Urban Clifford "Urbie" Green (August 8, 1926 – December 31, 2018 ) was an American jazz trombonist who toured with Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Jan Savitt, and Frankie Carle. He played on over 250 recordings and released more than two dozen albums as a soloist. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995.

Early years

Green was born in Mobile, Alabama. He was taught the piano as a child by his mother. He learned jazz and popular tunes from the beginning. He started to play trombone, which both older brothers played, when he was about 12. He listened to trombonists Tommy Dorsey, J. C. Higginbotham, Jack Jenney, Jack Teagarden, and Trummy Young, but said he was more influenced by the styles of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. His style was also influenced by the vocals of Perry Como and Louis Armstrong. He attended Auburn High School, where he was a member of The Auburn Knights Orchestra.

Career

When Green was fifteen years old, his father died, and he began his music career, first with Tommy Reynolds in California, then with Bob Strong, Jan Savitt, and Frankie Carle. In California, he finished high school at the Hollywood Professional School in Los Angeles. In 1947, he joined Gene Krupa's band. Three years later, he and his brother Jack became members of Woody Herman's Thundering Herd. In 1953, he moved to New York City, and a year later was voted New Star trombonist in the International Critics Poll of Down Beat magazine. During the 1950s and 1960s he toured with Benny Goodman, and led the Tommy Dorsey orchestra after Dorsey's death in 1956. He worked with record producer Enoch Light on the albums The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green and 21 Trombones. Green spent his later life with his second wife Kathy, a jazz singer, at their home in the Pocono Mountains region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. In 1995, Green was elected into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. He continued playing live at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Festival every September into the last years of his life.

Personal life

Green's obituary was published in the Pocono Record.

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Manny Albam With The Count Basie Orchestra With Tony Bennett With Buck Clayton With Quincy Jones With Mundell Lowe With Astrud Gilberto With Woody Herman With Antonio Carlos Jobim With J. J. Johnson & Kai Winding With Enoch Light With Van McCoy With Hugo Montenegro With Jimmy Rushing With others