Larry Douglas

Biography

With a tone that the dean of American jazz critics, Leonard Feather, described as "velvety and silky," Larry Douglas has ruled as one of San Francisco's top trumpet/flugelhorn players for more than three decades. In addition to leading his own electro-acoustic group, the Larry Douglas Alltet, Douglas has worked with such stellar musicians as Freddie Hubbard, Chuck Berry, Albert Collins, Sun Ra and Rufus and Carla Thomas. As a member of Johnny Otis and His Orchestra, his playing was featured on four albums including the Grammy-nominated Spirit Of The Black Territory Bands. His debut solo album Dedications, released in 1985, received a great response from fans in Europe and the Eastern Bloc. Douglas has collaborated with flute/saxophone player, and director of the jazz program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Dr. Karlton Hester since the late-1970s, playing with Hester's groups, the Contemporary Jazz Art Movement and the Hesterian Musicism. The recipient of a Bachelors degree in instrumental music education from Florida A&M, and a Masters of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory, Douglas has shared his knowledge with students at Aptos Middle School, from 1981 until 1990, and Galileo High School of San Francisco, since 1991. He also teaches a jazz history course at Vista Community College. A native of Statesboro, Georgia, Douglas found early inspiration in the music of an older brother, Gary, who played trumpet, and a high school teacher and alto saxophone player, James Blakely. While in college, he and his band, Funk, Incorporated, took first place in the national and international levels of the Budweiser Music Festival competition. He moved to San Francisco, as a member of the United States Army's Sixth Division Band, in 1975. ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide