Al Killian’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro American jazz trumpet player and occasional bandleader
Was Musician 
Trumpeter 
Jazz musician 
From United States of America 
Type Music 
Gender male
Birth 15 October 1916, Birmingham
Death 5 September 1950, Los Angeles
(aged 33 years)

Albert H. (Al) Killian (October 15, 1916 in Birmingham, Alabama – September 5, 1950 in Los Angeles, California) was an American jazz trumpet player and occasional bandleader during the big band era, also known for playing jump blues and East Coast blues.

Career

Killian was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. 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, Don Redman, Claude Hopkins, Count Basie (1940–1942), Charlie Barnet (off and on from 1943 through 1946) and Lionel Hampton (1945). In 1946 Killian started his own big band, but soon quit bandleading to tour with Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series, where he played alongside such musicians as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lester Young. Following this he briefly toured with bands led by Billy Eckstine, Earle Spencer, and Boyd Raeburn, before landing a spot in Duke Ellington’s band, where he toured and recorded for the last three years of his life. During this time he also led his own record session in Stockholm, and took part in one led by Lester Young, as well as participating in several jam sessions which were also recorded.

Death

After leaving Ellington’s band he settled in Los Angeles, California, where he was murdered, in a case of mistaken identity, by his landlord at the age of 33.

Critical acclaim

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. — Gunther Schuller, 1989
  • Gunther Schuller, The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945, Oxford University Press (1989) ISBN 019504312X; ISBN 9780195043129; ISBN 0195071409; ISBN 9780195071405
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