SHORT TAKES : Hirt to Go Down Aisle 4th Time

NEW ORLEANS —  Trumpeter Al Hirt says he’s planning a fourth trip down the aisle when he weds Beverly Essel in her hometown of Minnetonka, Minn., this winter.

He has known Essel, a recent widow and former dancer with Horace Heidt’s band, for 40 years, according to his son-in-law, Ron Caron.

Hirt and Essel plan to marry Dec. 29.

Hirt, who won a Grammy Award in 1963, has recorded more than 50 albums and ran a nightclub in the French Quarter here for 22 years until a sluggish local economy forced him to close it in 1983.

Now on the road with a five-piece back-up band, Hirt is looking for a new home in New Orleans for him and the group, Caron said.

Hirt divorced his third wife, Zide Jahnche Hirt, in May, 1989.