{{short description|American musician}} {{one source|date=August 2015}}
'''Fred Lee Beckett''' (January 23, 1917 – January 30, 1946) was an American jazz trombonist known for his work with the Lionel Hampton Big Band and other jazz groups.
Beckett was born in 1917 in Nettleton, Mississippi and learned to play trombone in his high school band.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Fred Beckett: A Modern Jazz Trombonist – Commander Trombone|url=https://www.commandertrombone.com/jztrbcap/fred-beckett/|access-date=2021-07-16|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Career == Beckett's professional career began in Kansas City in the 1930s, and soon after he landed a job with Eddie Johnson's Crackerjacks in St. Louis, Missouri. He played with Duke Wright, Tommy Douglas, Buster Smith, and Andy Kirk over the next few years, as well as time in a territory band with Prince Stewart and a gig in Omaha, Nebraska with Nat Towles. Later in the decade he played with Harlan Leonard.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fred Beckett {{!}} Biography & History|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fred-beckett-mn0001793389/biography|access-date=2021-07-17|website=AllMusic|language=en}}</ref> Beckett's musical style has been described as flexible and legato.<ref name=":0" />
In the early 1940s, Beckett played with Lionel Hampton, performing behind vocalists like Dinah Washington.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fred Beckett|url=http://www.soundhound.com/?ar=200247414337005466|access-date=2021-07-17|website=SoundHound|language=en}}</ref> He served in the Army during World War II, where he contracted tuberculosis. He died of the illness in 1946 at the age of 28.<ref name=":0" />
==References== {{reflist}} * [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p218574/biography|pure_url=yes}} Fred Beckett profile], Allmusic.com; accessed August 13, 2015.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckett, Fred}} Category:1917 births Category:1946 deaths Category:American jazz trombonists Category:American male trombonists Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Category:Place of death missing Category:20th-century American trombonists Category:People from Nettleton, Mississippi Category:Jazz musicians from Mississippi Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:American male jazz musicians Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Missouri Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:Military personnel from Mississippi
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