William Richard Berry (September 14, 1930 – November 13, 2002)[1] was an American jazz trumpeter, best known for playing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in the early-1960s, and for leading his own big band.
Bill Berry
| |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Richard Berry |
| Born | September 14, 1930 Benton Harbor, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | November 13, 2002 (aged 72) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Instruments | Trumpet |
Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan,[1] Berry was the son of a bass player in a touring dance band. He spent his early years traveling with his parents.[2] From the age of five, he took piano lessons at his parents' home in South Bend, Indiana. In high school in Cincinnati, he switched to trumpet, which he played in a Midwest band led by Don Strickland.[1] Berry studied at the Cincinnati College of Music and Berklee College of Music in Boston, and played trumpet with the Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson orchestra.[1]
Berry served four years in the United States Air Force. In 1961, he became one of the Duke Ellington orchestra's first white members.[3]
After his working with Ellington, he played with The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra and led his own big band in New York. In 1965, he joined The Merv Griffin Show, where he remained for fifteen years, moving to Los Angeles with Griffin and reforming his group as the L.A. Big Band in 1971.[1] Jack Nimitz, a baritone saxophonist in his band, said "He knew how to get what he wanted out of the band in a very relaxed way — nice and easy, no shouting."[2] Among the most successful of his own recordings[4] was Shortcake (Concord, 1978),[1] an album of jazz for small group in the Ellington style;[5] he appeared on many albums by other musicians, including Rosemary Clooney (Everything's Coming Up Rosie), Scott Hamilton (Scott Hamilton Is a Good Wind Who Is Blowing Us No Ill), Jake Hanna (Live at Concord), and Coleman Hawkins (Wrapped Tight).
With Frank Capp
With Duke Ellington
With Maynard Ferguson
With Thad Jones/Mel Lewis
With others