Don Albert
- For the architect, see Don Albert & Partners.
| Don Albert | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Albert Anité Dominique |
| Born |
August 5, 1908 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Died |
March 4, 1980 San Antonio, Texas |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Trumpeter and bandleader |
| Instruments | Trumpet |
Albert Anité Dominique, better known by his stage name Don Albert (August 5, 1908, New Orleans - March 4, 1980, San Antonio, Texas)[1] was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
Albert's uncle was Natty Dominique, and he was also a relative of Barney Bigard. He got his start playing in parade brass bands in New Orleans at the beginning of the 1920s. He toured with the territory band of Alphonse Trent through the Southwest United States in 1925, then played with Troy Floyd at the Shadowland Ballroom in San Antonio from 1926 to 1929.
Albert led his own territory bands out of Texas in the 1930s and 1940s, with sidemen that included Alvin Alcorn, Louis Cottrell, Jr., and Herb Hall. After 1932 he acted more in a manager's capacity than as a performer.His bands played in Mexico, Canada, and New York City in 1937 and won rave reviews from newspapers, but the band only recorded eight sides for Vocalion Records. He disbanded this group around 1939 due to economic conditions, and found work in civil service and managing a nightclub in San Antonio in the early and mid-1940s; his club was shut down in 1948 by local authorities. He led a group at the Palace Theater in New York in 1949.
In the 1950s he returned to active performance, playing in small groups in the 1950s through the 1970s. He played with Buddy Tate in New York in 1966 and at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in 1969.
References
- Don Albert at Allmusic
- Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford, 1999, p. 9.
External links
- Interviews with Don Albert, January 15-18, 1980, February 1-8, 1980, University of Texas at San Antonio: Institute of Texan Cultures: Oral History Collection, UA 15.01, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections.