This segment of Jazz Insights takes a look at the brief career of trumpet player Booker Little. Little showed great promise from an early age and had been hailed as the predecessor to Clifford Brown’s bebop legacy. His mature approach to the instrument and jazz composition received attention from Max Roach who hired him to play as part of his band as well as Eric Dolphy who had him as part of his legendary residency at the Five Spot club in New York City which resulted in three releases from Dolphy. The virtuosity and versatility of his playing up to his untimely demise at age 23 from complications of uremia put his story up there with the biggest “what could have beens” in jazz history.

Jazz Insights - Booker Little - Part 1
Jazz Insights - Booker Little - Part 2
Jazz Insights - Booker Little - Part 3