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Jazz icon Mundell Lowe began playing guitar at age six, growing up near Laurel, Mississippi, as the son of a Baptist minister. Though he helped his father hoe cotton on their farm, he never intended to work the land. At ten, he got his first six-string guitar and became captivated by jazz. After hearing Charlie Christian, he immediately knew which style to follow. By thirteen, he ran away to New Orleans, where he immersed himself in the jazz scene on Bourbon Street.
Though his father eventually found him, Lowe ran away again—this time to Nashville—where he briefly played with Pee Wee King's band. He graduated in 1940, performed with Jan Savitt's orchestra, and in 1943 was drafted into the military, stationed near New Orleans. There, he met entertainment officer John Hammond Jr., whose friendship proved valuable. Assigned later to Fort McPherson near Atlanta and the Engineering Corps, Lowe benefited from Hammond's support after his discharge. In 1945, Hammond helped him secure a position with the Ray McKinley Orchestra, leader of the post-war Glenn Miller band. Subsequently, Lowe performed with many jazz greats such as Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Ben Webster, and Red Norvo in small groups, recording sessions, and club gigs.
From 1948 to 1965, Lowe worked as guitarist and arranger for the NBC Orchestra in New York and served as musical director for TV's Today Show. In 1965, he moved to Los Angeles, where Screen Gems head Jackie Cooper hired him as conductor and composer for television music. Lowe later expanded into music education, teaching film composition at the Grove School of Music in Studio City and at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles. In 1983, he formed TransitWest, a small group that performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival featuring bassist Monty Budwig and flutist Sam Most. Mundell Lowe was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 San Diego Music Awards.
