Herb Geller

Herb Geller was a veteran of the Los Angeles jazz scene of the 1950s who played better than ever by the turn of the millennium. Geller played in 1946 with <a href="spotify:artist:7rOldyBQnbp9DtBGoKEiwl">Joe Venuti's Orchestra</a>, and in 1949 he traveled to New York to play with <a href="spotify:artist:6ThTN0WCRCAtG00Htf7CUW">Claude Thornhill</a>. In 1951 he moved back to L.A. and married the excellent bop pianist <a href="spotify:artist:7D4RU3qbrhPhIfDtbkEPpa">Lorraine Walsh</a>. Geller was a fixture in L.A., playing with <a href="spotify:artist:45Z2ShPqr2p9ZgfkYhZUgq">Billy May</a> (1952), <a href="spotify:artist:6T4kUHIlszpj944ZXR3yNw">Maynard Ferguson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7hxJ7osu5ELi0SVSvgUjQN">Shorty Rogers</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Ouo7BAL9KvlpA8YcR7JFI">Bill Holman</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3rxeQlsv0Sc2nyYaZ5W71T">Chet Baker</a>, among others; jamming with <a href="spotify:artist:1HJHwWck1EY096ea2iPAHO">Clifford Brown</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6jrlNnS5B830kpi40j3S6g">Max Roach</a> (1954); and leading a quartet that included his wife (1954-1955). <a href="spotify:artist:7D4RU3qbrhPhIfDtbkEPpa">Lorraine Geller</a>'s sudden death in 1958 eventually resulted in the altoist deciding to leave the country to escape his grief. He played with <a href="spotify:artist:1pBuKaLHJlIlqYxQQaflve">Benny Goodman</a> off and on between 1958-1961, spent time in Brazil, and in 1962 moved to Berlin. Geller worked in German radio orchestras for 30 years, played in European big bands, and continued to grow as a musician, although he was pretty much forgotten in the U.S. From the early '90s into the 2000s, Herb Geller returned to the States on a more regular basis, and he recorded tributes to <a href="spotify:artist:4yPUoMbYxVJ6XNJWZVJV7Y">Al Cohn</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0CrlrOaoi2aGRUjWFRHmNm">Arthur Schwartz</a> for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hep%22">Hep</a>. Geller also recorded as a leader in the 1950s for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EmArcy%22">EmArcy</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jubilee%22">Jubilee</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Atco%22">Atco</a>, and in his later years for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Enja%22">Enja</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Fresh+Sound%22">Fresh Sound</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22VSOP%22">VSOP</a>. Herb Geller died in Hamburg, Germany on December 19, 2013; he was 85 years old. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi