One of the great European jazz trumpeters was born on October 14, 1931 in Bosnia. Dusko Goykovich began playing trumpet with traditional jazz bands while a youth and was accomplished enough to join the Radio Big Band of Belgrade at the age of 18. He played with that group for five years before moving to Germany where he was a member of the Frankfurt All-Stars. Then came a four-year stint with Kurt Edelhagen’s band where he was the featured trumpet soloist.

In 1958 Dusko received an invitation to play at the Newport Jazz Festival and soon after was offered a grant to study composition and arranging with Herb Pomeroy at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Goykovich was such a dedicated student that he turned down offers to play with Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Stan Kenton. Upon completing his studies, though, Dusko took a job playing with the Maynard Ferguson band where he was second trumpet soloist and wrote arrangements for the group.  After the band broke up in 1964 Goykovich spent a year with Woody Herman.

Returning to Europe in 1966 Dusko Goykovich played with many jazz greats touring the continent including Miles Davis, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry and Phil Woods. He sat in with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra and was a member of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band. In 1968 he started leading and writing for his own big band in Munich and kept them together for eight years. Mr. Goykovich passed away in 2023.

Here is a link to a 1998 small group recording by Dusko Goykovich which also features Tommy Flanagan on piano and Jimmy Heath on saxophone:

"SOUL CONNECTION"