Jazz trumpet player Mullins dies at 77

Wednesday, July 9, 2003 | 8:27 a.m.

Jazz trumpeter William A. "Bitsy" Mullins of Pine Bluff, Ark., died on Saturday. He was 77.

He played first trumpet on the Las Vegas Strip with entertainers such as Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Jimmy Dean and Wayne Newton.

Born March 13, 1926, in Pine Bluff, Mullins graduated from the University of Arkansas. He was a Kappa Sigma Fraternity member and an Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame inductee.

In addition to playing Las Vegas showrooms from 1955 until 1975, Mullins also backed the bands of Randy Brooks, Charlie Spivak, Buddy Rich, Ray McKinley, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Tex Beneke, Buddy Morrow and Claude Thornhill.

With the Dorseys, he did a television series for Jackie Gleason playing with Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dick Haymes, Kim Novak, Mel Torme and, in 1955, a young Elvis Presley.

Survivors include two sons, Joseph F. Mullins of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Marty Mullins of Bozeman, Mont., and two daughters, Patty Jenab of Danville, Calif., and Sue Mullins of Santa Monica, Calif. He has two brothers, Robert W. Mullins of Pine Bluff and James W. Mullins of Alma, Ark., four grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

There are no services scheduled in Las Vegas.

Funeral services are scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at the Ralph Robinson and Son Chapel in Pine Bluff. In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested to the Band Museum, 423 S. Main St., Pine Bluff, Ark., 71601.