Lammar Wright Sr.

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Lammar Wright Sr. (June 20, 1907 – April 13, 1973) was an American jazz trumpeter. Born in Texarkana, Texas, he grew up in Kansas City and played with Bennie Moten's band in 1923. He moved to New York City in 1927 to join The Missourians and stayed when Cab Calloway became leader. Wright was Calloway’s lead trumpeter until 1942 and played with him again off and on through the 1940s. He also played with Don Redman (1943), Claude Hopkins (1944–46), Cootie Williams (1944), Lucky Millinder (1946–52), Sy Oliver (1947), and Louis Armstrong, and led his own groups from time to time. In the 1950s and 1960s he taught music, did studio work, and recorded with Arnett Cobb (1951), Count Basie (1951), the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra (1957), and George Shearing (1959). He appeared in the 1968 film The Night They Raided Minsky's. His sons, Lammar Wright Jr. and Elmon Wright, also became trumpeters. He died in Manhattan, New York City.