Background
He was born on August 4, 1924, in Crystal Bay, Minnesota, and grew up listening to big band music on the radio.
He was born on August 4, 1924, in Crystal Bay, Minnesota, and grew up listening to big band music on the radio.
He got started as a band leader when he was drafted in the Army in 1943, becoming composer for a military band at Fort Ord, California, performing for War Bond drives throughout California. In the late 1940s, he led his own big band on the West Coast, much of his work foreshadowing what became known as West Coast jazz before moving to New York in the early 1950s after being denied a recording contract in Los Angeles In 1956, he recorded two records that would become his best known works, Wednesday"s Child and Bix Duke Fats, gaining him fleeting fame. He died July 2, 2005.
Talbert has worked together with many other famous musicians.
Some include: Los Angeles in the 40s: Johnny Richards Lucky Thompson Dodo Marmarosa Hal McKusick First Rate (at Lloyd's) Killian Art Pepper Steve White Claude Williamson New York in the 50s: Marian McPartland Kai Winding Don Elliott Johnny Smith Oscar Pettiford Herb Geller Joe Wilder Eddie Bert Barry Galbraith Aaron Sachs Claude Thornhill.