Dud Bascomb

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Wilber "Dud" Bascomb

Wilbur Odell "Dud" Bascomb (born May 16, 1916 in Birmingham; died December 25, 1972 in New York City) was a jazz trumpeter best known for his tenure with the Erskine Hawkins Band in the 1930s and 40s.

Bascomb was the youngest of ten children, and the younger brother of saxophonist Paul Bascomb. He was taught to play piano as a child but switched to trumpet as a member of Fess Whatley's Parker High School band.

In 1932 Bascomb joined the Bama State Collegians at Alabama State Teachers' School, founded by his classmate and fellow trumpeter Erskine Hawkins. He remained with the group through its move to New York in 1934 and soloed on many of the band's notable recordings. Since he was also a trumpeter, many of his acclaimed solos, including one on the hit "Tuxedo Junction" have been misattributed to Hawkins.

Bascomb left in 1944 to play in his brother's Paul Bascomb Septet, which soon grew into a big band. He played with Duke Ellington's orchestra in 1947 and led his own quintet at Tyle's Chicken Shack in New Jersey in the 1950s. He recorded an album for Savoy in 1959-60, but the tracks went unreleased until after his death. In the 1960s Bascomb toured Europe, Japan and North America at various times with Sam Taylor, Buddy Tate and James Brown.

Bascomb died in 1972. He was inducted posthumously into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979.

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