Jiggs Whigham | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Oliver Haydn Whigham III |
| Born | August 20, 1943 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument | Trombone |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Website | jiggswhigham |
Jiggs Whigham (born Oliver Haydn Whigham III; August 20, 1943) [1] is an American jazz trombonist.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, [1] he began his professional career at the age of 17, joining the Glenn Miller/Ray McKinley orchestra in 1961. [2] He left that band for Stan Kenton, where he played in the touring "mellophonium" band in 1963, [1] then settled in New York City to play commercially.
Frustrated with commercial playing, Whigham migrated to Germany, where he still lives. [1] He taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He played for many years in the big band of Kurt Edelhagen, [1] was a featured soloist in the Bert Kaempfert orchestra, and was also a member of the Peter Herbolzheimer band. He is widely admired by trombonists and other musicians for his fluent and expressive playing, [1] and has produced an extensive discography as a leader, including work with Bill Holman, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Carl Fontana, and many others.
In more recent years, Whigham has been musical director of the RIAS Big Band in Berlin, Germany. He is formerly conductor of the BBC Big Band in Great Britain and currently co-director of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra with singer Marc Secara. [3] [4] [5] He is featured on the Berlin Jazz Orchestra albums Update, You're Everything , Songs of Berlin and music DVD (Polydor/Universal) Strangers In Night - The Music Of Bert Kaempfert . He was visiting tutor and artist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and KUG in Graz, Austria. [2] He is artist-in-residence for the Conn-Selmer company, maker of the King Jiggs Whigham model trombone. He continues to tour worldwide as soloist, conductor, and educator. Since 2008 he has been a regular musical director for the Bundesjazzorchester working with the top student jazz musicians in Germany.
He makes his home in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Germany and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
With the Berlin Jazz Orchestra
With the hr-Bigband
With Carl Fontana
With Peter Herbolzheimer
With Stan Kenton
With Kenton Alumni Band
With Paul Kuhn
With Bud Shank
With others
Bert Kaempfert was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, including "Strangers in the Night", “Danke Schoen” and "Moon Over Naples".
Carl Charles Fontana was an American jazz trombonist. After working in the big bands of Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, and Stan Kenton, he devoted most of his career to playing music in Las Vegas.
Ronnie Stephenson was an English jazz drummer. He was one of the most in-demand drummers on the British jazz scene in the 1960s.
Edward Joseph Bertolatus, also known as Eddie Bert, was an American jazz trombonist.
Kurt Edelhagen was a German big band leader.
Peter Alexandru Herbolzheimer was a Romanian-German jazz trombonist and bandleader.
Willis Leonard Holman was an American composer, arranger, conductor, saxophonist, and songwriter working in jazz and traditional pop. His career spanned over seven decades, starting with the Charlie Barnet orchestra in 1950.
Herbert Arnold Geller was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was born in Los Angeles.
Ed Soph is an American jazz drummer and educator.
David Ronald Horler is an English jazz trombonist. He is the older brother of John Horler and the father of Cascada’s lead singer Natalie Horler.
Eva Sylvia Vrethammar is a Swedish traditional pop and jazz singer.
Miloslav Ladislav "Ladi" Geisler was a German musician who established a high profile in the post-war German music scene. Best known for his work with pop musicians Bert Kaempfert, James Last and Freddy Quinn, Geisler developed the distinctive "Knack-Bass" percussive bass sound that helped popularize the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra. He later released numerous records under his own name.
Robert Harry "Bob" Curnow is an American musician who served as a trombonist, staff arranger and producer for the Stan Kenton Orchestra during the 1960s and 1970s. As a composer and arranger, he has become well known for large ensemble jazz music set to contemporary fusion and rock music of groups such as Chicago, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and the Yellowjackets. Most notably, he arranged the music for and produced the award-winning and critically acclaimed CD, Bob Curnow's L.A. Big Band Plays The Music of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays. His compositions and arrangements are heavily influenced by earlier writers for the Stan Kenton Orchestra such as Pete Rugolo, Bill Russo, Johnny Richards and Bill Holman. Curnow is currently owner and President of Sierra Music Publications, Inc., he is also prominent in the instrumental music and jazz education fields.
Derek Roy Watkins was an English jazz, pop, and classical trumpeter. Best known for his lead trumpet work on the soundtracks of James Bond films, Watkins recorded with British jazz bandleaders as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, and The Beatles. Dizzy Gillespie called him "Mr. Lead".
The Berlin Jazz Orchestra is a 17 piece concert jazz orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. The orchestra has been critically acclaimed by prominent periodicals such as the Berliner Tagesspiegel, Märkische Allgemeine, Jazzpodium, All About Jazz and Jazzthetik.
Strangers in the Night - The Music of Bert Kaempfert is the Berlin Jazz Orchestra's first home video, released on DVD September 21, 2012 by Polydor/Universal Entertainment. The DVD is a live recording from the Alte Oper on February 12, 2008 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Marc Secara is a German singer and recording artist known for jazz, American pop music, and German popular repertoire. He is also a member of the German singing group the Berlin Voices.
Anthony Frank "Tony" Inzalaco, Jr. is an American jazz drummer.
Gregory Bowen is a Welsh trumpet player. His primary work was done in London before relocating to Berlin, Germany in 1976. Since 1961, Bowen has performed and recorded with jazz, pop artists and entertainers from Europe and North America on records, soundtracks and T.V. broadcasts. Most notable is his lead trumpet work on the James Bond film soundtracks Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice.
Songs of Berlin is an album by Marc Secara and the Berlin Jazz Orchestra, released digitally worldwide in October 2021 on GAM Records. The album features trombonist Jiggs Whigham and was arranged and conducted by Jack Cooper.
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