1950's Swing & Bebop, Trumpet player ROY ELDRIDGE 8x10 photo, "Little Jazz"

Description

8x10 black & white photo printed on light card stock - TRUMPET player Roy Eldridge
David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989),
nicknamed "Little Jazz",
was an American jazz trumpeter.
His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from the dominant style of jazz trumpet innovator Louis Armstrong
, and his strong impact on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most influential musicians of the swing era and a precursor of bebop.
played with Tenor Sax- Flip Phillips as part of "Flip and Jazz" in the late 40's
Eldridge was instrumental in changing the course of Krupa's big band from schmaltz to jazz. The group's cover of Jimmy Dorsey's "Green Eyes," previously an entirely orchestral work, was transformed into jazz via Eldridge's playing; critic Dave Oliphant notes that Eldridge "lift[ed]" the tune "to a higher level of intensity.
As the featured soloist in Artie Shaw and Gene Krupa's bands
, Eldridge was something of an exception, as black musicians in the 1930s were not allowed to appear in public with white bands. Artie Shaw commented on the difficulty Roy had in his band, noting that "Droves of people would ask him for his autograph at the end of the night, but later, on the bus, he wouldn't be able to get off and buy a hamburger with the guys in the band." Krupa, on at least one occasion, spent several hours in jail and paid fines for starting a fistfight with a restaurant manager who refused to let Eldridge eat with the rest of the band.