Howard McGhee

During the late 1940s, from 1945 through 1949, Howard McGhee stood among jazz’s leading trumpeters, delivering fiery performances marked by a distinctly personal tone and ranking with Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro atop the emerging bop generation. Often viewed as the crucial bridge between Roy Eldridge and Navarro—the latter shaping Clifford Brown, who in turn guided most post-1955 brass players—McGhee began on clarinet and tenor before adopting trumpet at age seventeen. Early jobs took him through territory ensembles; he spent 1941 alongside Lionel Hampton, then moved to Andy Kirk’s ranks from 1941 to 1942, where “McGhee Special” spotlighted his solo voice.

He joined the historic after-hours explorations at Minton’s Playhouse and Monroe’s Uptown House, shifting his approach from Eldridge’s model toward Gillespie’s. Subsequent stints included Charlie Barnet’s band from 1942 to 1943, a return to Kirk’s trumpet section—now seated beside Navarro—plus short engagements with Georgie Auld and Count Basie. In 1945 McGhee headed west with Coleman Hawkins, cutting concise transitional sides such as “Stuffy,” “Rifftide,” and “Hollywood Stampede” that captured the swing-to-bop shift. Remaining on the Coast until 1947, he appeared with Jazz at the Philharmonic, collaborated on recordings and club dates with Charlie Parker—including the troubled “Lover Man” session—and mentored younger musicians in the region. His Dial dates rank among his most vibrant statements, while New York sessions for Savoy and a landmark 1948 Blue Note encounter with Navarro further cemented his reputation.

Substance issues gradually curtailed his visibility. A USO tour during the Korean War took him to Guam for additional recording. Bethlehem dates from 1955 and 1956 followed, yet much of the decade passed without significant activity. Stronger sessions resurfaced in 1960–1961 for Felsted, Bethlehem, Contemporary, and Black Lion, plus a 1962 United Artists quartet date; apart from a 1966 Hep big-band project, silence ensued until 1976. A late resurgence from 1976 to 1979 yielded albums for Sonet, SteepleChase, Jazzcraft, Zim, and Storyville, though by then McGhee had largely receded from view and his pivotal connection to Navarro and Brown went largely unrecognized.