Trigger Alpert

Herman "Trigger" Alpert (September 3, 1916 – December 21, 2013) was an American jazz bassist, He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Biography

Alpert attended Indiana University Music School in the late 1930s and by 1940 moved to New York City to record with Frankie Trumbauer while also touring with Alvino Rey. In September 1940, he was asked to join the Glenn Miller Civilian Band, and appeared in the movie "Sun Valley Serenade" with the Miller Orchestra. Miller broke up the band when he was drafted he then recruited music personnel and asked Trigger to enlist. Then miller traded several members of his platoon for Alpert afterwards. After the war, Over the course of the 1940s, Alpert recorded with Bud Freeman, Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Eldridge, Budd Johnson, Louis Armstrong, and then Frank Sinatra from 1946 to 1950. This was at the point when Sinatra was producing his own recordings at Columbia. He had also performed with Benny Goodman and Woody Herman. In the 1950s he worked with smaller bands such as those of Coleman Hawkins, Mundell Lowe, Tony Mottola, Don Elliott, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich, separately and together, as well as the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. He released his own album as a leader on Riverside Records in 1956, entitled "Trigger Happy!" also released as "East Coast Sounds". The personnel on this record were Tony Scott, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Joe Wilder, Urbie Green and Ed Shaughnessy. He is also known for two instructional books one on "Walking the bass", in 1958, and the other on playing The Electric Bass in 1968, both published by Adler. Alpert was also a member of the CBS Orchestra with a rhythm section of Hank Jones, Sonny Igoe, and Chuck Wayne until the late 1960s. He was also with the CBS band on the first " The Garry Moore Show",with Carol Burnett, and CBS specials such as "My Name is Barbra " and "Color Me Barbra" with Barbra Streisand 3. Alpert at the same time was still actively recording in the studios. In 1970 Alpert made his longtime interest in portrait photography a full-time profession. He died on December 21, 2013, at an assisted living facility in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.^[1][2]

Discography

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As leader

• Trigger Happy! (Riverside, 1956)

As sideman with Mundell Lowe

• The Mundell Lowe Quartet (Riverside, 1955)
• Guitar Moods (Riverside, 1956)
• New Music of Alec Wilder (Riverside, 1956)

References

Footnotes

Sources

• Trigger Alpert at AllMusic Trigger Alpert at AllMusic

External links

• Trigger Alpert at the Internet Movie Database