Jimmy Cleveland

Among the finest trombonists to emerge through the 1950s, Jimmy Cleveland continues to be overlooked since moving to LA in the later ’60s. He began on trombone when he was 16, and his initial important work was with Lionel Hampton (1950-1953). After Hampton’s Western european tour of 1953, Cleveland became a active freelance musician in NY, making many documenting periods (including with Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson, Oscar Pettiford, Lucky Thompson, Adam Moody, and Gerry Mulligan). He toured European countries with Quincy Jones in 1959-1960, and used Thelonious Monk’s 1967 octet, but usually stayed in NY until likely to the Western world Coast to try out using the Merv Griffin Show’s music group also to continue documenting for Quincy Jones. Jimmy Cleveland continues to be perhaps one of the most officially skilled from the bop-based trombonists, but still appears with an abnormal basis in LA clubs.