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Al McKibbon (January 1, 1919 – July 29, 2005) was an American jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 double bassist, known for his work in bop
Bebop

Bebop or bop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s....
, hard bop
Hard bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Hard bop incorporates influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano playing....
, and Latin jazz
Latin jazz

Latin jazz is the general term given to music that combines rhythms from African and Latin American countries with jazz and classical harmonies from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States....
.

In 1947, after working with Lucky Millinder
Lucky Millinder

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an United States rhythm and blues and swing music bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful....
, Tab Smith
Tab Smith

Talmadge Smith , was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist.In the 1930s and 1940s he spent several years in the bands of Lucky Millinder and Count Basie, as well as spending long periods freelancing both as a player and as an arranger....
, J. C. Heard
J. C. Heard

J. C. Heard a.k.a. James Charles Heard was a United States swing music, bebop, and blues drummer.Heard was a very supportive drummer, versatile enough to fit comfortably into swing, bop and blues settings....
, and Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins , nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was a prominent jazz Tenor saxophone.He is commonly regarded as the first important and influential jazz musician to use the instrument: Joachim E....
, he replaced Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)

Raymond Matthews Brown was an United States jazz double bassist. He is considered by many one of the masters of his instrument, as he developed an almost perfect sense of timekeeping and had a hard swing feel to his lines....
 in Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie [/g?'l?spi/] was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children....
's band, in which he played until 1950. In the 1950s he recorded with the Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
 nonet, Earl Hines
Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz"....
, Count Basie
Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an United States Jazz piano, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years....
, Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges

John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophone and lead player of Duke Ellington's saxophone section. He spent 38 years with Ellington, leaving to lead his own band from 1951 to 1955, returning to the fold shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence via the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz F...
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
, George Shearing
George Shearing

Sir George Shearing Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom jazz pianist who, during the 1950s, had a popular Jazz group for MGM Records and Capitol Records....
, Cal Tjader
Cal Tjader

Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his death....
, Herbie Nichols
Herbie Nichols

Herbie Nichols , was an American jazz pianist and composer. Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics....
 and Hawkins. McKibbon was credited with interesting Tjader in Latin music while he played in Tjader's group.

McKibbon has always been highly regarded (among other signs of this regard, he was the bassist for the Giants of Jazz
Giants of Jazz

The Giants of Jazz was a jazz all-star group of the 1970s which featured Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, and Kai Winding....
), and continued to perform until 2004.






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Al McKibbon (January 1, 1919 – July 29, 2005) was an American jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 double bassist, known for his work in bop
Bebop

Bebop or bop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s....
, hard bop
Hard bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Hard bop incorporates influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano playing....
, and Latin jazz
Latin jazz

Latin jazz is the general term given to music that combines rhythms from African and Latin American countries with jazz and classical harmonies from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States....
.

In 1947, after working with Lucky Millinder
Lucky Millinder

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an United States rhythm and blues and swing music bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful....
, Tab Smith
Tab Smith

Talmadge Smith , was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist.In the 1930s and 1940s he spent several years in the bands of Lucky Millinder and Count Basie, as well as spending long periods freelancing both as a player and as an arranger....
, J. C. Heard
J. C. Heard

J. C. Heard a.k.a. James Charles Heard was a United States swing music, bebop, and blues drummer.Heard was a very supportive drummer, versatile enough to fit comfortably into swing, bop and blues settings....
, and Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins , nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was a prominent jazz Tenor saxophone.He is commonly regarded as the first important and influential jazz musician to use the instrument: Joachim E....
, he replaced Ray Brown
Ray Brown (musician)

Raymond Matthews Brown was an United States jazz double bassist. He is considered by many one of the masters of his instrument, as he developed an almost perfect sense of timekeeping and had a hard swing feel to his lines....
 in Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie [/g?'l?spi/] was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children....
's band, in which he played until 1950. In the 1950s he recorded with the Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
 nonet, Earl Hines
Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz"....
, Count Basie
Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an United States Jazz piano, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years....
, Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges

John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophone and lead player of Duke Ellington's saxophone section. He spent 38 years with Ellington, leaving to lead his own band from 1951 to 1955, returning to the fold shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence via the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz F...
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer.Widely considered one of the most important musicians in jazz -- he is one of only three jazz musicians to be featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epi...
, George Shearing
George Shearing

Sir George Shearing Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom jazz pianist who, during the 1950s, had a popular Jazz group for MGM Records and Capitol Records....
, Cal Tjader
Cal Tjader

Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his death....
, Herbie Nichols
Herbie Nichols

Herbie Nichols , was an American jazz pianist and composer. Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics....
 and Hawkins. McKibbon was credited with interesting Tjader in Latin music while he played in Tjader's group.

McKibbon has always been highly regarded (among other signs of this regard, he was the bassist for the Giants of Jazz
Giants of Jazz

The Giants of Jazz was a jazz all-star group of the 1970s which featured Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, and Kai Winding....
), and continued to perform until 2004. In 1999, at age 80, he recorded his first album in his own name, Tumbao Para Los Congueros Di Mi Vida (Blue Lady Records), which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Performance. McKibbon's second album, Black Orchid (Nine Yards Music), was released in 2004. He also wrote the Afterword to Raul Fernandez' book, Latin Jazz, part of the Smithsonian Institution's series of exhibitions on jazz.