Al Sears

Following this he played with Elmer Snowden (1931–32), then led his own groups between 1933 and 1941. In the early 1940s he was with Andy Kirk (1941–42) and Lionel Hampton (1943-44) before he became a member of Duke Ellington's Orchestra in 1944, replacing Ben Webster. He remained with Ellington until 1949, when first Jimmy Forrest and then Paul Gonsalves took over his chair. He played with Johnny Hodges in 1951–52 and recorded the tune "Castle Rock" with him; the tune became a hit but was released under Hodges's name. Sears was in Alan Freed's band when Freed did live shows, being introduced as "Big Al Sears." He played as a studio musician on R&B albums in the 1950s and recorded two albums for Swingville in 1960. He also owned several record labels, including Arock, Serock, and Gator. In 1990, he died in St. Albans, New York, at the age of 80.

• Name — Al Sears • Birth Name — Albert Omega Sears • Born — 21 February 1910 • Birthplace — Macomb, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 23 March 1990 • Place of death — St. Albans, New York City, U.S. • Genre — Jazz • Occupation — Musician • Instrument — Saxophone

• Grade A Dance Music with a Swing Beat (Audio Lab, 1960) • Swing's the Thing (Prestige, 1960) • Rockin' in Rhythm with Taft Jordan and Hilton Jefferson as the Swingville All-Stars (Prestige, 1960) • Things Ain't What They Used to Be (Swingville, 1961)

• Mildred Anderson, No More in Life (Prestige, 1961) • Aretha Franklin, Aretha (Columbia, 1961) • Al Hibbler, After the Lights Go Down Low (Atlantic 1957) • Johnny Hodges, Castle Rock (Norgran, 1955) • Johnny Hodges, In a Tender Mood (Norgan, 1955) • Budd Johnson, Blues a la Mode (Felsted, 1958) • Jimmy Witherspoon, Goin' to Kansas City Blues (RCA Victor, 1958)

Al Sears is recorded with the occupation jazz musician. Recorded with the occupation saxophonist. Recorded with the occupation bandleader. Recorded with the occupation conductor. Recorded with the occupation composer. Classed in the genre jazz. Recorded as bandleader, conductor, saxophonist, composer and musician.

• Scott Yanow, [Al Sears] at Allmusic • Scott DeVeaux and Barry Kernfeld. "Sears, Al." The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.