Al Hirt

Al Hirt. , Panel 2 , The son of a policeman, Alois Maxwell Hirt made his musical debut at the Saenger Theater at age six with the Junior Police Band. He gained a reputation as a prodigy on the classics, but his first professional job was playing at the racetrack. In 1940 Hirt won a scholarship to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he developed a serious interest in jazz. After returning to New Orleans in 1942, he spent four years in the Army Air Force as a bugler, then toured with the big bands of Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and others. His first recording was made in 1950, a path that would eventually lead to fifty albums (four gold and one platinum), twenty-one Grammy nominations, and a Grammy for Best Non-Jazz Instrumental in 1964 for "Java" which remained on the Billboard charts for 104 weeks. Even before his recording successes in the 1960's, Al Hirt had established himself not only as a major tourist attraction on Bourbon Street but also as an ambassador of New Orleans jazz in Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York. In 1955 he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, and six years later his celebrity was such that he was invited to perform at the Inaugural Ball of John F. Kennedy. During more than six decades as a professional musician, Hirt performed for six presidents, Princess Grace , Pope John Paul II, and countless appreciative fans. In a city renowned for musicians, Al Hirt remains a trumpeter whose legacy fits with that tradition, spanning classical, popular, and jazz genres. , Panel 3 , Dan's Pier 600 at Bourbon and St. Louis Streets. 1956-8. L-R Bob Havens (trombone), Harvey Robin (Piano), Eddie Miller (tenor sax), Harold Cooper (clarinet), Paul Edwards (drums), Bob Coquille (bass), And Al Hirt (trumpet and leader) , An Italian audience thrills to Hirt in Rome. , Panel 4 , Despite his success, he remained modest, describing himself as "a crowd pleaser. I play what the people want to hear." A musician of astounding technical virtuosity and power, Al Hirt earned the lasting respect of many of his contemporaries in the jazz world. As Pete Fountain, a colleague of fifty years, put it "Jumbo could play anything."