Don Elliott was born October 21, 1926 in Somerville (New Jersey) and died July 5, 1984 in Weston. He was an American jazz trumpeter. Some jazz fans consider his album Calypso Jazz to be the best calypso jazz album. Elliott produced over 60 albums and 5,000 advertisements jingles during his entire career. Elliott was also a longtime partner of Quincy Jones. He contributed vocal work to many of Jones’ film scores. Elliott was a trumpeter in an army band, and played mellophone with his high school band. He added vibraphone to his repertoire after completing University of Miami’s studies. Before forming his own band, he recorded with Buddy Rich and Terry Gibbs. From 1953 to 1960 he won the Down Beat readers poll several times for “miscellaneous instrument-mellophone.” Don Elliott, also known as the “Human Instrument”, performed jazz as a singer, trombonist/flugelhornist, percussionist and trombonist. He was a pioneer in multitrack recording, composed many award-winning advertisements jingles and prepared film scores. He also built a successful production company. Elliott was a part of several Broadway productions including James Thurber’s The Beast in Me, and A Thurber Carnival. He performed the latter with the Don Elliott Quartet. He was also a vocalist for the Nutty Squirrels, a novelty jazz duo. Elliott contributed his vocal talents to motion picture soundtracks such as The Getaway, which starred Steve McQueen. $ (Dollars), which starred Warren Beatty. The Hot Rock, which starred Robert Redford, and The Happy Hooker, which starred Lynn Redgrave. Elliott was the owner and operator of one of the first multitrack recording studios, both in New York City, and Weston, Connecticut. He died from cancer. From Wikipedia
