Don Goldie

Don Goldie

Donald Elliott Goldfield, also known as Don Goldie and Billy Franklin (February 5, 1930, Newark, New Jersey - November 19, 1995, Miami) was an American jazz trumpeter. Goldfield's father was trumpeter Harry Goldfield, who played with Paul Whiteman in the 1920s and 1930s; his mother was Claire St. Claire, who was a concert pianist and a piano teacher for George Gershwin. He learned piano from early childhood and picked up trumpet when he was ten years old. In the late 1940s, while still in his teens, he played in New York with Art Hodes and Willie "The Lion" Smith. He played for a short time in Louis Armstrong's band in the middle of the 1950s. Late in the 1950s he played with Tony Parenti and Joe Mooney, then began working with Jack Teagarden in 1959, remaining with him until 1963. In the 1960s he released several albums under his own name as well as under the pseudonym Billy Franklin, for Argo and Pickwick Records. In 1978 he released collaboration album with the Sir Douglas Quintet. Other associations include work with Ralph Burns, Neal Hefti, Gene Krupa, Earl Hines, and Buddy Rich. He committed suicide in 1995.

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