[Dixielandjazz] JIMMY MAXWELL OBIT

[Stephen Barbone]

List mates:

Little known trumpet players?

July 25, 2002 NEW YORK TIMES

Jimmy Maxwell, a Lead Trumpeter With the Top Big Bands, 85, Dies

By PETER KEEPNEWS

Jimmy Maxwell, who played trumpet with many of the best-known big bands
in jazz and was also a mainstay of the radio and television studios,
died on Saturday at his home in Great Neck, N.Y. He was 85.

As a lead trumpeter in the bands of Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Woody
Herman and others, Mr. Maxwell was not usually a soloist, but shaped the
sound of the trumpet section and handled the high-note parts;
aficionados considered him one of the best in that demanding job.

He stepped into the spotlight on rare occasions, notably on Goodman's
hit recording of "Why Don't You Do Right?" in 1942, on which he played
obbligatos to Peggy Lee's vocals, and on the soundtrack of "The
Godfather" in 1972, when he was the featured trumpet soloist.

Mr. Maxwell had another, less high profile accomplishment: as he
revealed in an interview for an article in The New York Times in 1997,
he had more than three decades of success as a methadone user. He
recounted how a heroin addiction, acquired in 1962 after falling ill on
the Goodman band's famously stressful trip to Russia, had left him broke
and despondent. The methadone treatment he began three years later
enabled him to overcome his addiction and continue a successful career.

James Kendrick Maxwell was born on Jan. 9, 1917, in Stockton, Calif.,
and joined a local band led by the pianist and arranger Gil Evans while
still in high school. He later worked with Jimmy Dorsey, Maxine Sullivan
and, from 1939 to 1943, with Goodman. In 1943 he joined the CBS studio
orchestra. He later worked with Perry Como on both radio and television,
with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and in the "Tonight" show band.

Mr. Maxwell worked briefly with Duke Ellington in 1961 and rejoined
Goodman for the Soviet tour. In the 1970's he worked again with the
Ellington orchestra and with the National Jazz Ensemble and the New York
Jazz Repertory Company, two of the earliest jazz repertory orchestras.

Mr. Maxwell stopped performing several years ago because of health
problems, but practiced and gave trumpet lessons until about a year ago,
his daughter, Anne Maxwell Megibow, said. In addition to Ms. Megibow, of
Charlottesville, Va., he is survived by a son, David, of Des Moines, and
four grandsons.

Mr. Maxwell had a second instrument in his arsenal: the bagpipes, which
he played for many years in New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade as
well as in the occasional studio session.