Al Sears, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Al Sears

American jazz tenor saxophonist

Date of Birth: 22-Feb-1910

Place of Birth: Macomb, Illinois, United States

Date of Death: 23-Mar-1990

Profession: composer, conductor, bandleader, saxophonist, jazz musician

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Albert Omega Sears (February 21, 1910 – March 23, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader, sometimes credited as Big Al Sears. Sears was born in Macomb, Illinois.
His first major gig came in 1928 when he replaced Johnny Hodges in Chick Webb's ensemble.
Following this he played with Elmer Snowden (1931–32), then led his own groups between 1933 and 1941.
In the early 1940s he was with Andy Kirk (1941–42) and Lionel Hampton (1943-44) before he became a member of Duke Ellington's Orchestra in 1944, replacing Ben Webster.
He became one of Ellington's best-known soloists and remained in his employ until 1949, when first Jimmy Forrest and then Paul Gonsalves took over his chair.
He played with Johnny Hodges in 1951–52 and recorded the tune "Castle Rock" with him; the tune became a hit but was released under Hodges's name. Sears was in Alan Freed's band when Freed did live shows, being introduced as "Big Al Sears." He played as a studio musician on a variety of R&B albums in the 1950s and recorded two albums for Swingville Records in 1960.
He also owned several record labels, including Arock, Serock, and Gator.In 1990 he died in St.
Albans, New York, at the age of 80.



Description	American photographer and journalist
Date of birth/death	28 January 1917	23 April 2006
Location of birth/death	Brooklyn	Great Neck
Work period	1930s date QS:P,+1930-00-00T00:00:00Z/8 , 1940s date QS:P,+1940-00-00T00:00:00Z/8
Work location	New York City, Washington, D.C.
Authority control	: Q622278 VIAF: 113043399 ISNI: 0000 0001 1780 1486 LCCN: n82145642 GND: 123340144 BNF: 17060247k WorldCat