Sonny Cohn

George T. "Sonny" Cohn (born March 14, 1925 in Chicago , Illinois ; † November 7, 2006 ibid) was an American jazz trumpeter who played from 1960 to 1990 in the Count Basie Orchestra .

Sonny Cohn grew up on the West Side of Chicago (his father was employed by the Post) and received his first trumpet when he was nine. He played in his sister's band ( Frances & Her Rhythm Kings ) as a teenager in Chicago . In 1942 he became a professional musician when he played in a band of saxophonist Richard Fox. He then played with Captain Walter Dyett's DuSable-ites and from 1943 to 1945 in a US Army band. From 1945 he was in the band of Red Saunders , who at the time had a sextet that played in the Capital Lounge in Chicago, but was soon expanded back into a big band . He recorded with Saunders and was part of the band through several contraction processes. The band played at Club DeLisa in Chicago. In 1960 he joined Count Basie's big band at the invitation of Count Basie . He stayed there for six years after Count Basie's death in 1984 (i.e. until 1990) and then returned to Chicago, where he continued to be active as a musician for more than 20 years, but officially retired. He accompanied, for example, Morris Ellis and Von Freeman . He had a bypass operation in 2002, but played again soon after and recorded in 2004 (the spiritual recording Living for the Lord by his niece Sheryl Swope-DuPree).

He was not only solo trumpeter with Basie, but also road manager from 1974, as he was considered reliable.

literature

• Digby Fairweather: Cohn, Sonny, in: Barry Kernfeld (Ed.): New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Macmillan 1994
• P. Vacher: The Sonny Cohn Story, Jazz Journal, Volume 16, Issue 9, 1963, p. 3
• S. Traill: Sonny Cohn, Jazz Journal, Volume 22, Issue 7, 1969, p. 6
• Interview, Jazz Journal, Volume 30, Issue 2, 1977, p. 22
• Stanley Dance: The world of Count Basie, 1980

Web links

• Sonny Cohn at Allmusic (English)