Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Johnny Letman was born September 6, 1917 in McCormick, South Carolina and early in his career played in midwest bands, including those of Jerry Valentine, Scatman Crothers, and Jimmy Raschelle. Moving to Chicago in the middle of the 1930s, he worked with Delbert Bright, Bob Tinsley, Johnny Lang, Nat King Cole, Horace Henderson, and Red Saunders in the late Thirties to early 1940s.

After spending a year or so in Detroit playing with Teddy Buckner and John Kirby, he moved to New York City in 1944. There he performed with Phil Moore, Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Milt Buckner, and Count Basie.

Working extensively as a studio musician and in Broadway shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s worked both in and outside of jazz music, and his associations in these decades included Joe Thomas, Stuff Smith, Chubby Jackson, Panama Francis, Dick Wellstood, Hal Singer, Sam Taylor, Eddie Condon, Wilbur De Paris, and Claude Hopkins.

By 1968 he was playing with Milt Buckner and Tiny Grimes in Paris, France. In the 1970s, he played with Lionel Hampton, Cozy Cole, and Earl Hines. In the mid-Eighties he led the New Orleans Blues Serenaders, and toured Europe. Trumpeter Johnny Letman passed away on July 17, 1992.

More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trumpet