Herbie Harper

Herbie Harper established himself as a skilled trombonist within the West Coast jazz community throughout the 1950s, yet after 1955 he devoted the bulk of his time to studio work while making occasional returns to jazz performance. He first worked in Charlie Spivak’s Orchestra from 1944 to 1947, then made his home in Los Angeles, where he performed locally with Teddy Edwards and maintained brief engagements with Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Stan Kenton in 1950. During the decade he also appeared on recordings alongside June Christy, Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Benny Carter, and Barnet, while issuing five albums under his own name between 1954 and 1957 on the Nocturne, Tampa, Bethlehem, and Mode labels. Studio commitments dominated his schedule thereafter, though he resurfaced to perform with Bob Florence’s big band and, during the 1980s, cut sessions for SeaBreeze as well as a date with Bill Perkins issued by VSOP.