Ernie Carson

Who was Ernie Carson?

Ernie Carson was an American Dixieland jazz revival cornetist, pianist, and singer. He was born in Portland, Oregon.

Carson played trumpet from elementary school, and played with the Castle Jazz Band in the mid-1950s prior to a stint in the U.S. Marines. Following this he worked in Los Angeles with Dave Wierbach, Jig Adams, Ray Bauduc, Pat Yankee, and Turk Murphy, and led several of his own groups from the 1970s, including the Capital City Jazz Band and a new version of the Castle Jazz Band. After more than twenty years of playing based in Atlanta, he moved back to Oregon in 1995. He died in 2012 in Portland, Oregon.