George T. "Sonny" Cohn was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

er.

After working for fifteen years with Red Saunders

Red Saunders (musician)

Theodore Dudley "Red" Saunders was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He also played vibraphone and timpani....

 (1945–1960), he went on to spend another 24 years in Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

's trumpet section (1960–1984).

Biography

Cohn started playing in small groups in Chicago with King Fleming

King Fleming

Walter "King" Fleming is an American jazz pianist and bandleader.A classmate of Sonny Cohn, after playing trombone in the McKinley High School band, Fleming went on to study at the Midwest College of Music. He had already led several informal bands before King Fleming and His Swing Band first...

 while still a teenager.

Cohn joined Red Saunders' group in 1945, while Saunders was out of the Club DeLisa

Club DeLisa

The Club DeLisa, also written Delisa or De Lisa, at State Street and Garfield Avenue, on the South Side, was an important nightclub and music venue in Chicago....

 and working with a sextet instead of his usual mid-sized band. Fresh out of military service, he joined the Saunders group at the Capitol Lounge in Chicago; Leon Washington

Leon Washington (musician)

Leon Diamond Washington was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Born in Mississippi, Washington grew up in Chicago from the age of three. He started on clarinet before moving on to tenor saxophone, and studied under Santy Runyon...

 had recommended him. He was featured on Saunders' first recordings as a leader, for Savoy

Savoy Records

Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...

, Sultan

Sultan Records

Sultan Recording Company, headquartered in Detroit, was a short-lived label started c. 1946 by Morton Sultan .Its gimmick was "Double-header hits," meaning that two different artists shared each 78 rpm....

, and (behind Big Joe Turner

Big Joe Turner

Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...

) on National

National Records

National Records was a record label that was started in New York by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted till early 1951.Big Joe Turner was signed at the outset and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as were The Ravens...

. He was heard on the records that Saunders made for OKeh Records

Okeh Records

Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...

 (1951–1953) and for Parrot

Parrot Records (blues label)

Parrot Records was a Chicago-based label founded in 1952 by disc jockey Al Benson. It specialized in blues, jazz, doo-wop, and gospel. The company began operating in earnest in the summer of 1953, and lasted till the middle of 1956. Several Parrot recordings were later released by Chess...

 and Blue Lake

Blue Lake Records

Blue Lake was a Chicago-based record label founded in 1954 by disc jockey Al Benson. It specialized in blues, doo-wop, jazz, and gospel. A subsidiary of Benson's Parrot operation, it lasted until mid-1956...

 (1953–1954).

Sonny Cohn survived several downsizings of the Red Saunders

Red Saunders

Red Saunders was a British photographer and founder of Rock Against Racism. He has specialised in rock music photography. He is part of theatre group Complicite.-External links:* * http://www.reddogonline.eu/mcredman.htm...

 band, as well as the closure of the Club DeLisa

Club DeLisa

The Club DeLisa, also written Delisa or De Lisa, at State Street and Garfield Avenue, on the South Side, was an important nightclub and music venue in Chicago....

, but eventually accepted an offer from Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, with whom he worked from 1960 through 1984. After Basie's death, Cohn returned to Chicago, where he remained active as a musician for another two decades.

Cohn died in November 2006 in his home town of Chicago, at the age of 81.