Biography
Locating trombonist George Hunt requires little effort even inside an average record shop. One heads to the jazz aisle, locates the Count Basie section, and selects any compilation drawn from the band’s classic period. The search ends there, provided the chosen anthology does not bypass the late-1930s years when Hunt performed with Basie. Should that material be absent, a Billie Holiday anthology frequently yields the same musician among the other brass players, poised to add an obbligato.
Most of Hunt’s colleagues in these recordings were also natives of Kansas City, the city where he entered the world near the beginning of the twentieth century and where his professional path opened in 1932 inside Bennie Moten’s orchestra. Basie later secured his services for an engagement at the Reno Club and subsequently transported the trombonist to New York. Hunt’s comparatively brief tenure as a musician, which also encompasses occasional work on tuba and trumpet, proceeded through further engagements with major ensembles led by Fletcher Henderson, Erskine Tate, and Earl Hines. Within the broader landscape of early jazz he remained one of many unheralded participants whose contributions never attracted widespread public notice. Such recognition appears never to have been his objective. After returning to Chicago in the early 1940s he took his own life.
Most of Hunt’s colleagues in these recordings were also natives of Kansas City, the city where he entered the world near the beginning of the twentieth century and where his professional path opened in 1932 inside Bennie Moten’s orchestra. Basie later secured his services for an engagement at the Reno Club and subsequently transported the trombonist to New York. Hunt’s comparatively brief tenure as a musician, which also encompasses occasional work on tuba and trumpet, proceeded through further engagements with major ensembles led by Fletcher Henderson, Erskine Tate, and Earl Hines. Within the broader landscape of early jazz he remained one of many unheralded participants whose contributions never attracted widespread public notice. Such recognition appears never to have been his objective. After returning to Chicago in the early 1940s he took his own life.
Albums
Singles
