Fats Navarro

Fats Navarro
Navarro, c. 1947. Photo by William P. Gottlieb.
Navarro, c. 1947. Photo by William P. Gottlieb.
Background information
Birth nameTheodore Navarro
Also known asFats, Fat Girl
BornSeptember 24, 1923
Key West, Florida, U.S.
DiedJuly 7, 1950(1950-07-07) (aged 26)
New York City, New York, U.S.
GenresJazz, bebop
Occupations
  • Musician
  • composer
InstrumentTrumpet
Years active1941–50

Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 7, 1950)[1] was an American jazz trumpet player and a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. A native of Key West, Florida, he toured with big bands before achieving fame as a bebop trumpeter in New York. Following a series of studio sessions with leading bebop figures including Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Kenny Clarke, he became ill with tuberculosis and died at the age of 26. Despite the short duration of his career, he had a strong stylistic influence on trumpet players who rose to fame in later decades, including Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan.

  1. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1797. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.