Tom McIntosh Day

Thomas S. McIntosh (December 6, 1927 – July 26, 2017) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, arranger, and conductor.

McIntosh was born in Baltimore, Maryland and studied at Peabody Conservatory. He was stationed in West Germany after World War Two. He played trombone in an Army band, and eventually graduated from Juilliard in 1958. He played in New York City from 1956, with Lee Morgan, Roland Kirk, James Moody (1959, 1962) and Art Farmer and Benny Golson (1960).

McIntosh was baptized a Jehovah’s Witness on August 13, 1960.

In 1961, McIntosh composed a song for trumpet legend Howard McGhee. In 1963, he composed music for Dizzy Gillespie‘s Something Old, Something New album. The following year his composition Whose Child Are You? was performed by the New York Jazz Sextet, of which he was a member. He also worked with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis later in the 1960s.

In 1969, McIntosh gave up jazz and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television composing. He wrote music for The Learning Tree, Soul Soldier, Shaft’s Big Score, Slither, A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich, and John Handy.

In 2008, McIntosh was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Art

McIntosh died in his sleep on July 26, 2017.

 

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