Warren Covington

Trombonist Warren Covington maintained an active role as a session musician and performer from the late 1930s onward while also functioning as an arranger and bandleader. His early work included a 1939 stint alongside Isham Jones, after which he joined Les Brown and Gene in the mid-1940s before taking a position on CBS’s music staff. Between 1946 and 1947 he directed The Commanders. Covington first recorded with Tommy Dorsey’s band in 1950 and later assumed leadership of the group following Dorsey’s death in 1958. He guided the ensemble on tour under his own name from 1961 into the 1970s. In the 1970s Covington additionally captured studio big-band dates that supported Charles Mingus, Randy Weston, Bobby Hackett, and George Benson, and he contributed to numerous film soundtracks.