The Mysterious Life of Don Goldie

Following my post over the weekend of Jack Teagarden's recording of Afternoon in August, featuring trumpeter Don Goldie, I received quite a few emails from readers wondering who Goldie was. I last wrote about Goldie in 2018 here. Goldie was a solid, melodic player with great tone but lacked the "storytelling" quality of Bobby Hackett and Don Fagerquist or the soul of Charlie Shavers and Jonah Jones. Goldie played briefly with Louis Armstrong's group in the mid-1950s and recorded with Teagarden between 1959 and 1963. He also was a sideman on several albums, including Sylvia Syms's Torch Song. Sadly, Goldie took his own life in 1995 at age 65.

Over the weekend, Jim Eigo of Original Vinyl Records shed some light on Goldie when he sent along the following:

Marc, a record collection recently acquired by the store included an LP I've seen maybe a hundred times but never paid it much attention. The album is on The Grand Prix Series, one of those budget labels that one would see over the years in bargain bins. Turns out Billy Franklin was a pseudonym for Don Goldie. I also found this entry online at a Maynard Ferguson forum, from 2010...

"I knew Don very well. He was a strange guy. Never married, and lived with his mom until she died. He was really strange about her. He kept her apartment, just above his, exactly the way it was the day she died. I'm talking the same dirty dishes in the sink, everything the same, almost like a shrine. He told me once that he'd saved all the messages his mom left on his answering machine over the years and would often listen to them late at night after her death.

"He was a monster player in his prime (in the late 1950s to late 60s). I have recordings of him with Teagarden playing up to high A's with perfect control. His technique was the best and, in a way, you could say he was a virtuoso on those early records.

"The day he killed himself, he started out visiting the hospital with kidney problems. He then told doctors that he had to go home to take care of some very important paperwork. They let him go home for a couple of hours with a nurse to accompany him. Before he left, he wrote his own obituary and mailed it to "The Miami Herald." Then he went home and told the nurse he'd be in his office for a few minutes. The nurse heard the gunshot and that was it. Don left a long list of people he forbid to attend his funeral. I didn't go, but I was told that his accountant gave the big speech. Remember that Don had no family and few friends.

"He had four Selmer trumpets, one of them a beautiful gold plated richly engraved model. He left that to a very respected local trumpet player who one day by accident had a truck run over the bell. Don was such a talented man and could charm the pants off anyone whenever he wanted to, but he had a very dark side and was really close to no one. It was such a shame the way his life ended. Right after his death, we were all in shock. Like I said, he really wasn't that close to anybody. It took me years to realize just how much I miss him and how much I could have learned from him."

Goldie is often called "the best trumpeter who was never famous." My guess, from the write-up above, is that he suffered from depression and anxiety that only the comfort of his mother could ease in the days before sophisticated meds were available for such disorders. He also likely lacked adequate social skills and may have had a self-inflated sense of himself. After his mother's death and the start of his illness, the dreaded thought of being terminally ill without someone he knew to take care of him was too much to bear. Terribly sad.

Let's listen to eight clips by trumpeter Don Goldie:

Here's Goldie with Buddy Rich on Playtime, based on the chord changes to East of the Sun, from Rich's Playtime album in 1960, with Sam Most (fl), Mike Mainieri (vib,arr), Johnny Morris (p), Wilbur Wynne (g), Richard Evans (b) and Buddy Rich (d)...

Here's Goldie with Jack Teagarden on Aunt Hager's Country Home in 1960...

Here's Goldie playing I Can't Get Started on Jack Teagarden's A Portrait of Mr. T. in 1961...

Here's Goldie playing Goldie's Thing from Trumpet Caliente in October 1962 with Leo Wright (as,fl), Patti Bown (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Ben Tucker (b), Ed Shaughnessy (d), Willie Rodriguez (perc) and Ray Barretto (cga), with Manny Albam (arr,cond)...

Here's Goldie with Bob Whitlock on guitar playing Give Me the Simple Life...

Here's Goldie on flugelhorn playing Samba de Orpheo with Jack Keller on piano and Bob Whitlock on guitar...

Here's Goldie's complete Reflections album from the late 1970s, with Dick Shepp on guitar...

Here's Goldie with Eddie Gralka on tenor saxophone, Jack Keller on piano, Mark Trail on bass and Red Hawley on drums in 1977 playing Take the "A" Train...