Buck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie?s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong. The Penguin Guide to Jazz says that he ?synthesi[zed] much of the history of jazz trumpet up to his own time, with a bright brassy tone and an apparently limitless facility for melodic improvisation?. Clayton worked closely with Li Jinhui, father of Chinese popular music in Shanghai. His contributions helped change musical history in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. [More at Wikipedia]

November 12th, 1911 in Kansas as Wilbur Dorsey Clayton  /  Died:   Dec 8th, 1991