Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jiggs Whigham was born Oliver Haydn Whigham III on August 20, 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio and began his professional career at the age of 17, joining the Glenn Miller/Ray McKinley orchestra in 1961. He left that band for Stan Kenton, where he played in the touring mellophonium band in 1963 before settling in New York City to play commercially.
Finding commercial playing frustrating, Whigham migrated to Germany where he still lives. He played for many years in the big band of Kurt Edelhagen, was a featured soloist in the Bert Kaempfert orchestra, and was also a member of the Peter Herbolzheimer band.
He has produced an extensive discography as a leader, including work with Bill Holman, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Carl Fontana, and many others.
Recent years have seen Jiggs as musical director of the RIAS Big Band in Berlin, Germany. He is formerly conductor of the BBC Big Band in Great Britain and currently co-director of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra with singer Marc Secara.
As an educator he has taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, been a visiting tutor and artist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and KUG in Graz, Austria
He is featured on the Berlin Jazz Orchestra albums Update, You’re Everything, Songs of Berlin and music DVD Strangers In Night – The Music Of Bert Kaempfert. He is artist-in-residence for the Conn-Selmer company, maker of the King Jiggs Whigham model trombone.
Trombonist Jiggs Whigham is the musical director for the Bundesjazzorchester working with the top student jazz musicians in Germany. He continues to tour worldwide as soloist, conductor, and educator.
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