Albert Killian (October 15, 1916 – September 5, 1950) was an American jazz trumpeter and occasional bandleader during the big band era.
[2] In this, Killian and bandmate Paul Webster, both African Americans, participated in the audio recording of Charlie Barnet's orchestra for Monogram Pictures's Freddie Steps Out, but executives ordered that the subsequent filming of the band be done without them.
[1] On September 5 of the year that he left Ellington, Killian was murdered in his Los Angeles home by "a psychopathic landlord".
[3] Gunther Schuller wrote in The Swing Era (1989):Killian was without a doubt the greatest of the Late-Swing-Era high-note lead trumpeters.
Not necessarily an outstanding jazz soloist, Killian specialized in stratospheric trumpeting which was totally consistent and often defied belief.