Fats Navarro | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Theodore Navarro |
Also known as | Fats, Fat Girl |
Born | September 24, 1923 Key West, Florida, U.S. |
Died | July 7, 1950 New York City, New York, U.S. | (aged 26)
Genres | Jazz, bebop |
Occupations |
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Instrument | Trumpet |
Years active | 1941–50 |
Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 7, 1950)[1] was an American jazz trumpet player and a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. A native of Key West, Florida, he toured with big bands before achieving fame as a bebop trumpeter in New York. Following a series of studio sessions with leading bebop figures including Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Kenny Clarke, he became ill with tuberculosis and died at the age of 26. Despite the short duration of his career, he had a strong stylistic influence on trumpet players who rose to fame in later decades, including Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan.