His first big break came in 1950, when he won second place in Horace Heidt's National Youth Opportunity Contest and was named solo trumpet in Heidt's band. Real national fame came in 1960 when Hirt's Dixieland Six booked into a luxury hotel in Las Vegas. Hirt didn't call it jazz, although he said he was influenced by Louis Armstrong, Harry James and Frank Sinatra. His driving power, laced with dazzling virtuosity, seemed to blow the curtains at the back of the auditorium, but when the tempo slowed the honey-toned melodies flowed with a style all his own. If you have the ability to perform your musical idea, you become a good jazz player.
Any performer can think of a musical idea.
Only a well-schooled artist can produce the idea on his horn. I have prided myself on being able to do that. A real homebody, Hirt tried to organize his career into short tours so he could stay put in New Orleans with his wife and eight kids, near good fishing grounds for sea trout. His base became his club on Bourbon Street. Around this time, Ellis Marsalis Jr. became his pianist and he occasionally had his young son hanging around.