Lee Castle; Big-Band Trumpeter

Lee Castle, a trumpeter in the jazz tradition of Louis Armstrong and Bunny Berigan and who was featured in many of the great bands of the 1930s and ‘40s, has died in a Florida hospital, it was learned Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., said Castle--most recently leader of the Jimmy Dorsey band--was 75 when he died Friday following a heart attack.

Born Aniello Castaldo in New York, he began playing professionally at age 15 and by the mid-1930s was performing with Artie Shaw and then Ray McKinley.

He joined the Tommy Dorsey band in 1939, just as Frank Sinatra was being hired as lead male vocalist, and three years later became Benny Goodman’s ace jazz trumpeter.

Throughout his career he was known for his full tone, extensive range and the ability to play both in the New Orleans tradition of Armstrong and the sweet, ballroom manner of Harry James.

He briefly led the combined Dorsey brothers bands after they merged in 1953 and following the death of Jimmy Dorsey in 1957, Castle fronted that “ghost band.”

He also led two bands of his own in the early 1940s but achieved his greatest successes under other leaders.

Survivors include his wife, Virginia, of Elmsford, N.Y., three brothers and two sisters.