Bill Berry, a renowned jazz cornetist who played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in the 1960s and later formed Bill Berry and the L.A. Band, one of the West Coast’s leading big band ensembles, has died. He was 72.
Mr. Berry, who played in “The Merv Griffin Show” band for 15 years and directed the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Band for more than two decades, died of lung cancer Nov. 13 at the UCLA Medical Center.
Mr. Berry played trumpet with the Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson bands before joining Ellington as the orchestra’s only white member in 1961.
In 1965, he began his 15-year association with the “Merv Griffin Show” band. He formed his own big band, the New York Band, in 1970. After the Griffin show moved to the West Coast a year later, Mr. Berry re-formed his ensemble as Bill Berry and the L.A. Band.
