Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter.
11 Facts About Cootie Williams
2.
Cootie Williams rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940.
3.
Cootie Williams recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen.
4.
Cootie Williams was renowned for his "jungle"-style trumpet playing and for his use of the plunger mute.
5.
Cootie Williams sang occasionally, a notable instrumental feature being in the Ellington piece "Echoes of the Jungle".
6.
In 1940, Williams joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time, then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players.
7.
In 1947, Cootie Williams wrote the song "Cowpox Boogie" while recuperating from a bout with smallpox.
8.
Cootie Williams contracted the disease from a vaccination he insisted all band members receive.
9.
Cootie Williams was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
10.
Cootie Williams died in New York City on September 15,1985, at the age of 74 from a kidney ailment.
11.
Cootie Williams is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.