Carl Saunders

Recognized as an elite bop trumpeter shaped by the example of Don Fagerquist, Carl Saunders ranked among Los Angeles’s foremost jazz soloists, yet his sparse recording activity kept him from receiving the acclaim he had earned. While still in his teens he appeared with Stan Kenton in 1960 and with his uncle Bobby Sherwood, whose relative Dave Pell was likewise an uncle. He gained further seasoning on the road alongside Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, Harry James, Buddy Rich, and Maynard Ferguson in 1967, then spent years performing nightly in Las Vegas show bands before relocating to Los Angeles in 1984. Once settled there, Saunders took studio work, joined the revived Dave Pell Octet, sat in with numerous local big bands, and at last issued his own CD on the modest S&L imprint in 1995. Carl Saunders died on February 25, 2023, in Burbank, California, at the age of 80.