Don Fagerquist

Donald Fagerquist (February 6, 1927 in Worcester, Massachusetts – January 24, 1974) was a small group, big band, and studio jazz trumpet player from the West Coast of the United States. He was a featured soloist with several major bands, including Mal Hallett (1943), Gene Krupa (1944–1950), Artie Shaw (1949–1950), Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five (1949–1950), Woody Herman (1951–1952), Les Brown (1953), and the Dave Pell Octet (1953–1959). He played on the memorable "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook" album (1963) under the baton of the great Nelson Riddle.

Despite high demand for his services as a lyrical soloist, he only recorded twice as a leader: a half-date for Capitol in 1955 (reissued as part of the Dave Pell Octet CD I Had the Craziest Dream) and a complete project for Mode in 1957 (Music to Fill a Void).

In 1956, Fagerquist signed on as a staff musician for Paramount Films, while still periodically recording with artists such as Shelly Manne, Mel Tormé, and Art Pepper.

Throughout the early- to mid-1960s, Fagerquist's solos could be heard on the recordings of Pete Rugolo, Frank Comstock, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Paul Weston, Si Zentner, Dean Martin and many others.

By 1966, health issues forced Fagerquist to withdraw from studio recording altogether. He died from kidney disease January 24, 1974, at his home in California.

Discography

With Chet Baker and Bud Shank

• Theme Music from "The James Dean Story" (World Pacific, 1956)

With Louis Bellson

• Louis Bellson Swings Jule Styne (Verve, 1960)

With Hoagy Carmichael

• Hoagy Sings Carmichael (Pacific Jazz, 1956)

With Bob Cooper

• Coop! The Music of Bob Cooper (Contemporary, 1958)

With Fred Katz

• Folk Songs for Far Out Folk (Warner Bros., 1958)
• Fred Katz and his Jammers (Decca, 1959)

With Dave Pell

• Dave Pell Octet Plays Irving Berlin (Kapp, 1954)
• Dave Pell Octet Plays Rodgers & Hart (Kapp, 1954)
• Jazz & Romantic Places (Atlantic, 1955)
• Jazz Goes Dancing (RCA, 1956)
• I Had the Craziest Dream (Capitol Records, 1957)

With Shorty Rogers

• Martians Come Back! (Atlantic, 1955 [1956])
• Way Up There (Atlantic, 1955 [1957])

With Mel Torme

• Mel Torme Sings Fred Astaire (Bethlehem, 1956)

With the Benny Goodman Orchestra & Brussels World's Fair Orchestra

• Salute to Benny Goodman (Crown, 1958)

With Skip Martin's Scheherajazz

• A Symphony in Jazz by the Video All-Stars (Stereo-Fidelity, 1959)

External links

• Jazz trumpeter site
• Don Fagerquist: Biography, Selected Discography, Transcriptions
• All Music
• jazzdisco.org discography pages containing Don Fagerquist
• New England Jazz History Database