# Jazz trumpeter Jack Sheldon dies at 88: Videos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/01/03/jazz-trumpeter-jack-sheldon-dies-at-88-videos/
- Published: 2020-01-03T22:13:02+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Jack Sheldon, an acclaimed jazz musician whose trumpet graced the award-winning
song “The Shadow of Your Smile” and who was known to TV viewers as the puckish sidekick
to talk show host Merv Griffin, died at 88.**

His longtime manager and partner, Dianne Jimenez, confirmed the death but did not
provide other details.

Mr. Sheldon was a prominent part of the vibrant West Coast jazz movement in the 
1950s alongside fellow artists Art Pepper, Stan Kenton and Shorty Rogers. He also
played with jazz and pop greats including Benny Goodman, Peggy Lee, Lena Horne and
Frank Sinatra.

Mr. Sheldon’s tender horn solo on [“The Shadow of Your Smile,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAlPhfkRZB0)
which was introduced in the 1965 film “The Sandpiper,” helped earn it song of the
year at the Grammys and best original song at the Oscars.

“It’s a haunting trumpet he plays,” Griffin told the Los Angeles Times in 2002. “
Henry Mancini once told me, ‘If I’ve got a couple making passionate love onscreen
and I’m writing the score, it’s Jack Sheldon’s trumpet I want.’ ” (Griffin, who 
worked with Mr. Sheldon for most years of the 1962-86 “The Merv Griffin Show”.

Mr. Sheldon was born in Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 30, 1931. He started playing
the trumpet professionally as a youngster and moved to Los Angeles in 1947. He served
in the Air Force, playing in several military bands.

He reveled in playing the wiseguy onstage and onscreen, with TV credits including
the 1966-67 sitcom “Run, Buddy, Run,” in the short-lived “The Girl With Something
Extra” opposite Sally Field in the 1970s and in episodes of “The Simpsons,” “Family
Guy” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

His films included “For the Boys” (1991), in which he played a World War II bandleader
opposite Bette Midler and James Caan, and the 1988 documentary “Let’s Get Lost,”
about fellow trumpet player Chet Baker.

Mr. Sheldon was the subject of “Trying to Get Good: The Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon,”
a 2008 documentary.

His distinctive voice, with overtones of gravel and whisky, was heard in more than
a dozen episodes of the educational animated children’s series “Schoolhouse Rock!”,
including on Dave Frishberg’s tune [“I’m Just a Bill.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgVKvqTItto)

The musician faced health problems, including colon cancer in 1996 and strokes in
2005 and 2001. With the use of his right hand impaired, Mr. Sheldon learned to play
the trumpet left-handed and continued to perform, including at jam sessions in his
Los Angeles-area home that continued until 2019.

In addition to Jimenez, survivors include two children.

### _Related_