Fats Navarro

Fats Navarro ranks among the most exceptional jazz trumpeters in history, though his career ended far too soon and his impact continues to resonate today. Blending a robust tone with elements drawn from Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie, his playing served as the primary influence on Clifford Brown and, by extension, shaped the approaches of Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw. Before taking up the trumpet, Navarro performed on piano and tenor saxophone. He began working with dance bands at age 17, spent 1943-1944 in Andy Kirk’s orchestra, and took over Dizzy Gillespie’s chair in the Billy Eckstine big band from 1945 to 1946. For the following three years, only Dizzy surpassed Fats among bebop trumpeters. Between 1946 and 1947 he recorded with Kenny Clarke’s Be Bop Boys, Coleman Hawkins, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Illinois Jacquet, and, most importantly, Tadd Dameron. Brief engagements followed with the orchestras of Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman; he maintained his association with Dameron, cut landmark sides with Bud Powell in a quintet featuring a young Sonny Rollins, appeared with the Metronome All-Stars, and participated in a privately taped 1950 Birdland performance alongside Charlie Parker. Heroin addiction compounded the difficulties of a fatal tuberculosis infection that claimed his life at 26. His work from the 1946-1949 period is thoroughly preserved, with the majority of those sessions now issued on CD, yet Navarro’s potential remained far from fully realized.