BIOGRAPHY
Milton Brent Buckner was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents encouraged him to learn to play piano, but they both died when he was nine years old. Milt and his younger brother Ted were sent to Detroit where they were adopted by members of the Earl Walton band: trombonist John Tobias, drummer George Robinson fostered Milt and reedplayer Fred Kewley (né Fred Cecil Kewley; 1889–1953) fostered Ted. Buckner studied piano for three years from the age 10, then at 15 began writing arrangements for the band, he and his brother going on to become active in the Detroit jazz world in the 1930s.
Buckner first played in Detroit with the McKinney's Cotton Pickers and
then with Cab Calloway. In 1941, he joined Lionel Hampton's big band, and
for the next seven years served as its pianist and staff arranger. Buckner
was part of a Variety Revue of 1950 organized by Lionel Hampton at the
Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was
produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 25, 1950. He led a short-lived big
band of his own for two years, but then returned to Hampton's in
1950.
In 1952, he formed his own trio and pioneered the use of the electric
Hammond organ. He often played in Europe in the late 1960s. His last
studio session took place in Paris on July 4, 1977. Milt Buckner is also
known for the use of his song "The Beast" in the film Mulholland Drive and
in the title menu of the video game Battlefield: Bad Company.
Buckner died of a heart attack in July 1977, in Chicago, Illinois, at the
age of 62.
(Wikipedia)