Don Fagerquist

Donald Alton Fagerquist (February 6, 1927 – January 23, 1974) was a small group, big band, and studio jazz trumpet player from the West Coast of the United States.

Career
Fagerquist was a featured soloist with several major bands, including Mal Hallett (1943), Gene Krupa (1944–50), Artie Shaw (1949–50), Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five (1949–50), Woody Herman (1951–52), Les Brown (1953), and the Dave Pell Octet (1953–59). He played on the Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook album (1963) under the baton of Nelson Riddle.

Despite high demand for his services as a lyrical soloist, he recorded only twice as a leader: a half-date for Capitol in 1955 (reissued as part of the Dave Pell Octet CD I Had the Craziest Dream) and a complete project for Mode in 1957 (Music to Fill a Void).

In 1956, Fagerquist signed on as a staff musician for Paramount Films, while still periodically recording with artists such as Shelly Manne, Mel Tormé, and Art Pepper. Throughout the early- to mid-1960s, Fagerquist's solos could be heard on the recordings of Pete Rugolo, Frank Comstock, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Paul Weston, Si Zentner, Dean Martin and many others.

By 1966, health issues forced Fagerquist to withdraw from studio recording altogether. He died from kidney disease at his home in Canoga Park, California, at the age of 46.

Selected discography
With Chet Baker and Bud Shank With Louis Bellson With Hoagy Carmichael With Bob Cooper With Fred Katz With Stan Kenton With Junior Mance With Dave Pell With Shorty Rogers With Pete Rugolo With Mel Torme With the Benny Goodman Orchestra & Brussels World's Fair Orchestra With Skip Martin's Scheherajazz
 * Theme Music from "The James Dean Story" (World Pacific, 1956)
 * Louis Bellson Swings Jule Styne (Verve, 1960)
 * Hoagy Sings Carmichael (Pacific Jazz, 1956)
 * Coop! The Music of Bob Cooper (Contemporary, 1958)
 * Folk Songs for Far Out Folk (Warner Bros., 1958)
 * Fred Katz and his Jammers (Decca, 1959)
 * The Ballad Style of Stan Kenton (Capitol, 1958)
 * Get Ready, Set, Jump!!! (Capitol, 1964)
 * Straight Ahead! (Capitol, 1964)
 * Dave Pell Octet Plays Irving Berlin (Kapp, 1954)
 * Dave Pell Octet Plays Rodgers & Hart (Kapp, 1954)
 * Jazz & Romantic Places (Atlantic, 1955)
 * Jazz Goes Dancing (RCA, 1956)
 * I Had the Craziest Dream (Capitol Records, 1957)
 * Martians Come Back! (Atlantic, 1955 [1956])
 * Way Up There (Atlantic, 1955 [1957])
 * Portrait of Shorty (RCA Victor, 1957)
 * Afro-Cuban Influence (RCA Victor, 1958)
 * Chances Are It Swings (RCA Victor, 1958)
 * The Wizard of Oz and Other Harold Arlen Songs (RCA Victor, 1959)
 * Shorty Rogers Meets Tarzan (MGM, 1960)
 * Music for Hi-Fi Bugs (EmArcy, 1956)
 * Out on a Limb (EmArcy, 1956)
 * An Adventure in Sound: Brass in Hi-Fi (Mercury 1956 [1958])
 * Percussion at Work (EmArcy, 1957)
 * Rugolo Plays Kenton (EmArcy, 1958)
 * The Music from Richard Diamond (EmArcy, 1959)
 * The Original Music of Thriller (Time, 1961)
 * Ten Trumpets and 2 Guitars (Mercury, 1961)
 * Mel Torme Sings Fred Astaire (Bethlehem, 1956)
 * Mel Torme with the Marty Paich dek-tette (Bethlehem, 1956)
 * California Suite (Bethlehem, 1957)
 * Salute to Benny Goodman (Crown, 1958)
 * A Symphony in Jazz by the Video All-Stars (Stereo-Fidelity, 1959)