George Bohanon

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

George Bohanon came up in the Detroit jazz scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s, leading a quintet whose pianist was Kenny Cox and working as a session trombonist on Motown recordings alongside Funk Brothers such as Hank Cosby. In 1963 and 1964 his George Bohanon Quartet made two albums for Workshop Jazz, the short-lived jazz imprint Berry Gordy launched for Detroit players such as Johnny Griffith. In 1962 he replaced Garnett Brown in the Chico Hamilton Quintet, and he later moved to California, where he became one of the busiest trombonists in Los Angeles studios. He played in the Ernie Wilkins Orchestra behind Sarah Vaughan in 1971, and his long list of credits includes Donald Byrd's Places and Spaces, Joe Henderson, Alice Coltrane, Stanley Clarke, Boz Scaggs, Ry Cooder, Diana Krall and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. From 1984 to 1993 he played in the orchestras backing Frank Sinatra. He died in November 2024 at 87.

Highlights

1. Motown session trombonist in the early 1960s
2. Two albums for Motown's Workshop Jazz label (1963–1964)
3. Member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet from 1962
4. Played on Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
5. Played in Frank Sinatra's orchestras, 1984–1993