Renowned big-band trombonist in the bands of Benny Goodman, Stan
Kenton, Nelson Riddle, Andre Previn, John Williams, Henry Mancini and
Ray Brown. He was orphaned at age 10, and then came to Chicago to live
with relatives. His first studies were on the tuba, but he switched to
trombone at age twelve. By age 16, he was already a member of the Boyd
Raeburn band, booked at the former Bandbox in Chicago. In 1944 he was
drafted into the US army, and had been ordered to Okinawa when an
abrupt change transferred him instead into an Army band, a move later
believed by his son as saving his life. In 1986, he created the Big
Band Academy of America to advocate and archive big-band music and
history.
