Doc Cheatham
Video
Oral History Information
Interview Date
Birth Date
Deceased Date
Job Title
Musician, Trumpeter
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Doc Cheatham was a blues and jazz trumpeter who played from the early years of recordings all the way into the 1990s. Doc was just a teenager when he recorded with the blues legend Ma Rainey (1927) and played with a who's who of musicians and singers until his last performance two days before his passing at the age of 91. Among those Doc performed with over his career were Chick Webb, Claude Hopkins, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, Fletcher Henderson, and Cab Calloway.
Image courtesy of the Downbeat archives, Sony, & David Katznstein.