Cat Anderson


William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson was an American jazz trumpeter known for his long period as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra and for his wide range, especially his ability to play in the altissimo register.

Biography

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, Anderson lost both parents when he was four years old, and was sent to live at the Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston, where he learned to play trumpet. Classmates gave him the nickname "Cat" based on his fighting style. He toured and made his first recording with the Carolina Cotton Pickers, a small group based at the orphanage. After leaving the Cotton Pickers, Anderson played with guitarist Hartley Toots, Claude Hopkins' big band, Doc Wheeler's Sunset Orchestra, with whom he also recorded, Lucky Millinder, the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, Sabby Lewis's Orchestra, and Lionel Hampton, with whom he recorded the classic "Flying Home No. 2".
Anderson's career took off, however, in 1944, when he joined Duke Ellington's orchestra at the Earle Theater in Philadelphia. He quickly became a central part of Ellington's sound. Although Anderson was a very versatile musician, capable of playing in a number of jazz styles, he is most renowned for his abilities in the extreme high or "altissimo" range. He had a big sound in all registers, but could play up to a "triple C" with great power. Wynton Marsalis called him "one of the best" high-note trumpeters. But he was much more than just a high-note trumpeter - he was also a master of half valve and plunger mute playing. Dan Morgenstern said of him that "he was...the band's Number One utility trumpeter, capable of filling in for anyone else who was not there." He played with Ellington's band from 1944 to 1947, from 1950 to 1959, and from 1961 to 1971, with each break corresponding to a brief hiatus to lead and front his own big band. In addition to his work on trumpet, he was a very skilled arranger and composer - he performed his own compositions "El Gato" and Bluejean Beguine" with Ellington, and others of his compositions and arrangements with his own band, for example on his 1959 record album for Mercury, "Cat on a Hot Tin Horn."
After 1971, Anderson settled in the Los Angeles area, where he continued to play studio sessions, to perform with local bands, and to tour Europe. He died of cancer in 1981.

Discography

With Gene Ammons
With Louie Bellson
With Duke Ellington
With Ella Fitzgerald
With Lionel Hampton
With Johnny Hodges
With Quincy Jones
With others