Al Aarons

Biography

Aarons was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit. He began to gain attention as a trumpet player in 1956, and started working with jazz artist Yusef Lateef and pianist Barry Harris in the latter part of that decade in Detroit. After a period playing with jazz organist Wild Bill Davis, he played trumpet in the Count Basie Orchestra from 1961 to 1969.

In the 1970s, Aarons worked as a sideman for singers Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, and saxophonist Gene Ammons. He was also a contributor to jazz fusion, playing on School Days with Stanley Clarke, and appears with Snooky Young on the classic 1976 album Bobby Bland and B. B. King Together Again...Live.

Discography

With Gene Ammons

With Count Basie

With Brass Fever

With Kenny Burrell

With Eddie Harris

With Gene Harris

With Milt Jackson

With Carmen McRae

With Zoot Sims with the Benny Carter Orchestra

With Frank Wess