Introduction
Karl George (1913 – 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter.
Early life and career
Karl Curtis George was born on April 06, 1913, in St. Louis, Missouri.
He began his career playing with McKinney's Cotton Pickers(1933) and the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra. Later in the 1930s he spent time in the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra and then in the orchestras of Teddy Wilson (1939–40) and Lionel Hampton (1941-42).
He served in the Army in 1942-43, then moved to California and played with notable musicians. The mid-1940s was his prime period, when he worked with Stan Kenton (1943), Benny Carter (1944), Count Basie (1945), and Happy Johnson (1946).
He led his own group on record in 1945-46, and played in sessions led by Charles Mingus, Slim Gaillard, Oscar Pettiford, Dinah Washington, and Lucky Thompson.
Bad health forced his retirement, and he stopped performing after the late 1940s. He died in May 1978; he was 65.
Discography
With Count Basie
- The Original American Decca Recordings (GRP, 1937-39 [1992])
With Stan Kenton
- Stan Kenton's Milestones (Capitol, 1943-47 [1950])
- Stan Kenton Classics (Capitol, 1944-47 [1952])
- The Kenton Era (Capitol, 1940–54, [1955])