Albert Killian (October 15, 1916 – September 5, 1950) 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 occasional bandleader during the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

era.

Early life and career

Killian was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, on October 15, 1916. Killian got his start playing with Charlie Turner's Arcadians (mid-1930s) and went on to play with big bands led by Baron Lee,

Teddy Hill Teddy Hill (December 7, 1909 in Birmingham, Alabama – May 19, 1978 in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American big band leader and the manager of Minton's Playhouse, a seminal jazz club in Harlem. He played a variety of instruments, including dru ...

Don Redman Donald Matthew Redman (July 29, 1900 – November 30, 1964) was an American jazz musician, arranger, bandleader, and composer. Biography Redman was born in Piedmont, Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. His father was a music teacher ...

, and

Claude Hopkins Claude Driskett Hopkins (August 24, 1903 – February 19, 1984) was an American jazz stride pianist and bandleader. Biography Claude Hopkins was born in Alexandria, Virginia, United States. Historians differ in respect of the actual date of his ...

. In the early to mid-1940s, he swapped between bands led by

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

and

Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Skyliner", " Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffl ...

, as well as being with Lionel Hampton for period in 1945. Killian appeared on film several times, but also attracted attention for a racist incident in which he was not part of a film recording. In this, Killian and bandmate Paul Webster, both African Americans, participated in the audio recording of

's orchestra for Monogram Pictures's ''

Freddie Steps Out ''Freddie Steps Out'' is a 1946 American film starring Freddie Stewart. It is the second in The Teen Agers series. Plot Freddie Trimball is a high school student. He happens to bear an amazing resemblance to Frankie Troy, one of the most popula ...

'', but executives ordered that the subsequent filming of the band be done without them. In 1946, Killian played with

Norman Granz Norman Granz (August 6, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was an American jazz record producer and concert promoter. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impres ...

Jazz at the Philharmonic Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP (1944–1983), was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz. Over the years, "Jazz at the Philharmonic" featured many of the era's preeminent musicians, including Lou ...

concert series. An interest in

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

led to Killian forming his own band to play the new music in 1947, but this was short-lived. Following this he briefly toured with bands led by

Earle Spencer Robert Earle Spencer (born 26 June 1925 Welborn, Kansas – 19 September 1973 Fillmore, Utah) was an American trombonist and leader of a progressive swing big band bearing his name — Earle Spencer and His Orchestra. He formed the band in 1946 ...

and Boyd Raeburn, before landing a spot in Duke Ellington's band, with which he toured and recorded from 1947 to 1950. On September 5 of the year that he left Ellington, Killian was murdered in his Los Angeles home by "a psychopathic landlord".

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City ...

wrote in ''The Swing Era'' (1989):

Killian was without a doubt the greatest of the Late-Swing-Era high-note lead trumpeters. Not necessarily an outstanding jazz soloist, Killian specialized in stratospheric trumpeting which was totally consistent and often defied belief. His death in Los Angeles at the hands of a crazed landlord in 1950 was a stunning loss to jazz.Schuller, Gunther (1989) ''The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945,''
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
; ; ;

References

External links

Allmusic

{{DEFAULTSORT:Killian, Al 1916 births 1950 deaths Jump blues musicians East Coast blues musicians American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Duke Ellington Orchestra members 20th-century American musicians American male jazz musicians Earle Spencer Orchestra members 20th-century American male musicians