Jiggs Whigham


Jiggs Whigham is an American jazz trombonist.
WWW Official Site

Biography

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., he began his professional career at the age of 17, joining the Glenn Miller/Ray McKinley orchestra in 1961. He left that band for Stan Kenton, where he played in the touring "mellophonium" band in 1963, then settled in New York City to play commercially.
Frustrated with commercial playing, Whigham migrated to Germany, where he still lives. He taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He played for many years in the big band of Kurt Edelhagen, was a featured soloist in the Bert Kaempfert orchestra, and was also a member of the Peter Herbolzheimer band. He is widely admired by trombonists and other musicians for his fluent and expressive playing, and has produced an extensive discography as a leader, including work with Bill Holman, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Carl Fontana, and many others.
In more recent years, Whigham has been musical director of the RIAS Big Band in Berlin, Germany. He is formerly conductor of the BBC Big Band in Great Britain and currently co-director of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra with singer Marc Secara. He is featured on the Berlin Jazz Orchestra albums Update, You're Everything, Songs of Berlin, and music DVD Strangers in the Night - [The Music of Bert Kaempfert]. He was visiting tutor and artist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and KUG in Graz, Austria. He is artist-in-residence for the Conn-Selmer company, maker of the King Jiggs Whigham model trombone. He continues to tour worldwide as a soloist, conductor, and educator. Since 2008 he has been a regular musical director for the Bundesjazzorchester working with the top student jazz musicians in Germany.
Image:Flickr - Official U.S. Navy Imagery - Internationally acclaimed musician performs with [Navy band..jpg|thumb|right|250px|Jiggs Whigham with the U.S. Navy Band]
He resides in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Germany and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Discography

Values The Jiggs Up First Take Hope Jiggs & Gene Blue Highway: The Music of Paul Ferguson Jazz Meets Band The Heart & Soul of Hoagy Carmichael Two-Too Live at Nighttown: Not So Standards
With the Berlin Jazz Orchestra
With the hr-Bigband

As sideman

With Carl Fontana
  • 1999: Nice 'n' Easy
  • 2002: Keepin' up with the Boneses
With Peter Herbolzheimer
  • 1973: Wide Open
  • 2005: Toots Suite
  • 2006: Getting Down to Brass Tracks
With Stan Kenton
With Kenton Alumni Band
With Paul Kuhn
With Bud Shank
  • 1992: The Awakening
  • 1995: Lost Cathedral
With others