Inventive Jazz Trumpeter ‘Doc’ Cheatham Dies At 91

Adolphus “Doc” Cheatham, a jazz trumpeter whose gifts for bright invention, delicate vocals and hard swinging were finally given their due when he was in his 70s, died Monday at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was 91.

Cheatham, who lived in Manhattan, suffered a stroke Sunday in a Washington hotel room. He had played a full set the night before at Blues Alley alongside 23-year-old trumpeter Nicholas Payton, with whom Cheatham had been touring to promote their recently released album of classic swing tunes.

For 17 years, Cheatham was the featured player at Sunday brunch sets at Sweet Basil, a jazz club in New York’s Greenwich Village.

To the end of his life, Cheatham performed with lyricism and clarity that belied his advanced age and often startled his listeners.

His life encompassed most of jazz music’s first century of existence. He was inspired by New Orleans trumpet kings Freddie Keppard and Louis Armstrong in the 1920s and traded choruses in the 1990s with younger horns like Payton and Wynton Marsalis.

During the 1930s, he played with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers as well as with bands led by Cab Calloway, Teddy Wilson and Benny Carter. His sweet, soft sound accompanied Billie Holiday in those years just as it had earlier backed legendary singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey.

After gaining attention for his solos during his 1943-45 stint with Eddie Heywood’s sextet, Cheatham dropped out of performing for a few years. In the 1950s, he came back, playing mostly with Latin bands. He also played with Sammy Price, Herbie Mann and Benny Goodman.