Teddy Buckner

Trumpeter Teddy Buckner was a Louis Armstrong devotee whose passion for New Orleans styled jazz and swing took him around the world during a career that spanned more than six decades. He was distantly related to the St. Louis based Buckner family that produced pianist/organist Milt, trumpeter George, as well as saxophonist and Motown session man Ted Buckner. John Edward "Teddy" Buckner was born in Sherman, TX, north of Dallas, on July 16, 1909. Buckner spent five years as a child in Silver City, NM. An uncle taught him to handle drumsticks and play the ukulele; he also studied the trumpet with Harold Scott, a member of the brass section in the Louis Armstrong Orchestra. When he was 15 years old Buckner worked with bandleaders Buddy Garcia and "Big Six" Reeves, then headed for Los Angeles where his trumpet was heard in ensembles led by Sonny Clay, Curtis Mosby, Sylvester Scott, Speed Webb, and Edith Turnham. When in 1934 trumpeter Buck Clayton assumed leadership of an orchestra formerly led by Earl Dancer, pianist Teddy Weatherford arranged for the 14-piece ensemble (which included Buckner) to sail for Shanghai, China for a lengthy residency at the Canidrome Ballroom. Within a year Buckner had returned to California and was working with Irwin C. Miller's Brownskin Models Revue (an organization fated to play a role in the career of R&B vocalist Larry Darnell) and pianist Lorenzo Flennoy. Buckner was hired by Lionel Hampton in 1936, gigged with Hamp's orchestra at the Paradise Club in Los Angeles and assumed leadership of the band while the vibraphonist devoted more of his time to working with Benny Goodman. Teddy Buckner appeared in a number of motion pictures during the 1930s and '40s. Most famously he stood in for Louis Armstrong in Pennies from Heaven and appeared with...