Willie Singleton, professionally known as Sweet Willie, is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sweet Willie was born on October 12th, 1945.
In late 1964, while at the Navy School Of Music in Little Creek, Virginia during an eight-year tour of duty, Sweet Willie was selected as one the U.S. Navy Ceremonial trumpet players to play taps at Funerals at Arlington Cemetery for a year during the Vietnam War as part the honor guard stationed in Washington, D.C.
Sweet Willie Singleton also participated in the funerals of President John F. Kennedy and General Douglas MacArthur as part of a joint service honor Cordon.
These processions began at the White House and then to the Capitol and finally to Arlington Cemetery. This joint service honor Cordon lined both sides of the route.
The Cordon consisted of members of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. Each military branch furnished 240 officers and men for the Cordon.
Following an honorable discharge, Willie pursued a degree in music from Southern University in Baton Rouge. During his college career, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Student Travel Grant to study with Clark Terry.
After earning his Bachelor of Music degree in jazz studies with trumpet concentration, Willie joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra and played lead trumpet with the orchestra for three years. Following his years with the Ellington Orchestra, Willie played lead trumpet in numerous other bands, including the Count Basie Band, the Al Hirt Band, the Al Belletto Big Band, the Clark Terry Big Band, the Blue Room Orchestra, the Jimmy Noon Orchestra, the Kidd Johnson Orchestra, the Buddy Boudreaux Big Band, the Dave Bartholomew Big Band, the Herb Tassin Big Band, the Scandinavian Star Ship Band.
He has played all the clubs, both large and small, on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and played with the bands on the Steamboats that travel the Mississippi River. He lived in Paris for nine months, playing lead trumpet in the show, Black and Blue that featured Linda Hopkins. He continues to tour with the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble, playing with symphony orchestras across the country—Boston Philharmonic, Princeton, Youngstown, OH, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, MI, Delaware, Toledo, Richmond, IN. The Ensemble also has played for the Bay Chamber Concert Series in Maine, for the January Series at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, for the Little Rock (AR) Jazz Festival, for the Brevard Music Camp, and for the New York and Minnesota Chautauquas.
During the 1990’s Willie played lead trumpet with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under Wynton Marsalis. Since moving to Grand Rapids in August 1996, he has been guest principle trumpet with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra for the Lou Rawls, Ben Vereen, Mercedes Ellington, Monica Mancini, Starlight Trio, Capital Quartet, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Manhattan Transfer, and Benny Goodman concerts. He has played with many of the musical shows at both Circle Theater in the Park and Civic Theater. He has also formed his own group locally. The group plays for various events around town, e.g., corporate events, weddings, funerals, and private parties.
Sweet Willie Singleton received many compliments on his lead trumpet playing skills from many of the big name entertainers that he performed behind.
Subject to availability, Sweet Willie Singleton was specifically asked by major ‘Big Name’ recording artists to play lead trumpet behind many recording artists on the artists National Stage Shows and Tours such as>>>
– Joe Williams in Osaka & Tokyo, Japan
– Harry Belefonte in Bermuda
– Della Reese in Green Bay, WI
– The Temptations in New Orleans, LA
– Lou Rawls in Up-State New York Tours
– Sarah Vaughn in Cleveland, OH
– Gladys Knight in Baton Rouge, LA
– Aretha Franklin in New Orleans, LA
– Neil Sedaka in New Orleans, LA
– Lena Horne in New Orleans, LA
– Mills Brothers in Naples, Italy
– Lannie Kazan in Vancouver and Quebec, Canada
– The Four Tops in New Orleans, LA
– The Spinners in New Orleans, LA
– Al Hibbler at Kennedy Center
– Johnny Taylor in Mobile, AL & Gulfport, MS
– The Dells in Baton Rouge, LA
– Red Skelton in New Orleans, LA
– Vic Damone at Mike Douglas Show–Philadelphia
– Bob Hope in Green Bay, WI
International Music Festivals
– Jamboree Jazz Festival, Warsaw, Poland
– The Hague Jazz Festival, Amsterdam, Holland
– Prince Albert Hall Festival, London, England
– Dresden Festival, East Berlin, Germany
– Namur Jazz Festival, Namur, France
National Music Festivals
– Mobile Jazz Festival (Mobile, AL)
– All American Jazz Festival (Washington, DC)
– College Jazz Festival (Notre Dame, IN)
– Louisiana Jazz and Heritage Festival (New Orleans, LA)
– Southern University Jazz Festival (Baton Rouge, LA) –Featured in 1994 Year of the Trumpet festival
– French Quarter Festival (new Orleans, LA)
Concerts/Special Events
– Ellington Remembered — Carnegie Hall, NYC
– Great Woods Jazz & Blues (Count Basie Band) — Great Woods, MA
– Alvin Alley & Ellington — Lincoln Center, NYC
– Ellington Series Concerts — St. John the Divine, NYC, Buffalo, NY,, and Hampton, VA
– Ellington Series Concerts Europe–Ambassador Tour
– Greenville Symphony, Jazzicali II — North Carolina
– Cornet Kings Before Armstrong — Lincoln Center, NYC
– Jazz at Lincoln Center-The Armstrong Continuum — December 1994
– Lincoln Center, NYC, Wynton Marsalis, Music Director
– Crescent City Jazz Band–New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, 1996 — Ellis Marsalis, Music Director
– The Toledo Symphony, January 1995
– The Richmond (IN) Symphony, May 1995
– The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, January 1994, January 1995, March 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
– The Youngstown (OH) Symphony, February 1995
– The Delaware Symphony Orchestra, April 1995
– The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, August 1996
– Red Wing, MN Chautauqua, June 1995
– Chautauqua, NY, July 1994, July 1996, August 2004
– New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, January 17, 18, 19, 1997
– Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, summer 1997
– The January Series, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
– Brevard Music Camp, June 2000
– Little Rock (AR) Jazz Festival, summer 2000
– Bay Chamber Concert Series, Maine, summer 1998, summer 2000, and summer 2005
– Charleston, SC Historical Society, November 2002
– Ben Vereen concert
– Mercedes Ellington concert
– Monica Mancini concert, 2000
– Starlight Trio concert at Cannonsburg, July 2000
– Capital Quartet concert, 2001
– Frank Sinatra, Jr. concert, 2001
– Manhattan Transfer concert, January 2002
– Benny Goodman concert at Cannonsburg, July 2002
Sweet Willie Singleton regularly performed as a Soloist/Lead Trumpet/Sideman with a number of bands, ensembles, and orchestras:
1965 – 1973 – Jimmy Noon Jr. Orchestra
1973 -1974 – Royal Garden Brass Quintet
1974 – 1975 – Count Basie Orchestra
1975 – 1978 – Duke Ellington Orchestra under the Direction of Mercer Ellington
Sweet Willie also was also a featured vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Here he is performing “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” during a 1977 Dresden, Germany Performance>>
1979 – 1980 – Clark Terry Big Band
1980 -1982 – Lead Trumpet with the Blue Room Orchestra at the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans, LA
1983 – 84 – Al Hirt Band
1983-85 – Dave Bartholomew Big Band
1983-1994 – Kid Johnson Orchestra
1984 – Clyde Kerr, Sr. Big Band, New Orleans World’s Fair
1984-1992 – Mississippi Queen Steamboat Ship
1985-1992 – Herb Tassin Big Band
1985-1986 – New Orleans Brass Quintet
Sweet Willie is also an excellent composer. Here is performing his own composition, “Boobis” on fluegelhorn with the NOBQ>>
1985 -1992 – Chuck Easterling Swing-a-Phonic Orchestra
1985 – 2000 – William Houston Orchestra
1985 – 1991 – Steven Foster Band
1990-1991 – Scandinavian Star Ship Band
1992 – 2000 Al Belletto Big Band
1995 – 2000 – Buddy Boudreaux Big Band
Currently:
1992- Present – Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble — the performance arm of the jazz archives of Tulane University
Guest Principal Trumpet on a reoccurring basis for the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra
Fairmont/Roosevelt Hotel – Blue Room – Orchestra/Artist/Shows – New Orleans, LA
Dick Stabile, Music Director 1980
Bill Clifford, Music Director 1981-1982
– Ella Fitzgerald
– Ike Cole
– Lou Rawls
– Roger Miller
– Cheeta Raviera
– John Gary
– Four Freshmen
– George Shearing
– Anthony Newley
– Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.
– Clint Holmes
– The Temptations
– Stella Parton
– The Four Tops
– Gladys Knight & The Pips
– The Spinners
– Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé
– Carol Channing
– Billy Daniels
– Connie Stevens
– Johnny Desmond
– Cathy Carson
– Billy Eckstein
– Rose Marie
– Nancy Wilson
– Melba Moore
– Mills Brothers
– Joe Williams
– Jane Powell
– Rosemary Clooney
– Rita Coolidge
– Debbie Boone
– Cyd Charise
– Tony Martin
– The Pointer Sisters
RECORDINGS: Fantasy Records, Columbia, RCA, Naxus, Sweet Willie Productions
EDUCATION:
B.M. degree, 1979 Jazz studies with trumpet concentration – Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA
Awarded National Endowment for the Arts Student Travel Grant to study with Clark Terry, 1973.
Courses taken toward the masters degree – Kansas State University, 1994-95
Sweet Willie Singleton’s Website is>>>
https://sweetwilliesingleton.com/