Booker Little
Encyclopedia
Booker Little, Jr was an American
jazz
trumpeter and composer
.
, featuring crisp articulation, a burnished tone and balanced phrasing. He is considered to be one of the first trumpet players to develop his own sound after Clifford Brown.
He was born in Memphis
, Tennessee
. He studied at the Chicago Conservatory from 1956 to 1958 and it was during this time that he worked with leading local musicians such as Johnny Griffin
. Later, after moving to New York, he became associated with drummer Max Roach
and multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Eric Dolphy
, recording with them both as a sideman and a leader. With Dolphy, he co-led a residency at the Five Spot
club in New York in June 1961, from which three classic albums were eventually issued by Prestige Records
. It was during this stint that he began to show promise of expanding the expressive range of the "vernacular" bebop idiom started by Clifford Brown in the mid-1950s. He also appeared on Dolphy's album Far Cry (New Jazz 8270), recorded December 21, 1960. He died of complications resulting from uremia
on October 5, 1961 in New York City, New York.
With Eric Dolphy
With John Coltrane
With Slide Hampton
With Bill Henderson
With Abbey Lincoln
With Frank Strozier
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trumpeter and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
Despite his premature death from kidney failure at the age of 23, Little made an important contribution to jazz. Stylistically, his sound is rooted in the playing of Clifford BrownClifford Brown
Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings...
, featuring crisp articulation, a burnished tone and balanced phrasing. He is considered to be one of the first trumpet players to develop his own sound after Clifford Brown.
He was born in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. He studied at the Chicago Conservatory from 1956 to 1958 and it was during this time that he worked with leading local musicians such as Johnny Griffin
Johnny Griffin
John Arnold Griffin III was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.- Early life and career :Griffin studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax...
. Later, after moving to New York, he became associated with drummer Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
and multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
, recording with them both as a sideman and a leader. With Dolphy, he co-led a residency at the Five Spot
Five Spot
The Five Spot Café was a jazz club located at 5 Cooper Square in the Bowery neighbourhood of New York City.-History:In 1937, Salvatore Termini purchased what was then known as the Bowery Café, a working-class bar located under the Third Avenue El. In 1946, two of Termini's sons, Joe and Ignatze ...
club in New York in June 1961, from which three classic albums were eventually issued by Prestige Records
Prestige Records
Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
. It was during this stint that he began to show promise of expanding the expressive range of the "vernacular" bebop idiom started by Clifford Brown in the mid-1950s. He also appeared on Dolphy's album Far Cry (New Jazz 8270), recorded December 21, 1960. He died of complications resulting from uremia
Uremia
Uremia or uraemia is a term used to loosely describe the illness accompanying kidney failure , in particular the nitrogenous waste products associated with the failure of this organ....
on October 5, 1961 in New York City, New York.
As leader
- 1958: Booker Little 4 and Max RoachBooker Little 4 and Max RoachBooker Little 4 and Max Roach is an album by American jazz trumpeter Booker Little featuring performances recorded in 1958 for the United Artists label.-Reception:...
(United ArtistsUnited ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
) - 1960: Booker LittleBooker Little (album)Booker Little is an album by American jazz trumpeter Booker Little featuring performances recorded in 1960 for the Time label. The CD re-release entitled Booker Little: Complete Quartet Recordings added six bonus tracks recorded in 1958.-Reception:...
(Time) - 1961: Out FrontOut FrontOut Front is an album by American jazz trumpeter Booker Little featuring performances recorded in 1961 for the Candid label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 5 stars and stated "His seven now-obscure originals are challenging for the soloists and there are many strong...
(Candid RecordsCandid RecordsCandid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day...
) with Julian PriesterJulian PriesterJulian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer.He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.-Biography:...
, Eric DolphyEric DolphyEric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
, Don FriedmanDon FriedmanDonald Ernest Friedman , better known as Don Friedman, is a jazz pianist. On the West Coast, he performed with Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker, Buddy DeFranco and Ornette Coleman, among others, before moving to New York...
, Ron CarterRon CarterRon Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
, Art DavisArt DavisArt Davis was a double-bassist, known for his work with various seminal jazz musicians including Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach.-Biography:...
, Max RoachMax RoachMaxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history... - 1961: Booker Little and FriendBooker Little and FriendBooker Little and Friend is the final album led by American jazz trumpeter Booker Little featuring performances recorded in 1961 for the Bethlehem label...
(BethlehemBethlehem RecordsBethlehem Records was a record label based in New York and Hollywood founded by Gus Wildi in 1953. It was bought by King Records in the early 1960s....
) This album was re-released under the name Victory and Sorrow
As sideman
With Max RoachMax Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
- Deeds, Not Words (RiversideRiverside RecordsRiverside Records was a United States record label specializing in jazz. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer under his firm Bill Grauer Productions, Inc. in 1953, the label was a major presence in the jazz record industry for a decade...
, 1958) - Max Roach Plus Four on the Chicago Scene (EmArcyEmArcy RecordsEmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by Mercury Records, and today a European jazz label owned by Universal Music Group. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company....
, 1958) - We Insist! – Freedom Now (Candid, 1960)
- Percussion Bitter SweetPercussion Bitter SweetPercussion Bitter Sweet is an album by jazz drummer Max Roach recorded in 1961, released on Impulse! Records.-Track listing:All compositions by Max Roach, except where noted#"Garvey's Ghost" - 7:53#"Mama" - 4:50#"Tender Warriors" - 6:52...
(Impulse!, 1961)
With Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
- Far CryFar Cry (album)Far Cry is a 1960 album by jazz musician Eric Dolphy. This album is one of several Dolphy recordings to feature trumpeter Booker Little. Dolphy and Little were backed by Jaki Byard on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Far Cry was recorded by engineer Rudy Van Gelder.-The...
(PrestigePrestige RecordsPrestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
, 1960) - At the Five SpotAt the Five SpotAt the Five Spot volumes one and two is a pair of jazz albums documenting one night from the end of Eric Dolphy's two-week residency at the Five Spot in New York. This was the only night to be recorded; the engineer was Rudy Van Gelder...
(New Jazz / OJCOriginal Jazz ClassicsOriginal Jazz Classics was started in 1983 as an imprint of Fantasy Records. Under this name facsimiles of original editions of jazz LPs have been reissued on CD and formerly on LP and cassette also. The LPs were originally released on Riverside, Prestige and other labels that had been purchased...
, 1961)
With John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
- Africa/BrassAfrica/Brass-Personnel:* John Coltrane — soprano and tenor saxophone* Booker Little — trumpet* Freddie Hubbard — trumpet on May 23 session only* Britt Woodman — trombone on June 4 session only* Charles Greenlee — euphonium on May 23 session only...
(Impulse!Impulse! RecordsImpulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
, 1960)
With Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
- Slide! (Strand, 1959)
With Bill Henderson
- Bill Henderson Sings (Vee Jay, 1959)
With Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...
- Straight AheadStraight Ahead (Abbey Lincoln album)Straight Ahead is an album by American jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln featuring performances recorded in 1961 for the Candid label.-Reception:...
(CandidCandid RecordsCandid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day...
, 1961)
With Frank Strozier
Frank Strozier
Frank Strozier is an alto saxophonist renowned for his playing in the hard bop idiom.Strozier grew up in Memphis Memphis, Tennessee...
- The Fantastic Frank Strozier (Vee-Jay, 1960)