Jazz trumpeter Al Hirt earned 21 Grammy nominations in his career

April 28, 1999
Web posted at: 4:54 p.m. EDT (2054 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- Friends and fans Wednesday remembered Al Hirt, considered by many to be among the best trumpet players in the world. Hirt died Tuesday of liver failure at his New Orleans home. He was 76.

Hirt's death coincided with the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, now in its 30th year. Quint Davis, festival producer, says a special commemoration will be added on the closing Sunday in memory of Hirt and other musicians who died this year.

Nominated for 21 Grammys over the years, Hirt won that award in the non-jazz instrumental category for his bouncy hit "Java" (1964). But his power, style and personality captivated audiences for many years before and after his Grammy win.

Dixieland jazz and Hirt went hand-in-hand from the late 1940s on. Born in New Orleans in 1922, Hirt got his first trumpet from a pawn shop when he was 6 years old. In the 1940s, he studied classical trumpet at the Cincinnati Conservatory, then spent three years in the U.S. Army as a company bugler.

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But he was seduced by swing band music. He landed stints with Benny Goodman's Orchestra and in the bands of both Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. "Tommy's band, you had to blow your a-- off in that one," Hirt once recalled.

His most enduring musical partner was clarinetist Pete Fountain, with whom he collaborated for more than 50 years. "He was one of the best trumpet players all around the world," Fountain says. "He had everything -- technique, stamina, education." Playboy Magazine's jazz poll named Hirt World's Top Trumpeter 15 times, starting in 1962.

"There will never be another like him," says Fountain, also a New Orleans native. "He was loved by trumpet players all over the world."

In their early days in the French Quarter, Fountain and Hirt hired each other as sidemen whenever the other got a gig. "What we used to say was whoever had the bow tie got to lead the band," Fountain recalls. "There was never any jealousy."

His first big break came in 1950, when he won second place in Horace Heidt's National Youth Opportunity Contest and was named solo trumpet in Heidt's band.

Real national fame came in 1960 when Hirt's Dixieland Six booked into a luxury hotel in Las Vegas. As much a showman as a musician, the 6-foot-2, 300-pounder's joyous music caught the attention of Dinah Shore and he became an instant success on TV.

At the peak of his popularity in the 1960s, Hirt frequently performed on network television, even hosting his own variety show, "Fanfare," for a time.

He could belt out traditional blues and jazz with the best of them, but -- to the dismay of jazz purists -- he would also record pop tunes that sold millions of albums. "I'm a pop commercial musician, and I've got a successful format," Hirt once said. "If you have the ability to perform your musical idea, you become a good jazz player."

Over his career, he recorded more than 50 albums, including four gold and one platinum. "Honey in the Horn" reached No. 3 on Billboard's Popular Music Album Chart in 1963; "Sugar Lips" won Billboard's favorite instrumentalist of 1965.

His fame diminished after the 1960s, but he continued playing shows, touring and performing on television. His base became his club on Bourbon Street, which he closed in 1983 because he felt the area had become too dangerous. A firestorm of criticism followed the closure. Hirt met with the city's mayor, and eventually apologized, but he never reopened the club.

Hirt did make occasional local appearances at another club, Jellyroll's, in the French Quarter.

A determined homebody, Hirt tried to organize his career into short tours so he could stay put in New Orleans with his wife and children, near good fishing grounds for sea trout.

Hirt is survived by his wife, Beverly, and six of eight children by his first wife, the late Mary Patureau Hirt; Mary Lee Russo, Rebecca Dickerson, Bridgid Mearns, Rachael Caron, Stephen Hirt and Jennifer Sammons. Two of his children, Jefferson and Gretchen Hirt, died before he did.

Hirt is also survived by his sister, Rosemary Hirt Rost, a brother, Gerald Hirt; three step-children, Robert Essel, William Essel and Beverly Wallace; 10 grandchildren, 6 step-grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

Correspondent Mark Scheerer and Reuters contributed to this report.