George Masso

George Masso (left) with Ricky Woodard

George Masso (born November 17, 1926 in Cranston (Rhode Island) ; † October 22, 2019 ) was an American jazz musician ( trombone , piano ), who was best known in swing and in Dixieland .

Live and act

Masso comes from a musical family; the mother was a concert pianist, the father led a dance orchestra as a trombonist. He first played in Jimmy Palmer's orchestra, and during his military service from 1944 to 1945 in an army band in Germany. Then he worked between 1948 and 1950 with Jimmy Dorsey and in the Latin Quarter Orchestra , but turned to the activity as a music teacher ; until 1966 he taught at a school in Rhode Island , then at the University of Connecticut . He only appeared again in public in 1974, first in the sextet of Benny Goodman and with Bobby Hackett (1975) and with The World's Greatest Jazz Band . He led his own band, but also worked with Buck Clayton , Charlie Ventura , Woody Herman and Scott Hamilton / Warren Vaché . He has also recorded with Peggy Lee , George Shearing , Barbara Lea , Bob Haggart and Yank Lawson , as well as with Ken Peplowski , the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Spike Robinson . His frequent label partners were Arbors , Sackville , Audiophile and Nagel-Heyer Records . He also performed regularly at classical jazz festivals and parties.

Masso was also active as a classical composer and arranger and published numerous orchestral works. Some of them belonged to the Third Stream .

Just For a Thrill ( Sackville )
Let's Be Buddies ( Arbors Records , with Dan Barrett )
Trombone Artistry ( Nagel-Heyer Records )
That Old Gang of Mine (Arbors Records, 1996)
At Long Last Love (Arbors Records, 1999)
The Wonderful World of George Gershwin (Nagel-Heyer Records, 1992)
No Frills Just Music (Famous Door)
C'est Manifique! (Nagel-Heyer Records, 1999)
The Trombone Summit (Royal Garden Jazz Club - Graz 2001) with Ed Neumeister , Rudolf Josel , Harald Neuwirth , Klaus Melem , Manfred Josel

Richard Cook: Jazz Encyclopedia London 2007; ISBN 978-0-141-02646-6
Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .

↑ Joe Bebcvo: Trombonist George Masso has died at age 92.Syncopated Times, October 24, 2019, accessed on November 20, 2019 .

personal data
SURNAME	Masso, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American jazz musician (trombone, piano)
DATE OF BIRTH	November 17, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cranston (Rhode Island)
DATE OF DEATH	October 22, 2019