Roy Eldridge

Biography

Roy Eldridge (1911 to 1989), nicknamed Little Jazz, was an American jazz trumpeter from Pittsburgh and one of the great creative musicians of the swing era. His fast, harmonically bold solos with *Fletcher Henderson*, *Gene Krupa* and *Artie Shaw* made him a bridge between *Louis Armstrong* and *Dizzy Gillespie*, who cited him as a formative influence. He later toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic, led his own groups and recorded prolifically until retiring in 1980.