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Herb Geller was a skilled American alto saxophonist and clarinetist, proficient on both instruments by age ten. Coming from a musical family, his mother was a piano accompanist for silent films. After seeing Benny Carter perform at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, Geller chose to pursue a career as a professional musician. At eighteen, in 1946, he joined Joe Venuti's big band on the West Coast. Following a period with trumpeter and arranger Billy May’s group, Geller relocated to New York. There, he played in the orchestras of Claude Thornhill (1950-51) and Jerry Wald (1952), later performing in smaller ensembles with prominent West Coast artists such as Chet Baker, Maynard Ferguson, Shelly Manne, and Marty Paich. He also briefly co-led a quartet with his wife, bop pianist Lorraine Walsh. Her unexpected death from pulmonary edema in 1958 led Geller to leave the United States.
He then toured South America before moving to Germany, passing through Lisbon and Paris. Beginning in 1962, he spent three years playing in the orchestra of West Berlin’s RIAS radio station and managed a nightclub. From 1965 onwards, he settled in Hamburg, becoming a sought-after session musician known for playing bebop in the style of Charlie Parker. For many years, Geller was a key figure at the NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) radio big band as an arranger and leader. Up until the 1990s, he recorded for labels such as Enja Records, Fresh Sound, and V.S.O.P., collaborating with top artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Max Roach, and Louie Bellson.
