Frankie Newton – born William Frank Newton on January 4, 1906 in Emory, Virginia
– was a jazz trumpeter whose career and recordings are often sorely overlooked
in many jazz circles. He began his professional career by playing in several
bands in the 1920s and 1930s including those led by Elmer Snowden, Bessie Smith
(on her final recordings in 1933), Fess Johnson, Andy Kirk, Sam Woodling, Chick
Webb, and others. Apart from his work with those artists, he also formed his own
short-lived groups including Frankie Newton and Hi Uptown Serenaders (1937),
Frankie Newton and His Orchestr...