Tenor saxophone
Born in Virginia, raised in Harlem and educated at Fisk University, Alphonse “Al Hickey” Hickerson played in the Fisk Collegians (later known as the Jimmie Lunceford band) then joined the Navy, in 1941. Stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Base, outside Chicago, Hickey began playing in Chicago with his former Fisk classmate, trumpeter “Doc” Wheeler and reed man William Funderburg in a group they called the Jive Bombers, a name they retained as a Navy swing unit when they were all transfered to Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle, in 1942. The Jive Bombers played in the lively, popular “jump” style of Louis Jordan and the group prospered into the 1950s with changing personnel that at some points included Gerald Wiggins, Wyatt Ruther and drummer Ralph Davis. In 1948, the Jive Bombers competed in a “battle of the bands” with none other than Lester Young, who was playing at the Washington Social Club. Hickey subsequently played in Alaska with Elmer Gill. He moved to Porltand in 1953, where he played for 42 years in a popular quartet, the Hamiltones.
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