New York and performed at the Apollo Theater in the band of saxophonist Joe Thomas , who also belonged to Charlie Fowlkes . He recommended him to Count Basie , who put together a new big band .

From October 1951 to 1963 he was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra , in whose recordings for Clef and Roulette and whose successful title “ April in Paris ” in 1955 he participated as a soloist. During this time, recordings were also made with smaller ensembles, for example with Buck Clayton in 1953, at a session led by Frank Wess and Osie Johnson , and with Donald Byrd and Gigi Gryce ( Jazz Lab sessions) in the late 1950s.

In the 1960s and 1970s he was a member of Duke Pearson's Big Band and the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra ( Berkeley Jazz Festival 1968), played in orchestras on Broadway and led his own bands. He spent ten years with the Merv Griffin Show orchestra in Hollywood , where he worked as a studio musician before moving to New York City in the early 1980s , where he has since worked with musicians such as Abdullah Ibrahim , John Carter and Randy Weston . In the field of jazz, he was involved in 438 recording sessions between 1949 and 2009, according to Tom Lord .

He was one of the sponsors of Jane Jarvis , who did not start making records until she was 70. Powell also worked as a jazz teacher at Jazzmobile and New York's New School, and as a music manager.

Lexical entry

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 28, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Powell, Benny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Powell, Benjamin Gordon (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trombonist
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans , Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 2010