My father Joe Techner was a professional jazz trumpet player in Philadelphia for over thirty years until 1974. The Smithsonian Institute voted a 1949 jazz recording with my father’s solo one of the top fifty jazz recordings of the twentieth century. In 1960, reporter Dave Bittan of the Philadelphia Daily News and nightclub owner Billy Krechmer voted my dad a member of “Who’s Who in Philadelphia Jazz.” I spent years researching my father’s music career including interviewing the musicians that knew him and locating his recordings. In 1941 my father studied music under Donald Reinhardt and later at Mastbaum Vocational School. He served in the 106th Army Ground Forces band in World War II. He was a member of the Bob Sheble band in 1946 and was on the road with the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra from 1948 to 1951. He played theaters and nightclubs in the Philly area and ended his music career at Palumbo’s in South Philly. My father left us in 1989 not knowing his story would be told and his music would live forever.
