AL HIRT

Alois Maxwell Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999-died at age 76) was an American trumpeter and bandleader.  Hirt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer, and was known as “Al” or “Jumbo.” At the age of six, he was given his first trumpet, which had been purchased at a local pawnshop. He would play in the Junior Police Band with the children of Alcide Nunez, and by the age of 16, Hirt was playing professionally, often with his friend Pete Fountain. During this time, he was hired to play at the local horse racing track, beginning a six-decade connection to the sport.

In 1940 Hirt went to Cincinnati, Ohio to study at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Dr. Frank Simon (a former soloist with the John Philip Sousa Orchestra). After a stint as a bugler in the United States Army during World War II, Hirt performed with various Swing big bands, including those of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Ina Ray Hutton. In 1950 he became first trumpet and soloist with Horace Heidt‘s Orchestra.

Hirt’s virtuoso dexterity and fine tone on his instrument soon attracted the attention of national labels. Hirt had 22 different record albums on the Billboard Pop charts in the 1950s and 1960s. The albums Honey In The Horn and Cotton Candy were both in the top 10 best sellers for 1964, the same year Hirt scored a top hit single with his cover of Allen Toussaint‘s tune Java (Billboard #4), and later won a Grammy award for the same recording.

Hirt’s top 40 charted hit single of Sugar Lips in 1964 would be later used as the theme song for the NBC daytime game show Eye Guess, hosted by Bill Cullen and originally airing during the mid-to-late 1960s. Hirt was chosen to record the frenetic theme for the 1960s TV show “The Green Hornet“, by famed arranger and composer Billy May. Thematically reminiscent of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov‘s Flight of the Bumblebee, it showcased Hirt’s technical prowess. The recording again gained public attention in 2003 when it was used in the film Kill Bill. In 1962 Hirt opened his own club on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, which he ran until 1983. Other nicknames include “Al (He’s the King!) Hirt”, “Sugar Lips” (after one of his most popular pieces) and “The Round Mound of Sound”.