Chapman/Kansas City Jazz, 11. Trombones

The trombone was a comic feature of circus sideshow bands, but it shed its novelty character as a result of its development by leading practitioners such as Jack Teagarden, an admirer of Louis Armstrong who brought a blues sensitivity to the instrument. He was a white man but could play in a Black mode, as attested to by the affinity that developed between him and Jimmy Harrison and Leo “Snub” Mosley, two leading African-American trombonists. Two Basie trombonists, William “Dicky” Wells and Dan Minor, are discussed along with other lesser-known trombone players from the region such as Thurston Maupins and Thamon Hayes.