Gene Conners
Gene "Mighty Flea" Conners , occasionally Connors , (born December 28, 1930 in Birmingham , Alabama , † June 10, 2010 in Arizona ) was an American trombonist of modern jazz and rhythm and blues .
Life
Conners' father was an amateur saxophonist who ran a club in his hometown called The Ace of Hearts . He came to music through his mother, who was a founding member of the Original Gospel Harmonettes vocal ensemble . He learned the trombone at the age of seven and worked as a teenager in various musical formations in Birmingham, New Orleans and Chicago . During his military service in the US Navy, he was a band musician for four years and a soloist in a dance band. In 1955 he moved to California and founded the Corvettes formation . In Los Angeles he met Johnny Otis , with whom he would later work frequently, recorded with various local rhythm and blues artists and was a substitute trombonist in Ray Charles' orchestra and in the Count Basie Orchestra (1958).
He later worked with various musicians such as Otis, Esther Phillips , Big Joe Turner , Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson , T-Bone Walker , Joe Liggins , Roy Brown , Pee Wee Crayton , Lionel Hampton , Sammy Price , Ronnie Scott , Doc Cheatham , Ray Charles , Ike and Tina Turner . With the Otis Band and their appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival , Conners can be seen in the Clint Eastwood film Sadistico (1971).
Since 1978 Mighty Flea has played as a soloist and with his own formations at all major jazz and blues festivals in Europe . In Germany he recorded two albums with the English guitarist and songwriter John C. Marshall in the early 1980s .
Gene "Mighty Flea" Connors got his nickname Mighty Flea from his powerful play. In his later years he returned to the United States and settled in Arizona .
Discography
- Coming Home (1976)
- Sanctified (1981)
- Gene Mighty Flea Conners Sings and Plays R&B (1984)
- Jumping the Blues (1995)
Web links
Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Conners, Gene |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Connors, Gene; Mighty flea; Connors, Eugene |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz trombonist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 28, 1930 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Birmingham , Alabama |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 10, 2010 |
| Place of death | Arizona |