Willie Thomas (trumpeter)


Willie Thomas is an American jazz trumpeter, author and educator.

Biography

Willie Thomas was raised in Orlando, Florida and started playing the trumpet around the age of 10.
In the 1950s, Willie was a member of the Third Army Band, where he met and played with pianist Wynton Kelly, which became his first real break into the New York jazz scene.
In his 45 years as a jazz trumpeter, Thomas has performed or recorded with many jazz greats including the MJT+3 with Frank Strozier and Bob Cranshaw, the Slide Hampton Octet with Freddie Hubbard and George Coleman, the Woody Herman Orchestra, the Al Belletto Sextet, and singer Peggy Lee.
Thomas created the series of jazz educational books Jazz Anyone...?. He has also an active member of the International Association for Jazz Education and was inducted into the International Association of Jazz Educators' Jazz Education Hall of Fame in 1994.

Personal life

Willie married American jazz singer Jerri Winters.

Selected discography

As leader

With Woody Herman and Tito Puente
With Slide Hampton
With MJT+3
With Peggy Lee
With Bill Henderson
  • His complete Vee-Jay Recordings Vol. 1
With Bill Barron'
The Jazz Anyone.....? series, published by Alfred Music: