Max Kaminsky (September 7, 1908 – September 6, 1994) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.

Biography

Kaminsky was born in

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population is 105,643 as of the 2020 United States Census. Along with Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County. It is the sixth-largest city in Mas ...

, near Boston, to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. He began his career in Boston in 1924 and, by 1928, was working in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with George Wettling and

Frank Teschemacher Frank Teschemacher (March 13, 1906 – March 1, 1932) was an American jazz clarinetist and alto-saxophonist, associated with the "Austin High" gang (along with Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman and others). Early life and education He was born in ...

at the Cinderella Ballroom and in New York for a brief period in 1929 with

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. Biography Early life and career Nichols was born in Ogden, Utah, United States. His father was a college music profes ...

. He was primarily known for performing in the

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...

idiom. At one time he played for the

Original Dixieland Jass Band The Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was a Dixieland jazz band that made the first jazz recordings in early 1917. Their " Livery Stable Blues" became the first jazz record ever issued. The group composed and recorded many jazz standards, the ...

. From about 1933–1938, he worked in commercially oriented dance bands, at the same time recording with Eddie Condon and

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

Chocolate Dandies ''The Chocolate Dandies'' is a Broadway musical in two acts that opened September 1, 1924, at the New Colonial Theatre and ran for 96 performances – finishing November 22, 1924. Initial production The 1924 debut of ''The Chocolate Dandies' ...

(1933) and with

Mezz Mezzrow Milton Mesirow (November 9, 1899 – August 5, 1972), better known as Mezz Mezzrow, was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist from Chicago, Illinois. He is remembered for organizing and financing recording sessions with Tommy Ladnier ...

(1933–34). He played with

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

(1936, 1938) and

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

(briefly in 1938), performed and recorded with

Bud Freeman Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 – March 15, 1991) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing tenor saxophone, but also the clarinet. Biography In 1922, Freeman and some friends from high sc ...

(1939–40) and worked again with Shaw (1941–43), who led a navy band with which Kaminsky toured the South Pacific. From 1942, he took part in important concerts in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

that were organized by Condon at Carnegie Hall and Town Hall, and from the following year he played

with various groups. He also worked in the 1940s with

Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic tempe ...

, George Brunis, Art Hodes,

Joe Marsala Joseph Francis Marsala (January 4, 1907 – March 4, 1978) was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist and songwriter. His younger brother was trumpeter Marty Marsala and he was married to jazz harpist Adele Girard. Music career He was born in C ...

Willie "The Lion" Smith William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973), nicknamed "The Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist. Early life William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen ...

, and Jack Teagarden. On December 15, 1949, he played the opening o
Birdland
with Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Hot Lips Page, and Lennie Tristano. He began to work as a musician for television programs, and led

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

's personal band for several seasons, toured Europe with Teagarden's and Earl Hines' ''All Stars'' (1957), and performed at the Metropole and Ryan's in New York (at intervals from the late 1960s to 1983, the

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...

and the New York World's Fair (1964–5). In 1975–76 he made recordings as a leader that well illustrate his style, which is full-toned, economical and swinging in the manner of

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wr ...

, Freddy Keppard and Louis Armstrong. ''My Life in Jazz'', Kaminsky's autobiography written with V. E. Hughes, was published in 1963 and concentrates on his early career.

Death

He died on September 6, 1994, the day before his 86th birthday. The trumpeter's collection of photographs, reel to reel tapes, and jazz artifacts is housed at the

Hogan Jazz Archive The Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, and is one of the special collections of the Tulane University library. The archive specializes in Dixieland Jazz, gospel, blues, rhyt ...

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

in New Orleans. His family believed the university's location was the most fitting for the donation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaminsky, Max 1908 births 1994 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Jewish American musicians Dixieland trumpeters Jazz musicians from Massachusetts Musicians from Brockton, Massachusetts Place of death missing 20th-century American musicians 20th-century trumpeters 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians The Chocolate Dandies members 20th-century American Jews