Roy Eldridge

Pittsburgh-born trumpeter Roy Eldridge, affectionately known as "Little Jazz," is one of the key figures in the evolution of jazz trumpet. He started out playing with Midwestern "territory" bands, but from the mid-1930s through the '50s, he was with some of the biggest bands in jazz (Fletcher Henderson, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman) in addition to leading his own group. A pioneer of swing-era trumpet, he was also extremely influential to bebop pioneers such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, though Eldridge himself never embraced the style.