Teddy Buckner

Born in Sherman, Texas, on July 16, 1909, John Edward “Teddy” Buckner grew up as an ardent follower of Louis Armstrong, channeling a lifelong devotion to New Orleans jazz and swing that carried him across continents over a professional span exceeding six decades. Though only distantly connected, he belonged to the same lineage as the St. Louis Buckners, whose ranks included pianist and organist Milt, trumpeter George, and saxophonist Ted, the latter a key Motown session musician. Five childhood years in Silver City, New Mexico, preceded formal trumpet study under Harold Scott, a brass player in Armstrong’s orchestra; an uncle had already introduced him to drumsticks and the ukulele. At fifteen he worked for Buddy Garcia and “Big Six” Reeves before relocating to Los Angeles, where his horn appeared in groups led by Sonny Clay, Curtis Mosby, Sylvester Scott, Speed Webb, and Edith Turnham.

In 1934 pianist Teddy Weatherford secured passage for the fourteen-piece ensemble formerly directed by Earl Dancer—now under trumpeter Buck Clayton and containing Buckner—to Shanghai, securing an extended engagement at the Canidrome Ballroom. Within a year Buckner was back in California, performing with Irwin C. Miller’s Brownskin Models Revue, the same organization that later figured in the career of R&B singer Larry Darnell, and with pianist Lorenzo Flennoy. Lionel Hampton hired him in 1936; while Hamp concentrated on Benny Goodman’s band, Buckner led the vibraphonist’s orchestra at the Paradise Club in Los Angeles.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s he appeared in several films, most notably substituting for Louis Armstrong in Pennies from Heaven and sharing the screen with Fats Waller in King of Burlesque, both released in 1936. Before, during, and after World War II he performed with the Benny Carter Orchestra, sat in with Johnny Otis, strengthened a unit fronted by singing drummer Cee Pee Johnson, and worked alongside the Solid Blenders Sextet. An intensive four-year association with trombonist Kid Ory beginning in 1949 marked the start of Buckner’s sustained return to traditional jazz.

Forming his own compact Dixieland group in 1954, he deliberately assembled an elite roster that included clarinetists Edmond Hall and Albert Nicholas, drummer J.C. Heard, pianist Sammy Price, and trombonist Trummy Young. That same year he recorded with trombonist George Brunis and was featured in Jack Webb’s Pete Kelly’s Blues. During a single week in July 1958 he appeared with soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet at Paris’s Salle Wagram, at the Festival de Jazz 1958 in Knokke-le-Zout, Belgium, and at the Cannes Jazz Festival.

For more than twenty-five years his ensemble drew steady crowds to Los Angeles venues such as the 400 Club and the Beverly Caverns as well as The Huddle in West Covina. From 1965 to 1981 he directed a Dixieland band at Disneyland. Buckner died in Los Angeles on September 22, 1994.