Alton Purnell (April 16, 1911 – January 14, 1987) was an American jazz pianist.
[1] Purnell sang before playing piano professionally, beginning to do so locally in New Orleans in 1928.
[2] He played in the 1930s with Isaiah Morgan, Alphonse Picou, Big Eye Louis Nelson, Sidney Desvigne, and Cousin Joe, and with Bunk Johnson in the middle of the 1940s.
[2] Purnell joined George Lewis's band after Johnson's broke up in 1946, and remained there well into the 1950s, including for international tours.
[2] There he worked with Teddy Buckner, Young Men from New Orleans, Joe Darensbourg, Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, and Ben Pollack.