Biography
Knepper was born in Los Angeles, California, the second son of a nurse and a police officer. His parents divorced shortly after his birth, and his mother had to take her abusive husband to court in order to get child support. He and his older brother, Robert, were sent to several boarding and military schools (Page Military Academy) while their mother worked. He picked up his first instrument, an alto horn, at the age of 6 while he was a pupil there. His first teacher convinced him to put aside the alto, and pick up the trombone, because, as he said, he had a "trombone mouth". He did his first professional gigs in LA at the age of 16. He graduated high school, and later attended classes at Los Angeles Community College.
He married Maxine Helen Fields, a trumpet player with the all female jazz band, "The Sweethearts of Rhythm" on May 8th, 1954, at a civil ceremony in Phoenix, Arizona, while he was on a tour with Maynard Ferguson Band. They had two children, a daughter, Robin Reid Knepper Mahonen and a son, Timothy Jay Knepper, who pre-deceased him. Jimmy chose the names "Robin" and "Jay" to honor his idol, Charlie 'Bird' Parker. He had four grandchildren.
In late 1959, early 1960, he went to Africa on a State Department sponsored tour with Herbie Mann.
In 1962, he toured the Soviet Union with Benny Goodman's Big Band, as part of the cultural exchange during the Cold War. The Bolshoi Ballet came to the US, and the Benny Goodman Band went to the Soviet Union.
He also played the entire run of the Broadway show "Funny Girl", with Barbra Streisand, and later, Mimi Hines. After seventeen previews, the Broadway production opened on March 26, 1964 at the Winter Garden Theatre, subsequently transferring to the Majestic Theatre and The Broadway Theatre to complete its total run of 1,348 performances.
While he was playing "Funny Girl", he became a member of The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, a jazz big band formed by trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis around 1965, which began the 40 year tradition of Monday night jazz shows at the Vanguard in NYC's Greenwich Village. The band performed for twelve years in its original incarnation, but since the death of Lewis in 1990 it has been known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. They have maintained a Monday-night residency at the Village Vanguard for four decades. Knepper toured with them to Japan and Europe, and appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival with them in 1974.
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