Teddy Napoleon, the nephew of trumpeter
Phil Napoleon and the older brother of pianist
Marty Napoleon, was the least-known of the three but he also had a productive career. A talented swing-oriented pianist,
Teddy had his first gig in 1933 with
Lee Castle. He worked with Tommy Tompkins for a few years and then freelanced in New York.
Napoleon played with the big bands of Johnny Messner and
Bob Chester and then in 1944 he joined Gene Krupa's Orchestra.
Teddy played with
Krupa on and off for 14 years including in his popular trio with
Charlie Ventura and on most of his big band recordings of the 1944-49 period.
Teddy was part of Krupa's Trio during their specialty numbers with Jazz at the Philharmonic. The pianist also worked with
Flip Phillips,
Bill Harris and
Eddie Shu. In 1959 he moved to Florida (where
Phil had relocated three years earlier) and led his own trio. Teddy's main influence was
Teddy Wilson, but strangely enough he was never given a chance to lead his own record date. ~ Scott Yanow