Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Louis “King” Garcia was born on August 25, 1905 in Juncos, Puerto Rico and played early in his life in the Municipal Band of San Juan, whose director was Juan Tizol’s uncle, Manuel Tizol. This led to some work with the Victor Recording Orchestra.

Moving to the United States in the early 1920s during the Jazz Age, he played with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and the Emil Coleman Orchestra. The Thirties saw him increasingly working in the studios, including his most important association, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, which he recorded with both together and separately. He also played with the Vic Berton Orchestra, Richard Himber, Nat Brandwyne, Amanda Randolph, Louis Prima, and vocalist Amanda Randolph.

In the 1940s he returned to play with Coleman again, and led his own Latin ensemble that decade. By the 1960s he had moved to California and faded from the scene, essentially retiring due to failing health.

Trumpeter and bandleader King Garcia, who spent most of his career in the United States, passed away in Los Angeles, California on September 4, 1983.

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