"Mr. Cool" Floyd Standifer, Seattle

This photograph of Floyd Standifer (1929-2007) playing the trumpet was taken by photographer Egill Oscar Gustafson, one of the photographers who documented the Seattle, Washington Jazz scene beginning in the 1960s.

Floyd Standifer was a multi-talented Jazz and Bebop musician; he is best known for playing the trumpet and tenor saxophone, singing, and as the bandleader of the Floyd Standifer Quartet. Standifer was born in North Carolina but moved with his family to Oregon in 1936. As a high schooler, Standifer was assigned the tuba by his music teacher, although he had expressed interest in the trumpet. On his own, Standifer taught himself, first to play the alto saxophone, and then the trumpet. He later recalled practicing in a field, “It was a beautiful echo. There was about a two-second delay. [...] You’d play a scale and then you could hear whether or not you played it right.” After moving to Seattle with his father in 1946, Standifer quickly joined the Jazz scene, where he played and socialized with other major figures, such as Ernestine Anderson (1928-2016), Quincy Jones (b. 1933) and Bumps Blackwell (1918-1985). During his long career as a musician, Standifer toured Europe with Jones, recorded two albums, performed with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, had a standing gig at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant from 1986 to 2006, and was inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame. He also taught music and music history at the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, Olympic College, the Northwest School, and the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts.