Phil Napoleon was a classically trained trumpeter, but he decided to turn his back on the concert hall and founded The Original Memphis Five in 1917 with Frank Signorelli. Miff Mole was the trombone player in the band, making it one of the most successful and popular bands of the 1920’s. They recorded hundreds of records under their own names and various pseudonyms including Bailey’s Lucky Seven and The Southland Six. In 1928, the Original Memphis Five disbanded. Phil started making a living as a studio musician and then formed his own orchestra in 1937. But it failed to take off and he quickly returned to studio and session work. He received a call in 1946 from Jimmy Dorsey, who needed a trumpet player due to the draft. He was invited to join him in L.A., where you can see him playing in the band in “Four Jills and a Jeep”. He stayed with Dorsey till 1947. He returned to New York, where he worked as a studio musician for NBC until 1950. For six years, he reformed The Original Memphis Five. He then played at Nick’s New York City. He moved to Miami in 1956 to open Napoleon’s Retreat, a club where he still led a band. Phil Napoleon, a North Miami resident, died September 13th 1990. He was 89 years old. Napoleon’s influence is most evident in Jazz in 1920s, when The Original Memphis Five, a progressive force in Jazz, moved music away from the original style of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to more sophisticated White Jazz. Red Nichols and Bix Beiderbecke would continue to build on this tradition throughout the decade. From www.redhotjazz.com
