Al Hirt

<p>Alois Maxwell Hirt was born on November 7, 1922, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer. At age six, he received his first pawnshop trumpet, practicing relentlessly on the front porch. He studied classical trumpet at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music under Frank Simon, former cornet soloist with the John Philip Sousa Band, acquiring immaculate classical technique and embouchure control.</p><p>During World War II, Hirt served as a bugler in the United States Army, performing with swing bands. Returning to New Orleans in the 1950s, he teamed with clarinetist Pete Fountain, playing high-octane Dixieland jazz that packed Bourbon Street clubs. Signed by RCA Victor, Hirt's 1964 single <strong>'Java'</strong>—a rollicking, infectious instrumental—topped the charts, won the <strong>Grammy Award for Best Non-Jazz Instrumental Performance</strong>, and transformed Hirt into an international celebrity.</p><p>Standing six-foot-two and weighing over 300 pounds with a majestic beard, Hirt was a beloved television presence on <em>The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson</em> and <em>The Ed Sullivan Show</em>. In 1966, he recorded the blistering, Flight of the Bumblebee-style trumpet theme for the TV series <em>The Green Hornet</em> (arranged by Billy May), later immortalized for modern audiences by Quentin Tarantino in <em>Kill Bill: Volume 1</em>. Hirt opened his own nightclub on Bourbon Street, performed for Pope John Paul II in 1987, and was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame before passing away on April 27, 1999, in his beloved New Orleans.</p>