Sam Noto, Trumpeter Who Played With Stan Kenton and Count Basie, Dies at 96

Sam Noto, the jazz trumpeter from Buffalo, New York, who played in the bands of Stan Kenton, Count Basie and Woody Herman, died on Oct. 16, 2026. He was 96. His death was announced in an obituary published by Lombardo Funeral Home in Amherst, New York, which did not give a cause of death and said services will be private.

Born Salvatore Michael Noto on April 17, 1930, he is described in the obituary as "a world-renowned Jazz Musician" who played for many years with "the bands Stan Kenton Orchestra/Count Basie and Woody Herman and countless others," and who also released solo albums in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. The family notice adds that he was a U.S. Army veteran. It names his late wife, Arleen Christian-Noto, and lists four children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren among his survivors.

An artist biography that JazzInfo credits to AllMusic calls Noto "a great bop soloist" who became briefly prominent in the U.S. through his late-1970s recordings for the Xanadu label. The biography says he spent much of 1969 to 1975 working in Las Vegas, where he became associated with trumpeter Red Rodney, who used him on a 1974 recording. In 1975 he moved to Toronto, where he worked in the studios and with Rob McConnell's Boss Brass into the early 1980s. The Canadian Encyclopedia lists Noto among the featured jazz soloists of the Boss Brass, the Canadian big band known for McConnell's brass-heavy arrangements.

The mid-1970s also brought Noto his own records. Michael Fitzgerald's leader discography at jazzdiscography.com documents four albums for the Xanadu label. Entrance! was recorded on March 2, 1975, in Los Angeles with pianist Barry Harris, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Lenny McBrowne. Act One followed, recorded in New York on Dec. 1, 1975, with tenor saxophonist Joe Romano, Harris, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Billy Higgins. Notes to You (1977) added baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and pianist Jimmy Rowles, and Noto-Riety, recorded in Los Angeles in October 1978 with flutist Sam Most, was issued in 1980. Most of the material on those sessions was Noto's own writing, according to the discography.

The same source lists later Toronto recordings: the album 2-4-5, recorded in 1986 and 1987 with musicians including pianist Gary Williamson, bassist Steve Wallace and drummer Bob McLaren and released by Unisson in 1988, and Now Hear This, a 1999 release on Supermono. It also notes two privately issued CDs of 1966 club dates at the Renaissance in Buffalo, featuring Noto with Joe Romano.