Karl George

Trumpeter Karl George performs on many a superb big band and vocal jazz record. He is one of the many veteran jazzmen to emerge from the city of St. Louis, but unfortunately spent a long period there in almost total neglect, his failing health preventing him from carrying on as a performer. George's professional career began in the late '30s; prior to the outbreak of the second World War he had already spent several years each in the bands of pianist Teddy Wilson and vibraphonist, percussionist and all-out showman Lionel Hampton. The trumpeter came out of the army on the west coast in 1943 and decided to remain there to see what was happening musically. The next assignment was quite a challenge, a year in the Stan Kenton band. George took on all the high notes and chart complexities as if spreading jam on toast, becoming an essential part of classic Kenton sides from this period including the anxious "Eager Beaver" and the bizarre "Taboo". From here George moved to the Benny Carter ensemble, at that point also functioning from a west coast base. In the mid '40s George brought his own group into the studios to record and also spent a spring in the Count Basie brass section. The track "Peek-A-Boo" by the Karl George Octet, originally released on Melodisc, has been reissued on a Topnotch compilation. For most of 1946 he was still in Los Angeles, playing almost exclusively in a group led by the merry Happy Johnson. This seems to be his final collaboration of note. He retired back in his hometown once his health got the better of him, living in almost total obscurity while recordings he had played on continued to be stocked on record store shelves. ~ Eugene Chadbourneourne, All Music Guide