Bill Hardman; Jazz Messengers Trumpeter

Jazz trumpeter Bill Hardman, a founding member of the group that drummer Art Blakey dubbed his Jazz Messengers in 1954, has died in Paris, Reuters news agency reported last week.

Reuters quoted friends of Hardman, who had lived in Paris for several years, as saying that he was 57 when he died in a Paris hospital of a brain hemorrhage. The date of death was not reported.

Born William Franklin Hardman Jr. in Cleveland, Hardman achieved his greatest fame with Blakey’s hard-driving group. He left the Messengers in 1958, rejoined them in 1970 and left for a final time in 1977. Blakey died earlier this year.

Hardman also played alongside pianist Thelonious Monk and bassist Charles Mingus and was seen with Lloyd Price, The Brass Co., the Vibration Society and the Junior Cook Quintet.