Music
Johnny Trudell
1939–2021 · trumpeter, flugelhornist, bandleader, composer
Cass Tech-trained Detroit trumpeter who organized and led Motown's brass section in the 1960s and remained a mainstay of the city's jazz scene for decades.
- Born
- Died
aged 82- Detroit years
- 1950s–2021
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Johnny Trudell graduated from Cass Technical High School and went straight into work as a professional musician in Detroit. Through the 1960s and early 1970s he played trumpet on many classic Motown records, behind Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves, the Temptations, the Four Tops and many others, and he developed and directed the label's brass section while coordinating its arrangers. Alongside the studio work he was a constant presence on the city's jazz bandstands. He played with Wendell Harrison and the Tribe circle, including Harrison's big-band album Live in Concert (1992), worked from the early 1970s with the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers, the revival band that kept Detroit's 1920s jazz legacy alive, and backed singers such as Olive Brown and Barbara Ware. He frequently played functions with Marcus Belgrave and was one of six musicians who performed at Belgrave's funeral in 2015. His own albums were the disco-jazz Dream Dance (1979) and But Beautiful (1993). He died in 2021.
Highlights
- Graduate of Cass Technical High School
- Developed and directed Motown's brass section
- Played on Wendell Harrison's Live in Concert (1992)
- Member of the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers from the early 1970s
- Albums Dream Dance (1979) and But Beautiful (1993)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1950s
Cass Technical High School
Detroit's magnet high school, from which Trudell graduated.