What American Jazz pianist toured with an American musician who is best known as a trumpet playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946 and ended his career as the leader of the house band at the Cantina Room of the Continental Plaza Hotel?
Bob Acri Robert R. "Bob" Acri (October 1, 1918 – July 25, 2013) was an American Jazz pianist. Bob graduated from Austin High School in Chicago. While at Austin High, he began his career at the NBC Orchestra on the Dave Garroway Radio Show. He was a classically trained pianist, studying with Rudolph Ganz and Fred Euing. He also studied composition with Dr. Karel Jirak and Bill Russo. During his career he played in the radio orchestras of NBC and ABC, as well as in the House Band of the Chicago nightclub Mister Kelly's. He toured with Harry James and accompanied Lena Horne, Mike Douglas, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Buddy Rich, and Woody Herman. He earned his Bachelor's of Music and Master's of Music degree from Roosevelt University when he was in his late 70s. He ended his career as the leader of the house band at the Cantina Room of the Continental Plaza Hotel.
Cliff Bruner Clifton Lafayette Bruner (April 25, 1915 – August 25, 2000), known professionally as Cliff Bruner, was a fiddler and bandleader of the Western Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. Bruner's music combined elements of traditional string band music, improvisation, blues, folk, and popular melodies of the times.