Jake Vernon Haven Porter (August 3, 1916 – March 25, 1993) 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 m ...

trumpeter and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. Born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, Porter started playing violin at age seven and switched to cornet at nine. He played locally in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

between 1931 and 1939, playing with Melvin Parks, Lionel Hampton, and Saunders King before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 1940. There he found work playing with

Cee Pee Johnson Cee Pee Johnson (born Clifton Byron Johnson,"Cee Pee's Wife Faints ...

Slam Stewart Leroy Eliot "Slam" Stewart (September 21, 1914December 10, 1987) was an American jazz double bass player, whose trademark style was his ability to bow the bass (arco) and simultaneously hum or sing an octave higher. He was a violinist before swi ...

, and Slim Gaillard; he served in the military in 1942-43 playing in a band at Camp Lockett, near

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. After his discharge he played with

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

, Fats Waller,

Noble Sissle Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical ''Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry". Ea ...

, Fletcher Henderson, Lionel Hampton (1945–46), Horace Henderson, Benny Goodman (briefly in 1947), and

Mel Powell Mel Powell (born Melvin Epstein) (February 12, 1923 – April 24, 1998) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, and the founding dean of the music department at the California Institute of the Arts. He served as a music educator for over ...

(1947). He led his own band at the Down Beat Room Cafe in Los Angeles from late 1947, and also led an all-female ensemble which toured the American South in 1949. He held a residency at the Norbo Grill in 1950. In 1951, Porter founded the label Combo Records, which was active until 1961 and released R&B and doo wop releases in addition to some jazz. Much of the material released on the label was recorded in Porter's basement, and he did a fair bit of songwriting for the releases in addition to recording duties. He did further touring as a bandleader in the 1950s, and freelanced in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in the 1960s. He and Mike Porter collaborated in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1964. He played less later in his life and concentrated on the business aspects of music, working for musicians' unions in the 1970s. However, he toured Europe in 1978 and still played in the 1980s. He died in

at age 76.

Discography

As sideman

;With

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

*1956: ''

Singin' the Blues ''Singin' the Blues'' is the first LP album by American bluesman B.B. King, released in 1957 by the Bihari brothers on their Crown budget label. It is a compilation album whose songs were issued between 1951 and 1956 on singles by RPM Records ...

'' (

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

)

References

* Jake Porterat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

*Howard Rye, "Jake Porter". '' Grove Jazz'' online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Jake 1916 births 1993 deaths Musicians from Oakland, California American jazz bandleaders American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Combo Records artists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century trumpeters Jazz musicians from California 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians