[Dixielandjazz] Bill Price

[Paige VanVorst]

Cornetist Bill Price, 83,  died December 21 near his home in Bradenton FL- he died of an apparent heart attack on the golf course.
A native of Rochester NY, Price attended college in Chgo after service in WWII and took up the cornet. He played with the Cakewalkin' Babies, a college band, and absorbed a lot of music from people like Lee Collins, Jimmy Yancey and Little Brother Montgomery. He was a fairly regular member of the Salty Dogs until he took a demanding job as a municipal bond salesman and had to curtail his music. 
He settled in Minnesota in the late 1950s and became active on the Mpls jazz scene- he worked as a 2nd cornetist with Doc Evans' band and relieved Evans during the hay fever season when he was unable to play due to his asthma.   
Price was very successful in business, participating in a highly successful high-tech startup, Datacard Corp, and he was generous in funding jazz activities, including a 1979 video series featuring Art Hodes and various guest stars which we are currently issuing on GHB DVDs. He also started a record label, Minnesota Jazz, which issued several records featuring, among others, the Hall Brothers, his band with guests like Art Hodes and Herb Hall, and Red Maddock. 
He was an early member of this group and I think I joined principally because he was on it. He knew a lot about Chicago jazz and if I had a question he was always quick with the right answer. 
He was a very interesting cornet soloist and I just happened to be listening to a recording he made in 1968 (with Hodes, Raymond Burke and Jim Beebe) shortly before the newspaper called to verify some information for their obituary, and I found out he had died.