Jimmy Knepper was an American jazz trombonist. Born on November 22, 1927, in Los Angeles, California, he began playing the alto horn at age six and later switched to the trombone. His professional career started with performances in Los Angeles, and he traveled to Spokane, Washington, at age 15. He played in bands led by Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, and Claude Thornhill. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he collaborated extensively with Charles Mingus. He toured Africa from December 31, 1959, to April 5, 1960, with Herbie Mann's band, and the Soviet Union in 1962 with Benny Goodman's big band. As a leader, he released albums such as A Swinging Introduction to Jimmy Knepper (1957) and The Pepper-Knepper Quintet (1958). He received four consecutive Best Trombonist honors from the DownBeat Readers' Poll from 1981 to 1984, and achieved first place in the Critics' Poll in 1981 and five years running from 1983 to 1987. In 1980, he received a Grammy Award nomination for his album Cunningbird (1976). He died on June 14, 2003, in Triadelphia, West Virginia.
