who is the best trombonist

in terms of doing what?

playing really fast music

i'm not going to get into a !***!ing contest over who's better.. but if you're looking for some great players known for playing fast, i can give you a few guys to check out.
Carl Fontana
Frank Rosolino
Urbie Green
Bill Watrous
Bob McChesney
Ian Bousfield
these are just a few.. tons more out there.

And a few more, from the classical world:

Christian Lindberg
Joe Alessi
Mark Lawrence

There is no "best" trombonist. How can you possibly measure something like that?

There are a lot of great ones, however.

which is why i chose to just name a few guys worth checking out...
bobsacamo, maybe you could hip us to some great players and/or recordings you'd recommend?

Here's a couple of my favorite jazz trombone CD's:

Steve Davis & Conrad Herwig - Osteology (Criss Cross label)
John Allred & Wycliffe Gordon - Head to Head

A couple of nice classical recordings:

Ben Van Dijk - Nana
James Markey - Offroad


I've got more, but I'm in a rush right now. I'll post more later.

som more are

Duke ellington
Tommy dorcy
and you guys have already mentioned all the others worth mentioning

to my knowledge, Duke did not play trombone, though he had some great trombone players..Tricky Sam Nanton, Juan Tizol, etc.
and it's spelled Tommy Dorsey , sorry

sorry, I'm not the best speller in the world. But duke did indeed play trombone.

i'm not trying to be an ass or anything, but i'm gonna have to ask you to back that one up...
i've looked all over and tried to find some evidence of Duke being a bone player and have turned up nothing.
please enlighten me.

Um, Steve is right. Duke did NOT play trombone. He played piano. Look it up.

From Wikipedia:

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899–May 24, 1974), also known simply as Duke (see Jazz royalty), was an American jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader.

I rest my case. Thank you.

there isn't a best person, but so far the "best" on terms of the fastest trombone player that i've listened to has been author pryor, but im almost postive theres someone out there who can out play him.