Who Was Fats Navarro?
This page is devoted to the memory and music of one of jazz’s greatest trumpet players — Theodore “Fats” Navarro. His life was short but his accomplishments in jazz were great and far reaching in their influence on later trumpeters. He, however, is largely forgotten today, partially because he died just prior to the introduction of 12″ LPs and the recording of extended pieces that would better showcase his great improvisational brilliance. Whatever the reasons, I have found very little about his life on the Web, and certainly no centralized collection of information or discography of his body of recorded work until now. Yet his influence is still felt through a succession of later trumpeters including Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and more recently Roy Hargrove. Some have called him the first hard bop trumpet. In 1982 he was selected for the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame. Perhaps even more to the point is the beauty of his play irrespective of whatever influence he may have
