Joe Comfort(1917-1988)

Joe played with Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Oscar Pettiford and many others. As the older kid in his neighborhood in Watts, Joe taught Charlie Mingus how to play the double bass. Because he became more prolific in his studio work doing recordings, Joe Comfort is less known except on liner notes. His brother George was in the classic movie Porgy and Bess; his three nieces, Bonnie, Donnie and Joyce Comfort were in "The Ten Commandments"; and his father taught music at Alcorn College in Mississippi making sure all his kids could read and play. The family migrated to Los Angeles (Watts) in 1922.