Fred Lee Beckett (January 23, 1917 – January 30, 1946) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

trombonist known for his work with the

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

Big Band and other jazz groups. Beckett was born in 1917 in

Nettleton, Mississippi Nettleton is a town in Lee and Monroe counties in Mississippi. The population was 1,935 at the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1888, the town was named after George Henry Nettleton, president of the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad (K ...

and learned to play trombone in his high school band.

Career

Beckett's professional career began in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

in the 1930s, and soon after he landed a job with Eddie Johnson's Crackerjacks in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. He played with Duke Wright,

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, and Andy Kirk over the next few years, as well as time in a

territory band Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, six or seven n ...

with Prince Stewart and a gig in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

with

Nat Towles Nat Towles (August 10, 1905 – January 1963) was an American musician, jazz and big band leader popular in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, North Omaha, Nebraska and Chicago, Illinois. He was also music educator in Austin, Texas. The N ...

. Later in the decade he played with

Harlan Leonard Harlan Leonard (July 2, 1905 – November 10, 1983) was an American jazz bandleader and clarinetist from Kansas City, Missouri, United States. Leonard was born in Kansas City in 1905. A professional musician from the age of 17, he joined Bennie M ...

. Beckett's musical style has been described as flexible and legato. In the early 1940s, Beckett played with

, performing behind vocalists like

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

. He served in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, where he contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. He died of the illness in 1946 at the age of 28.

References

* Fred Beckett profile Allmusic.com; accessed August 13, 2015. 1917 births 1946 deaths American jazz trombonists Male trombonists 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Place of death missing 20th-century trombonists People from Nettleton, Mississippi Jazz musicians from Mississippi 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Tuberculosis deaths in Missouri United States Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Mississippi {{US-jazz-trombonist-stub