Charlie Green

One of the finest early trombonists and the first strong jazz soloist in the Fletcher Henderson orchestra (joining slightly before Louis Armstrong), Charlie Green played locally in Omaha (1920-1923) before his two stints with Henderson (July 1924-April 1926 and late 1928-spring 1929). A superior blues player who could also swing fairly early, Green starred on several classic Bessie Smith recordings (including one called "Trombone Cholly"), recorded in the 1920s with several other blues singers, and also worked with the bands of Benny Carter (1929-1931 and 1933), Chick Webb (several times during 1930-1934), Don Redman (1932), and at the end with Kaiser Marshall. His premature death was from passing out on his doorstep on a winter night and freezing to death.