Doug Watkins
Encyclopedia
Douglas Watkins was an American
hard bop
jazz
double bassist from Detroit.
, he later played in Horace Silver
's quintet and freelanced with Gene Ammons
, Kenny Burrell
, Donald Byrd
, Art Farmer
, Jackie McLean
, Hank Mobley
, Lee Morgan
, Sonny Rollins
, and Phil Woods
among others.
Some of Watkins' best-known work can be heard when as a 21-year-old he appeared on another 1956 album, Saxophone Colossus
by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins
, with Max Roach
and Tommy Flanagan. From that session, the tunes "Blue Seven" and "St. Thomas," especially, have become revered not only as evidence of Rollins' original genius but as fine examples of Watkins' work.
According to Horace Silver
's recent autobiography, Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty, Watkins, along with Silver, later left Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers
because the other members of the band at the time (Kenny Dorham
, Hank Mobley
and Blakey) had serious drug problems, whereas Watkins and Silver were tired of being harassed and searched by the police every time they went to a gig in a new city and club.
In 1958 Watkins would join Donald Byrd for a European tour, taking up extended residence at Le Chat Qui Peche, a jazz club on Paris' Left Bank. Along with Byrd, tenor saxophonist Bobby Jaspar
, pianist Walter Davis, Jr.
and drummer Art Taylor
, Watkins made two albums with Byrd during this time, one recorded in the club and another at a formal concert featuring Byrd's quintet.
Watkins was known for his superb tone and distinct phrasing. He had a distinct walking tone and was right on the beat, forming an organic, indivisible relationship with his instrument as he swayed with it in perfect time. Pianist Red Garland
often stated that Watkins was his favorite bassist and that he was always in tune and never off-key. Watkins played with Garland in 1959, along with drummer Specs Wright
.
While Watkins lived only to the age of 27, he appeared on well over 350 LPs in his career backing many major jazz stars of the time. When Charles Mingus
briefly ventured over to the piano stool in 1961, he hired Watkins to take over the bass part; Oh Yeah!!! and Tonight at Noon were the results of this adventurous interlude.
Watkins recorded only two albums as leader. Watkins at Large (1956) is an album for the tiny Transition label, made with fellow members of the Horace Silver Quintet of the time—most recently it has been available on a two-disc set, The Transition Sessions (Blue Note, 2002), which incorporates two additional Transition dates on which Watkins appears.
The other Watkins-led session, Soulnik (1961), with Yusef Lateef
and reissued as part of the OJC
series, features Watkins on cello with Herman Wright backing him on bass. The cello was an instrument he had started to play only two days before the recording session.
Watkins died in an automobile accident on February 5, 1962, while traveling from Arizona to San Francisco to meet drummer Philly Joe Jones
for a gig. He fell asleep at the wheel and was hit head-on by an oncoming truck. The other occupants of the car, pianist Sir Roland Hanna
and trumpeter Bill Hardman
, survived the crash. Watkins made enough recordings with seminal musicians, especially Blakey, Silver, Mobley, Byrd and Rollins, to insure his lasting reputation as a superb musician, an unselfish and enabling ensemble player, and a bassist-walker with few peers.
He was a cousin by marriage to bassist Paul Chambers
, who was similarly prolific on record during this era, working with Miles Davis
throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s.
With Art Blakey
With Tina Brooks
With Kenny Burrell
With Donald Byrd
With Jackie McLean
With Charles Mingus
With Hank Mobley
With Lee Morgan
With Dizzy Reece
With Sonny Rollins
With Horace Silver
With Louis Smith
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
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...
double bassist from Detroit.
Biography
An original member of the Jazz MessengersArt Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
, he later played in Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
's quintet and freelanced with Gene Ammons
Gene Ammons
Eugene "Jug" Ammons also known as "The Boss," was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons.-Biography:...
, Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
, Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
, Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
, Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
, Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
, Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
, and Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
among others.
Some of Watkins' best-known work can be heard when as a 21-year-old he appeared on another 1956 album, Saxophone Colossus
Saxophone Colossus
Saxophone Colossus is one of Sonny Rollins' most acclaimed albums. Recorded and released in 1956, it has been awarded a rare Crown by The Penguin Guide to Jazz, and is widely considered the masterpiece of his mid-1950s series of recordings for Prestige Records and one of the greatest albums ever...
by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
, with 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 Tommy Flanagan. From that session, the tunes "Blue Seven" and "St. Thomas," especially, have become revered not only as evidence of Rollins' original genius but as fine examples of Watkins' work.
According to Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
's recent autobiography, Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty, Watkins, along with Silver, later left Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
because the other members of the band at the time (Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
, Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
and Blakey) had serious drug problems, whereas Watkins and Silver were tired of being harassed and searched by the police every time they went to a gig in a new city and club.
In 1958 Watkins would join Donald Byrd for a European tour, taking up extended residence at Le Chat Qui Peche, a jazz club on Paris' Left Bank. Along with Byrd, tenor saxophonist Bobby Jaspar
Bobby Jaspar
Bobby Jaspar was a cool jazz and hard bop saxophonist, flautist and composer born in Liège, Belgium. He was married to the jazz singer Blossom Dearie....
, pianist Walter Davis, Jr.
Walter Davis, Jr.
Walter Davis, Jr. was an American hard bop pianist.Born in Richmond, Virginia, Davis performed as a teenager with Babs Gonzales and his group Three Bips and a Bop. In the 1950s, Davis recorded with Melba Liston, Max Roach and played with Roach, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie...
and drummer Art Taylor
Art Taylor
Arthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer of the hard bop school.After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, and George Wallington from 1948 to 1957, he formed his own group, the Wailers...
, Watkins made two albums with Byrd during this time, one recorded in the club and another at a formal concert featuring Byrd's quintet.
Watkins was known for his superb tone and distinct phrasing. He had a distinct walking tone and was right on the beat, forming an organic, indivisible relationship with his instrument as he swayed with it in perfect time. Pianist Red Garland
Red Garland
William "Red" Garland was an American hard bop jazz pianist whose block chord style, in part originated by Milt Buckner, influenced many forthcoming pianists in the jazz idiom.-Beginnings:...
often stated that Watkins was his favorite bassist and that he was always in tune and never off-key. Watkins played with Garland in 1959, along with drummer Specs Wright
Specs Wright
Charles "Specs" Wright was an American jazz drummer born in Philadelphia.Wright played drums in an Army band until his discharge in 1947. Following this he played in a group with Jimmy Heath and Howard McGhee. In 1949 he joined Dizzy Gillespie's band alongside John Coltrane, remaining until it...
.
While Watkins lived only to the age of 27, he appeared on well over 350 LPs in his career backing many major jazz stars of the time. When Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
briefly ventured over to the piano stool in 1961, he hired Watkins to take over the bass part; Oh Yeah!!! and Tonight at Noon were the results of this adventurous interlude.
Watkins recorded only two albums as leader. Watkins at Large (1956) is an album for the tiny Transition label, made with fellow members of the Horace Silver Quintet of the time—most recently it has been available on a two-disc set, The Transition Sessions (Blue Note, 2002), which incorporates two additional Transition dates on which Watkins appears.
The other Watkins-led session, Soulnik (1961), with Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
and reissued as part of the OJC
Original Jazz Classics
Original 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...
series, features Watkins on cello with Herman Wright backing him on bass. The cello was an instrument he had started to play only two days before the recording session.
Watkins died in an automobile accident on February 5, 1962, while traveling from Arizona to San Francisco to meet drummer Philly Joe Jones
Philly Joe Jones
Joseph Rudolph Jones was a Philadelphia-born United States jazz drummer, known as the drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet.Philly Joe Jones was often confused with another influential jazz drummer, Jo Jones...
for a gig. He fell asleep at the wheel and was hit head-on by an oncoming truck. The other occupants of the car, pianist Sir Roland Hanna
Roland Hanna
Roland Hanna was an American Jazz pianist.Hanna studied classical piano as a boy, but was strongly interested in jazz. This increased after his time in military service.He studied at Eastman School of Music and Juilliard School...
and trumpeter Bill Hardman
Bill Hardman
William Franklin Hardman, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop.-Biography:...
, survived the crash. Watkins made enough recordings with seminal musicians, especially Blakey, Silver, Mobley, Byrd and Rollins, to insure his lasting reputation as a superb musician, an unselfish and enabling ensemble player, and a bassist-walker with few peers.
He was a cousin by marriage to bassist Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
, who was similarly prolific on record during this era, working with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s.
As leader
- 1956: Watkins at Large (with Donald ByrdDonald ByrdDonaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, Hank MobleyHank MobleyHenry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
, Duke JordanDuke JordanIrving Sidney "Duke" Jordan was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regular member of Charlie Parker's so-called "classic quintet" , featuring Miles Davis...
, Kenny BurrellKenny BurrellKenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
, Art TaylorArt TaylorArthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer of the hard bop school.After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, and George Wallington from 1948 to 1957, he formed his own group, the Wailers...
) - 1960: Soulnik (New Jazz Records, with Yusef LateefYusef LateefDr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
, Hugh LawsonHugh Lawson (jazz pianist)Hugh Lawson , was one of many talented Detroit jazz pianists of the 1950s ....
, Herman WrightHerman WrightHerman Wright was a jazz bassist from Detroit, Michigan and later resided in Harlem, New York City until his death.He began on drums as a teen before ultimately settling on upright bass. He worked with Dorothy Ashby, Terry Gibbs, Yusef Lateef, George Shearing, Doug Watkins and on one occasion...
, Lex HumphriesLex HumphriesLex Humphries was a jazz drummer. He worked with two musicians known for mixing world music with jazz; Sun Ra and Yusef Lateef. As a member of Sun Ra's "Arkestra" he appeared in the film Space Is the Place....
)Allmusic review
As sideman
With Pepper AdamsPepper Adams
Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III was a jazz baritone saxophonist and composer. He composed 43 pieces, was the leader on twenty albums, and participated in 600 sessions as a sideman.-Biography:...
- Critic's Choice (1957)
With Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
- At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey for Blue Note Records. It featured the third incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, Blakey's career-spanning band, and is the first of two volumes recorded on November 23, 1955 at Café Bohemia, a famous night club in...
(Blue Note, 1955) - At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey. It was first released by Blue Note Records. This record featured the third incarnation of The Jazz Messengers, one of Blakey's most endearing bands, and was the second of two volumes recorded at Café Bohemia, a...
(Blue Note, 1955)
With Tina Brooks
Tina Brooks
Harold Floyd "Tina" Brooks was an American hard bop tenor saxophonist and composer.-Early years:Harold Floyd Brooks was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and was the brother of David "Bubba" Brooks. The nickname "Tina", pronounced Teena, was a slight variation of "Teeny", a childhood moniker....
- Minor MoveMinor MoveMinor Move is an album by American hard bop tenor Tina Brooks. It features performances by Brooks, Lee Morgan, Sonny Clark, Doug Watkins and Art Blakey. It was recorded on March 16, 1958, and was Brooks' first album as a leader for Blue Note Records. The album, however, was shelved for years until...
(Blue Note, 1958)
With Kenny Burrell
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...
- All Day LongAll Day LongAll Day Long is a jazz album by guitarist Kenny Burrell. It was released in 1957 under Prestige label as PRLP 7081. It's characterized by fast pieces and also was one of the first albums in which Burrell was presented as a leader. All the pieces were composed by the members of the band...
(Prestige, 1957)
With Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
- FuegoFuego (Donald Byrd album)Fuego is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded in 1959 and released on the Blue Note label as BLP 4026 featuring Byrd with Jackie McLean, Duke Pearson, Doug Watkins, and Lex Humphries.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1959) - ChantChant (Donald Byrd album)Chant is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd recorded in 1961 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1979.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "This is superior hard bop from the early '60s"....
(Blue Note, 1961)
With Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
- BluesnikBluesnikBluesnik is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "Many critics-as well as jazz fans hold to the opinion that Bluesnik may be McLean's most accessible...
(Blue Note, 1961)
With Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
- Oh YeahOh Yeah (album)Oh Yeah is a 1962 album by jazz musician Charles Mingus. It was recorded in 1961, and features the leader singing on three of the cuts and playing piano throughout.-Track listing:...
(Atlantic, 1961) - Tonight at NoonTonight at Noon (album)Tonight at Noon is an album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus compiling tracks recorded at two sessions, one in 1957 from the sessions that produced The Clown and the other in 1961 which produced the album Oh Yeah, that was released on the Atlantic label in 1965...
(Atlantic, 1961)
With Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
- Hank Mobley QuartetHank Mobley QuartetHank Mobley Quartet is the debut album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1955 as BLP 5066, a 10" LP. It was recorded on March 27, 1955 and features Mobley, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins and Art Blakey...
(Blue Note, 1955) - The Jazz Message of Hank MobleyThe Jazz Message of Hank MobleyThe Jazz Message of Hank Mobley is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Savoy label in 1956. It was recorded on February 8, 1956 and features performances by Mobley, Donald Byrd, Ronnie Ball, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins, Wendell Marshall, John LaPorta and Kenny Clarke.- Track...
(Savoy, 1956) - Mobley's MessageMobley's MessageMobley's Message is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley, released on the Prestige label in 1956. It was recorded on July 20, 1956 and features performances by Mobley, Donald Byrd, Barry Harris, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor, with Jackie McLean guesting on one track.- Track listing :All...
(Prestige, 1956) - Mobley's 2nd MessageMobley's 2nd MessageMobley's 2nd Message is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley, released on the Prestige label in 1957. It was recorded on July 27, 1956, one week after Mobley's Message , and features performances by Mobley, Kenny Dorham, Walter Bishop, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor.- Track listing :# "These Are...
(Prestige, 1956) - Jazz Message No. 2 (Savoy, 1956)
- Hank Mobley and his All StarsHank Mobley and his All StarsHank Mobley and His All Stars is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley, released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1544. It was recorded on January 13, 1957 and features Mobley, Milt Jackson, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins and Art Blakey.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1957) - Hank Mobley QuintetHank Mobley QuintetHank Mobley Quintet is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1550. It was recorded on March 8, 1957 and features Mobley, Art Farmer, Doug Watkins, Horace Silver, and Art Blakey...
(Blue Note, 1957)
With Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
- Introducing Lee MorganIntroducing Lee MorganIntroducing Lee Morgan is an album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan with Hank Mobley's quintet released on the Savoy label. It was recorded on November 5 & 7 1956 and features performances by Morgan with Hank Mobley, Hank Jones, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor....
(Savoy, 1956) - CandyCandy (Lee Morgan album)Candy is an album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on November 18, 1957 and features performances by Morgan, Sonny Clark, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1957)
With Dizzy Reece
Dizzy Reece
Alphonso Son "Dizzy" Reece is a hard bop jazz trumpeter with a distinctive sound and compositional style.Reece was born 5 January 1931 in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of a silent film pianist. He attended the Alpha Boys School , switching from baritone to trumpet at 14...
- Soundin' OffSoundin' OffSoundin' Off is an album by Jamaican-born jazz trumpeter Dizzy Reece featuring performances recorded in 1960 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 4 stars....
(Blue Note, 1960)
With Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
- Saxophone ColossusSaxophone ColossusSaxophone Colossus is one of Sonny Rollins' most acclaimed albums. Recorded and released in 1956, it has been awarded a rare Crown by The Penguin Guide to Jazz, and is widely considered the masterpiece of his mid-1950s series of recordings for Prestige Records and one of the greatest albums ever...
(Prestige, 1956) - Newk's TimeNewk's TimeNewk's Time is an album by Sonny Rollins. It was his third album for Blue Note Records, released in 1957. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, NJ on September 22, 1957. The title of the album is a reference to Rollins' nickname "Newk", which is apparently based on his resemblance...
(Blue Note, 1957)
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- Horace Silver and the Jazz MessengersHorace Silver and the Jazz MessengersHorace Silver and the Jazz Messengers is a 1955 album by jazz pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey. It was an important album in the establishment of the hard bop style, and was the first album released under the band name Jazz Messengers, which Blakey would use for the rest of his career...
(Blue Note, 1955) - Silver's BlueSilver's BlueSilver's Blue is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver recorded for the Columbia label in 1956 featuring performances by Silver with Joe Gordon, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Kenny Clarke and another session with Donald Byrd and Art Taylor replacing Gordon and Clarke...
(Columbia, 1956) - 6 Pieces of Silver6 Pieces of Silver6 Pieces of Silver is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1956 featuring performances by Silver with Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Louis Hayes...
(Blue Note, 1956)
With Louis Smith
Louis Smith (musician)
Louis Smith is an American jazz trumpeter.While studying at the University of Michigan, he played with visiting musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thad Jones and Billy Mitchell, before going on to play with Sonny Stitt, Count Basie and Al McKibbon, Cannonball Adderley, Percy Heath,...
- Here Comes Louis SmithHere Comes Louis SmithHere Comes Louis Smith is the debut album by American trumpeter Louis Smith recorded in 1958 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1957)