Alois Maxwell "Al" Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of "Java" and the accompanying album Honey in the Horn (1963), and for the theme music to The Green Hornet. His nicknames included "Jumbo" and "The Round Mound of Sound". Colin Escott, an author of musician biographies, wrote that RCA Victor, for which Hirt had recorded most of his best-selling recordings and for which he had spent most of his professional recording career, had simply dubbed him "The King." Hirt was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in November 2009. He received eight Grammy nominations during his lifetime, including winning the Grammy award in 1964 for his version of "Java".
Early life Hirt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer. At the age of six, he was given his first trumpet, which had been purchased at a local pawnshop. He played in the Junior Police Band with friend Roy Fernandez, the son of Alcide Nunez.
Career By the age of 16, Hirt was playing professionally, often with his friend Pete Fountain, while attending Jesuit High School. During this time, he was hired to play at the local horse racing track, beginning a six-decade connection to the sport.
In 1940, Hirt went to Cincinnati, Ohio, to study at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Dr. Frank Simon (a former soloist with the John Philip Sousa Orchestra). After a stint as a bugler in the United States Army during World War II, Hirt performed with various swing big bands, including those of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Ina Ray Hutton.
In 1950, Hirt became first trumpet and featured soloist with Horace Heidt's Orchestra. After spending several years on the road with Heidt, Hirt returned to New Orleans working with various Dixieland groups and leading his own bands. Despite Hirt's statement years later "I'm not a jazz trumpeter and never was a jazz trumpeter", he made a few recordings where he demonstrated his ability to play in that style, during the 1950s with bandleader Monk Hazel, and a few other recordings on the local Southland Records label.
Hirt's virtuoso dexterity and fine tone on his instrument soon attracted the attention of major record labels and he signed with RCA Victor. Hirt posted twenty-two albums on the Billboard charts in the 1950s and 1960s. The albums Honey in the Horn and Cotton Candy were both in the Top 10 best sellers for 1964, the same year Hirt scored a hit single with his cover of Allen Toussaint's tune "Java" (Billboard No. 4), and later won a Grammy Award for the same recording. Both Honey in the Horn and Java sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.
Hirt's Top 40 charted hit "Sugar Lips" in 1964 would be later used as the theme song for the NBC daytime game show Eye Guess, hosted by Bill Cullen and originally airing from January 1966 to September 1969. Hirt was chosen to record the frenetic theme for the 1960s TV show The Green Hornet, by famed arranger and composer Billy May. Based on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee from his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, it showcased Hirt's technical prowess. In 2003, the recording again gained public attention when it was featured in the film Kill Bill.
From the mid-1950s to early 1960s, Hirt and his band played nightly at Dan's Pier 600 at the corner of St. Louis and Bourbon Street. The nightclub was owned by his business manager, Dan Levy, Sr.
Hirt opened his own club, the Basin St. South, on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, which existed from 1962 to 1983. He also became a minority owner in the NFL expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967.
In 1962, in an effort to showcase him in a different musical setting, Hirt was teamed with arranger and composer Billy May and RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes to record an album titled Horn a Plenty that was a departure from the Dixieland material that he was generally associated with. Covering an eclectic variety of popular, standard and show tunes, it featured a big-band supplemented by timpani, French horns and harp. He also appeared opposite Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette in the 1962 motion picture, Rome Adventure.
In 1965, Hirt hosted the hour-long television variety series Fanfare, which aired Saturday nights on CBS as the summer replacement for Jackie Gleason and the American Scene Magazine.
Hirt starred along with Marguerite Piazza, Lionel Hampton, Doc Severinsen and the Southern University marching band at Super Bowl IV halftime show on January 11, 1970.
On February 8, 1970, while performing in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, Hirt was injured while riding on a float. It was widely reported that he was struck in the mouth by a thrown brick or a piece of concrete and required 12 stitches to the underside of his upper lip. Factual documentation of the details of the incident is sparse, consisting primarily of claims made by Hirt after the incident although police reported that the 1970 Mardi Gras was one of the worst for trouble, with hundreds arrested for drunkenness and violence. Whatever the actual cause of his injuries, Hirt underwent surgery and made a return to the club scene. This incident was parodied in a Saturday Night Live skit from their second season Mardi Gras special, the "Let's Hit Al Hirt in the Mouth with a Brick Contest".
In 1987, Hirt played a solo rendition of "Ave Maria" for Pope John Paul II's visit to New Orleans. He is referred to in the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam, in a broadcast made by Lieutenant Hauk (Bruno Kirby).
Hirt died of liver failure at the age of 76, after having spent the previous year in a wheelchair due to edema in his leg. He was survived by his wife, Beverly Essel Hirt, and eight children from a previous marriage.
Discography
Singles YearTitles (A-side, B-side)Both sides from same album except where indicatedUS BillboardUS CashboxUS AdultContemporaryRecord LabelAlbum1961"Janine"b/w "Elegie" – – – RCA Victor 7854 Non-album tracks"I'm On My Way"b/w "Perky" – – – RCA Victor 7903Al's Place1962"Al Di La"b/w "Talkin 'Bout That River" – – – RCA Victor 8016 Honey In The Horn"Theme From 'The Eleventh Hour'"b/w "Song From 'Two For The Seesaw'" (Non-album track) – – – RCA Victor 8104Al's Place 1963"Roman Nocturne"b/w "Pickin' Cotton" (Non-album track) – – – RCA Victor 88541964"Java"b/w "I Can't Get Started" 4 4 1 RCA Victor 8280 Honey In The Horn"Cotton Candy" / 15 15 3 RCA Victor 8346 Cotton Candy"Walkin'" 103 134 —"Floatin' Down To Cotton Town"b/w "After You've Gone" – – – Coral Silver Star 65590Floatin' Down To Cotton Town"Sugar Lips"b/w "Poupee Brisee (Broken Doll)" 30 20 3 RCA Victor 8391 Sugar Lips"Up Above My Head (I Hear Music in the Air)"b/w "September Song" 85 94 12 RCA Victor 8439"Hooray For Santa Claus"b/w "White Christmas" – – – RCA Victor 8478Non-album tracks 1965"Feelin' Fruggy"b/w "Louisiana Lullaby" – 135 30 RCA Victor 8684"Fancy Pants"b/w "Star Dust" 47 37 9 RCA Victor 8487 That Honey Horn Sound"Al's Place"b/w "Mister Sandman" 57 67 13 RCA Victor 8543Al's Place "The Silence (Il Silenzio)"b/w "Love Theme from The Sandpiper" 96 129 19 RCA Victor 8653Non-album tracks"Nutty Jingle Bells"b/w "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" – – – RCA Victor 8706The Sound Of Christmas1966"Mame"b/w "Seven Days To Tahiti" – 135 36 RCA Victor 8774Non-album tracks"Trumpet Pickin'"b/w "Skillet Lickin'" – 129 27 RCA Victor 8854"The Arena" / 129 115 28 RCA Victor 8736"Yesterday" - tag -"Green Hornet Theme"b/w "Strawberry Jam" (Non-album track) 126 121 – RCA Victor 8925 The Horn Meets "The Hornet""The Evil One"b/w "(Theme From) The Monkees" (from The Horn Meets "The Hornet") – – – RCA Victor 9023Non-album track1967"Music To Watch Girls By"b/w "His Girl" 119 — 31 RCA Victor 9060Music To Watch Girls By"Yo-Yo (Puppet Song)"b/w "Boy Watchers' Theme" (Non-album track) – – – RCA Victor 9106"Puppet On A String"b/w "Big Honey" 129 — 18 RCA Victor 9198Non-album tracks"Calypsoul"b/w "Honey Pot" — — — RCA Victor 9285 Soul In The Horn"Ludwig"b/w "Long Gone" – — 23 RCA Victor 93811968"Keep the Ball Rollin'"b/w "Manhattan Safari" 100 — 10 RCA Victor 9417Al's Place "We Can Fly/Up-Up and Away"b/w "The Glory Of Love" 129 — 23 RCA Victor 9500Non-album tracks "The Odd Couple"b/w "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" – – – RCA Victor 9539"The Garbage"b/w "Those Were the Days" – – – RCA Victor 96641969"If"b/w "Penny Arcade" 116 95 16 RCA Victor 9717"Viva Max March"b/w "Don't Turn Back"Both sides with Hugo Montenegro – – – RCA Victor 0302 Viva Max!"The Gospel Of No Name City"b/w "I Still See Elisa" – – – GWP 516Paint Your Wagon 1970"Break My Mind"b/w "Louisiana Man" – – – GWP 519Al Hirt Country 1971"Orange Blossom Special"b/w "I Really Don't Want to Know" – – – GWP 5221974"Sweet Sauce"b/w "Melody For Michelle" – – – Monument 8619Raw Sugar/Sweet Sauce/Banana Pudd'n1975"Feuding Pipers"b/w "Southern Scramble"Both sides with Boots Randolph – – – Monument 8652Non-album tracks"Monkey Farm"b/w "The Sound Of Jazz and The Scent Of Jasmine" – – – Monument 8671Al Hirt's Jumbo Gumbo
Albums YearAlbum Peak chart positions Record label US 200 US Jazz1962Al Hirt in New Orleans – –Coral1957Al Hirt and His New Orleans All Stars – –Southland1957Blockbustin' Dixie! – –Verve1958Al Hirt's Jazz Band Ball – – Verve1958Swingin' Dixie at Dan's Pier 600 in New Orleans, Vol. 1 – –Audio Fidelity1959Swingin' Dixie at Dan's Pier 600 in New Orleans, Vol. 2 – –Audio Fidelity1960Swingin' Dixie, Vol. 3 – –Audio Fidelity1961Swingin' Dixie, Vol. 4 – –Audio Fidelity1961He's the King and His Band 61 –RCA Victor1961The Greatest Horn in the World 21 –RCA Victor1962At the Mardi Gras – –RCA Victor1962Horn A-Plenty 24 –RCA Victor1962Trumpet and Strings 96 –RCA Victor1963Honey in the Horn 3 –RCA Victor1963Our Man in New Orleans 44 –RCA Victor1964Beauty and the Beard 83 –RCA Victor1964"Pops" Goes the Trumpet (Holiday for Brass) - –RCA Victor1964Sugar Lips 9 –RCA Victor1964Cotton Candy 6 –RCA Victor1965The Sound of Christmas – –RCA Victor1965Live at Carnegie Hall 47 –RCA Victor1965That Honey Horn Sound 28 –RCA Victor1965They're Playing Our Song 39 –RCA Victor1966The Happy Trumpet 125 –RCA Victor1966 The Horn Meets "The Hornet" – –RCA Victor1966 Latin in the Horn – –RCA Victor1967Soul in the Horn – –RCA Victor1967Struttin' Down Royal Street – –RCA Victor1967Music to Watch Girls By – –RCA Victor1968Al Hirt Plays Bert Kaempfert 116 –RCA Victor1968In Love With You – –RCA Victor1968Al Hirt Now! – –RCA Victor1968Unforgettable – –RCA Victor1969Here in My Heart – –RCA Victor1988That's a Plenty – 9Pro-Arte 1989Cotton Candy – 12Pro Jazz 1989Jazzin' at the Pops 12 –Pro Jazz 1991Al's Place – –Special Music1991Raw Sugar, Sweet Sauce – –Monument1972Have a Merry Little Christmas – –RCA Camden1993Bourbon Street Parade – –Intersound1996Al Hirt & His Golden Trumpet – –Total Recording 1996Live on Bourbon Street – –Laserlight
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