In memoriam: Frances Shirley Kass (Sept. 13, 1924-March 28, 2013)

Trumpeter Frances Shirley Kass had a varied career as a jazz and classical trumpeter.

Kass was the second child born in Portland, Oregon, to James and Ethel Shirley.  She attended Wichita and Commerce schools.  She began playing trumpet at age seven, and she played in Starr's Band and marched in the Rose parades.  In her early teens she studied trumpet with Ferdinand Sorenson.

Her first paying job was with Hazel Fischer's band.  She played in a jazz band at the Clover Club in downtown Portland and at jam sessions at the Chicken Coop, the Woody Hite Band and Jack and Jill's.  "Zoot suits" were popular then, and she had two suits made by the popular Portland tailor, Ray Bolger.

Kass was the "pioneer" of the line of the "Shirley Girls", as they were known in Portand, for their musical achievements. When she was seventeen she was hired by the Henry Busse Band. Later she was hired by Ada Leonard's All-Girl orchestra, along with her sisters, Mildred and Beatrice.  They traveled all over the USA, playing at prominent theaters and army posts.  Charlie Barnett, the well-known band leader heard her play a solo and then hired her to play as the only female in his band.

She once played Herbert L. Clarke’s "Bride of the Waves" in a trumpet competition with Doc Severinsen and enjoyed visiting with him at the International Trumpet Guild conferences.  She was an avid member of ITG and attended several of their yearly conferences with her sisters.  She read the ITG Journal from cover to cover.

She met her husband Henry (Hank) Kass,(1920-1994) a saxman with the Billy Bishop band, and the two were married in 1946.  They lived in Mt. Vernon, NY, and then No. Miami, Florida. Kass did not play her trumpet for about thirty years, and then she played in the Barry Mann band for fifteen years.  She played in the North Miami Concert Band until 2010 (at the age of 85).  She enjoyed playing trumpet duets with her sister, Jean, and Jean's sons, Sam  & Irving.

Her jazz favorites were Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Pete Minger, and Arturo Sandoval.

She had a great sense of humor, was generous to a fault and had a great concern for her family and others; she was a hard worker; she had an avid interest in jazz and classical music; she was devoted to and loved her husband and children.

Source: Geraldine Stillwell