Cyril James Touff was a jazz bass trumpet

Bass trumpet

The bass trumpet is a type of low trumpet which was first developed during the 1820s in Germany. It is usually pitched in 8' C or 9' B today, but is sometimes built in E and is treated as a transposing instrument sounding either an octave, a sixth or a ninth lower than written, depending on the...

er. He was one of the few jazz musicians known as a bass trumpeter. He was also associated with West coast jazz

West coast jazz

West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music tended to be more heavily arranged,...

 even though he spent most of his life in Chicago.

He started on piano at age 6 and went on to play xylophone

Xylophone

The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...

 and saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 before settling on trumpet. He served in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 from 1944 to 1946 and in the military he played trombone. After the war he switched to bass trumpet and worked with Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

 and Sandy Mosse

Sandy Mosse

Sandy Mosse was an American jazz tenor saxophonist influenced by Lester Young.Mosse learned clarinet and alto saxophone early in life, and switched to tenor sax at the beginning of the 1950s...

 among others. He and Mosse co-led an octet called Pieces of Eight late in the 1950s into the next decade.

Select discography

Title	Release date	Artist	Label
I Love John Frigo...He Swings I Love John Frigo...He Swings I Love John Frigo...He Swings was the debut album of jazz violinist Johnny Frigo for Mercury Records, though the album was more or less not noticed by the public upon release...	1957-12-12	Johnny Frigo Johnny Frigo Johnny Frigo was an American jazz violinist and bassist.His son, Derek John Frigo, was the lead guitarist for the rock band Enuff Z'nuff. Derek Frigo died of a drug overdose on May 28, 2004....	Mercury Records Mercury Records Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

External links

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