Harlem in the Himalayas: Al Foster Trio
Special Events: Benny Carter Memorial Concert,
Jazz Tech Talk: Herbie Hancock
This October at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem features a myriad of programs and special events. We kick off the month with a trio led by the dynamic Al Foster for the Harlem in the Himalayas series. The next week brings a discussion with jazz journalist and consultant to the museum, Greg Thomas, for Jazz for Curious Readers; the start of a month-long focus on "lesser-known jazz siblings" for Jazz for Curious Listeners; and an interview with a Harlem favorite, blues and jazz vocalist Sandra Reaves-Phillips at Harlem Speaks. Later in the month, drummer Percy Brice, who began his eventful career with the Luis Russell in the mid-forties, will relate his life and career details for our flagship series.
Blanche Calloway, the sister of Cab Calloway, is the first artist in the series we call "Brother Can You Spare a Dime." The others are Linton Garner (brother of Erroll), Gus Wilson (brother of Teddy), Joe Eldridge (brother of Roy), Lee Young (brother of Lester), and Nat Adderley (Cannonball’s brother). Since historical perspective and archival memory is crucial to the mission of any museum, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem is proud to recall the legacy of not only the main innovators of the art form, but figures such as these with secondary status, but important nonetheless to jazz history.
Two special events bring sparkle to our October schedule: the first, a memorial concert in Connecticut in honor of the great composer, arranger, and saxophonist Benny Carter; the second, a multi-media presentation on the music of living icon Herbie Hancock at Stanford University. Our final program of the month, a Saturday Panel, will pursue the links between the fine art of jazz and one of the most popular genres of the past quarter century, hip hop. Jazz giant and rap artist Marc Cary will moderate the discussions, which promise to be insightful, and, perhaps, controversial. Mark your calendars!
Friday, October 2, 2009 Harlem in the Himalayas Al Foster Trio 7:00pm Location: Rubin Museum of Art (150 West 17th Street) $18 in advance | $20 at door | Box Office: 212-620-5000 ext. 344
Al Foster, Drums
Eli Degibri, Saxophone
Doug Weiss, Bass
"...for what I wanted in a drummer, Al Foster had all of it." - Miles Davis Master drummer Al Foster has been a major standard bearer in the world of jazz for several decades, and was a member of the Miles Davis band for thirteen years. In Miles: The Autobiography Davis describes the first time he heard Foster play live in 1972 at the Cellar Club on 95th Street in Manhattan: "He knocked me out because he had such a groove and he would just lay it right in there. That was the kind of thing I was looking for. Al could set it up for everybody else to play off and just keep the groove going forever." Foster has also performed and recorded with artists such as Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Randy & Michael Brecker, Bill Evans, George Benson, Kenny Drew, Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Dexter Gordon, Chick Corea and Sonny Rollins. Respected and admired for his keen sensitivity, Foster is known too for his unique ability to listen and play off others in an almost telepathic way, responding in a style both charismatic and understated. A great believer in the purity of the music, Foster is a genuine artist who continues to push creative boundaries, and, like the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, is devoted to preserving and perpetuating the highest standards of jazz today. Don't miss this live performance! You'll see that Al Foster is a magnificent all-round drummer with rhythmic chops renowned in musical styles ranging from bebop to free form to jazz/rock, and a great leader too. Monday, October 5, 2009 Jazz for Curious Readers Greg Thomas 7:00 – 8:30pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300 or register online
Jazz critic and broadcast journalist Greg Thomas has been a consistent presence at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem for five years. He's co-producer of the Harlem Speaks public program as well as a marketing and education consultant working in collaboration with Executive Director Loren Schoenberg and Co-Director Christian McBride. In addition to booking and interviewing jazz artists for Harlem Speaks, Thomas has moderated several Saturday Panels, led Jazz for Curious Listeners sessions on Jon Hendricks and Dr. Billy Taylor as well as an overview of the profound insights of the cultural historian and novelist Albert Murray, author of The Hero and the Blues, Stomping the Blues, and many other works on blues and jazz, for Jazz for Curious Readers.
Thomas got bit by the jazz bug in the late '70s while in high school, and began playing the alto saxophone, clarinet and flute in various classical and jazz ensembles there. In college, where he minored in Music, he continued pursuing jazz as host of a music show and member of the Hamilton College Big Band. Thomas had the great honor of playing first alto sax chair when living legend Clark Terry came to play a concert on April 17, 1984. In a recent interview with fellow jazz journalist Willard Jenkins, Thomas described the experience of sharing a melody line with Terry as "an epiphany, a mystical experience of musical ecstasy."
His byline has been featured in numerous publications, including All About Jazz, Salon.com, London's Guardian Observer, American Legacy, Africana.com, Savoy, BlackAmericaWeb.com, New York's Daily News, The Black World Today, Callaloo, among others, for instance, Harlem World magazine, for which Thomas was founding Editor-in-Chief.
Thomas has taught jazz education on behalf of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and at the Thurgood Marshall Academy and the Frederick Douglass Academy for the Jazz Museum's Harlem Speaks Education Initiative.
He's been a member of the Jazz Study Group at Columbia University since 1999. Thomas hosts a monthly jazz radio program on WBAI-NY and an online jazz series, Jazz it Up!, which has garnered a viewership of nearly 3 million since its launch in 2007. His objective is to share his love and passion for jazz on as many media platforms as possible to reach current and new audiences for the music.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Jazz for Curious Listeners Blanche Calloway 7:00 – 8:30pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300 or register online
Brother Can You Spare a Dime? Lesser-known jazz siblings Blanche Calloway, sister of Cab, was a popular vocalist and bandleader in the 1930s. She studied music at Morgan State College, but dropped out to jump into show business. In 1923 she began working with a musical touring company, and quickly became a spotlight singer. In 1925 she recorded for Okeh and Vocalion, including a session with Louis Armstrong. She also performed with her brother Cab Calloway. Bandleader Andy Kirk heard Blanche perform at the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia in 1931, and asked her to join his Clouds of Joy outfit. She soon became the featured attraction in the group, which led her to try to steal leadership from Kirk. He found out about the plot and released her. Yet Kirk trumpet player Edgar "Puddin' Head" Battle became an ally of Blanche, and he helped her put together a group, "Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys." Cozy Cole and Ben Webster played in her band, which became known as Blanche Calloway and Her Orchestra. She was reportedly the first black woman to front an all-male orchestra. The group toured and recorded for RCA Victor, yet finally disbanded in 1938 due to financial troubles. She continued to perform, but found her audience shrinking. Blanche put together an all-female orchestra in 1940, but it disbanded due to lack of bookings. Blanche retired from performing in 1944. In the early '50s she managed a nightclub in Washington, DC, where she is credited with discovering R&B singer Ruth Brown. In the 1960s she worked as a disc jockey in Miami and operated a mail-order hair care business. She passed away in 1978.
Thursday, October 8, 2009 Harlem Speaks Sandra Reeves-Phillips, Vocalist 6:30 – 8:30pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300
Songstress and dramatic actress Sandra Reaves-Phillips is a modern day griot, a keeper of the musical traditions of her artistic ancestors. Her show, Great Ladies of Blues and Jazz, brings to life the flair and sass of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters; captures the introspective subtlety of Billie Holiday and the extroverted grandeur of Dinah Washington; and tops it off with the sublime earthiness of gospel queen Mahalia Jackson. By integrating blues, gospel and jazz into one production, Ms. Reaves-Phillips secures the continuity of the founding musical styles of black American culture. Her upbringing in Mullins, South Carolina gave Sandra a particular affinity to the blues. “I realize that most of my life was bordered, surrounded by blues. First of all, I was born to a 14-year old mom, who went north and left me with my grandmother. So I stayed with her as a farm and migrant worker until I was almost 15.” She sang in church on Sundays and in the fields during the week. “When we worked in the fields, people would sing all day long. You would hear ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen’ and ‘Breakin’ Rocks Out Here on the Chain Gang.’ We would sing it all, from blues to spirituals to gospel.” She also saw the good times roll in juke joints. “I came from juke joints, somethin’ they called a piccolo. I remember hearing Big Mama Thornton as a little girl when I’d put my grandmamma’s nickel in the piccolo when I was supposed to be going to the store.” So by the time Sandra came to Brooklyn to live with her mom, she was marinated in the vernacular musical culture of her people. Her mother took her to amateur shows, where Sandra excelled. Her singing led to a career in show business, where she has starred in numerous theatrical, television and feature film roles, for instance as the blues singer Buttercup in Round Midnight with Dexter Gordon, and as a music teacher in Lean On Me with Morgan Freeman. Ms. Reaves-Phillips has been in performing as a professional for almost fifty years and she counts her blessings with deep appreciation for her career. She also has developed insights into the truth of the blues: “The blues is a feeling so deep that you have to sing. You put whatever words, passion, feeling, pain, joy, sexual innuendos, whatever is deeply rooted in your soul. When you bring it out in a blues, people can feel it because you’re telling the truth.”
Saturday, October 10, 2009 Special Event Benny Carter Memorial Concert The NJMH ALL Stars led by Loren Schoenberg
8:00pm
Location: The Jewish Community Center (9 Route 39, South Sherman, CT 06784) For more information: call 860-355-8050 or email:
jccinsherman@aol.com
Tenor saxophonist and NJMH Director Loren Schoenberg leads the NJMH All Stars in a tribute to Benny Carter, one of the most influential alto saxophonists in jazz history. Among the quintet will be Basie drummer Marion Felder and pianist Kris Bowers. Carter has been honored by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem on previous occasions. This year we continue in that mode of celebration of Carter's life and legacy with a memorial concert in his memory.
Benny Carter, as admired as virtually any saxophonist in jazz, was also a trumpeter who achieved a rich tone and had a highly personal and original style. In addition, he will forever be remembered as much for his composing skills as his playing: compositions such as "When Lights Are Low" (1936) and "Blues in My Heart" (1931) became jazz and big band standards.
The class, style, and elegant demeanor of Benny Carter are lasting legacies among his friends, fellow musicians and fans the world over, who rightfully consider him "The King."
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Jazz for Curious Listeners Linton Garner / Gus Wilson / Joe Eldridge 7:00 – 8:30pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300 or register online
Brother Can You Spare a Dime? Lesser-known jazz siblings
Linton Garner
Linton Garner, born in Greensboro, N.C. on March 25, 1915, grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa. He was the older brother of pianist Errol Garner and three sisters—Martha, Ruth and Berniece—who were also pianists. Linton began piano lessons at the age of 8 and later also studied the trumpet, an instrument he played though high school where he encountered Billy Strayhorn. Until cracked teeth led him to switch to the piano, he played trumpet in local bands around Pittsburgh, bands that included Billy Eckstine and Art Blakey (who was originally a pianist as well.)
In the 30s he worked with Burns Campbell and traveled with the Larry Steele revue. He then settled, first in Rochester and then Buffalo, N.Y. In the 40s he led a band in Pittsburgh that was later fronted (with Linton remaining on piano) by Fletcher Henderson. Garner was in the Army from 1943 into 1945 and on his release he joined the Billy Eckstine bebop band in 1946 and continued into 1947 as the band's arranger and pianist. He then settled in New York City and contributed charts to the bebop big band led by Dizzy Gillespie. From 1947 through 1955 he also worked as an accompanist to comic Timmie Rogers and he also toured with dancer Teddy Hale. He lived in Montclair, N.J. prior to his settling in Montreal in 1962. Earlier he had worked in Matane, Quebec. Here he was heard at spots like The Place for Steaks in Pointe Claire and taught piano and voice. He worked at famed Rockheads Paradise with the Vern Isaacs band and also appeared there in the Ebony In Rhythm show as pianist, arranger and musical director.
In 1974, he, at the request of percussionist Arni May, who he had met while playing in Ottawa, moved to Vancouver, where he spent the rest of his life. As part of the 2002 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, he did a concert entitled "I Never Said Goodbye," a tribute to his younger brother. Linton is also the focus of a film documentary by Colin Browne.
James August "Gus" Wilson Jr.
A year and two months the senior of his famous brother Teddy, Gus Wilson was born in Montgomery, Alabama. Early on, he studied with the same piano teacher, Mrs. Simms, as his brother. His mother took him and Teddy to Detroit after the passing of their father in 1926. The two joined Speed Webb's band around 1929, with Gus playing trombone by this time. Gus later joined Alphonso Trent band in Dallas, Texas, and then traveled to St. Louis to join the Jeter-Pillars Band. By this time he began arranging, a skill he began to develop in high school. According to Teddy, Gus's arrangement of "Clementine" was very highly thought of. None other than Sy Oliver respected Gus Wilson's arranging skills.
Joe Eldridge Joe was the saxophone-playing brother of trumpeter Roy Eldridge, one of the leading lights in jazz trumpet history. The siblings came up on the Pittsburgh music scene, where Joe Eldridge's first professional job was in the band of Henri Saporo. Older than Roy Eldridge by three years, he began band-leading early, taking over the Elite Serenaders for both local and regional gigs. In the '30s the Eldridge brothers led a group together, while the big brother continued freelancing with players such as Speed Webb and Cecil Scott. Joe Eldridge eventually set his sights on Baltimore, becoming a member of that city's Cotton Pickers band before accompanying singer and bandleader Blanche Calloway in the mid '30s. Next was a reunion with his little brother in the context of a group Roy Eldridge was leading in Chicago. In the final years of the decade this group hustled off to the Big Apple. A large bite of the Joe Eldridge discographical pie consists of performances with his younger brother's band. For the early '40s, however, the saxophonist was back freelancing on his own, collaborating with fellow saxophonist Budd Johnson and the trumpeter and bandleader Hot Lips Page. The latter artist recorded the hilarious "They Raided the Joint," co-written by the Eldridge brothers, among others. Several years with drummer Zutty Singleton in New York prompted a decision to follow that bandleader to the west coast. In the mid '40s Joe Eldridge returned to his brother's band, this time sporting a fat sound on tenor saxophone. He also continued working with Page. Joe Eldridge lived in Canada during the late '40s, including a stint in Quebec with a group led by Raymond Vin, whose last name must have insured popularity in the wine-guzzling French society. Finally in 1950 Eldridge returned to New York, spending what would be the last years of his life teaching.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 Special Event JazzTech Talk: Herbie Hancock 8:00pm Location: Cantor Hall, Stanford University (Stanford, CA) Presented with STANFORD LIVELY ARTS tickets 650-725-ARTS FREE
Join Loren Schoenberg and keyboardist Adam Benjamin from Dave Douglas’s band Keystone for a multi-media presentation on Hancock’s innovative music.
Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he transcends limitations and genres while still maintaining his unique, unmistakable voice. Hancock's success at expanding the possibilities of musical thought has placed him in the annals of this century's visionaries. With an illustrious career spanning five decades, he continues to amaze audiences and never ceases to expand the public's vision of what music, particularly jazz, is all about today. Herbie Hancock's creative path has moved fluidly between almost every development in acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B since 1960. He has attained an enviable balance of commercial and artistic success, arriving at a point in his career where he ventures into every new project motivated purely by the desire to expand the boundaries of his creativity. There are few artists in the music industry who have gained more respect and cast more influence than Herbie Hancock. As the immortal Miles Davis said in his autobiography, "Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven't heard anybody yet who has come after him."
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 Jazz for Curious Listeners Lee Young 7:00 – 8:30pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300 or register online
Brother Can You Spare a Dime? Lesser-known jazz siblings
When the jazz impresario and talent scout John Hammond called saxophonist Lester Young's Los Angeles home he told Billy Young, Lester's father, how much he admired his son. "Which one?" said Billy. "Why, Lester," Hammond replied. "Oh, no," Billy responded. "The great person in my family is Lee."
Lee Young was many things that his more famous brother was not. A skilled musician who later became a recording executive, Lee Young was, in the words of bassist Red Callender, "a leader, an extrovert, a consummate businessman, dependable, organized, and health-conscious, a terrific golfer, and a great drummer".
Young's father was a multi-instrumentalist and teacher who schooled his children in music, forming them up alongside their stepmother as the New Orleans Strutters, and playing carnivals, circuses and minstrel shows. Moving on from New Orleans soon after Lee was born, the family settled in Minneapolis and then Phoenix, Arizona. Lee sang, tap-danced and did comic turns before settling on the drums. He sometimes played in a saxophone trio with Lester, five years his senior, and his sister Irma, the trio later expanding to a short-lived 10-piece saxophone ensemble.
By 1928, the family, minus Lester, relocated to Los Angeles, where Lee completed his formal education, playing drums in school orchestras. His first break, until the local authorities pulled him out, was as an under-age singer at the Apex club on Central Avenue, a focus of LA's black community. Irma and Lee then formed a song-and-dance act. "We were good performers and we could really dance," Lee once said. "I'd jump from the balcony and do spins." After Irma moved into comedy, Lee concentrated on drums, first with New Orleans old-timer Papa Mutt Carey's Jeffersonians and then with saxophonist Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders, playing for the Hollywood socialite crowd. In 1936 Lee was briefly drummer with trumpeter Buck Clayton's Fourteen Gentlemen of Harlem and later toured with singer Ethel Waters' orchestra. "They couldn't get me to smoke a joint or nothing. I just never did. I didn't drink. I didn't smoke. I was a teetotaler," he told interviewer Steve Isoardi. Young was then with saxophonist Eddie Barefield's short-lived big band and was briefly a member of Les Hite's Cotton Club Orchestra before joining pianist Nat "King" Cole's trio for a series of recordings, and accompanying Fats Waller on a session for RCA Victor. Work in Hollywood followed and he became the first African-American staff musician at Columbia Pictures. He also appeared in films including Going Places (1938), I Dood It (1943) An American in Paris (1951) and St Louis Blues (1958). He was the drumming tutor for Mickey Rooney in Strike Up The Band (1940), and also dubbed Rooney's drum parts for the soundtrack.
When Lionel Hampton formed his first big band in 1940, Young was its drummer but he quit early. "I guess I really don't like to travel," he told writer Val Wilmer. Continuing to do well in the studios by day, he formed the Esquires of Rhythm, working nights on Central Avenue, with the young alto-saxophonist Art Pepper in the group, which turned into Lee & Lester Young's Band after his brother turned up in Los Angeles in 1941. Lester helped secure them a New York engagement at Café Society in 1942. Then Billy Young fell ill and Lee, inevitably, returned to LA while Lester stayed in New York. Thereafter Lee reverted to his role as local bandleader, organizing all-star jam sessions working on the recording scene. He also featured at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert (1944).
The climax to Young's career began in 1953 when he joined Nat King Cole's trio, becoming Cole's conductor and musical director, and travelling the world, including a lauded appearance in London in 1960. "When I leave Nat I don't expect to play any more music. I think I've done just about everything I could do: studios, TV, jazz," he told Wilmer.
In 1962 he stood down from Cole's group and from active performance, becoming an artists-and-repertoire manager for Vee-Jay and ABC-Dunhill before becoming vice-president of Motown Records, creative division (1978-83). Leonidas Raymond "Lee" Young Sr, jazz drummer and record producer, was born on March 7 1914 and died July 31, 2008
Thursday, October 22, 2009 Harlem Speaks Percy Brice, Drummer 6:30 – 8:30pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300
After working with Luis Russell (1944-45), Benny Carter (1945-46), Mercer Ellington (1947) and Eddie “Clean head” Vinson (1947-51), he played with Tab Smith, Cootie Williams, Tiny Grimes, Lucky Thompson, and Oscar Pittsford. In early 1954, he led his own group at Minton’s Playhouse, New York, and then he joined a trio led by Billy Taylor, with which he stayed for two years. As a member of George Shearing’s quintet (1956-58), he appeared in the film The Big Beat, and in 1958 he returned to Minton’s Playhouse to work with Kenny Burrell for a year. He worked as an accompanist to Sarah Vaughan (1959-61) and the popular Harry Belafonte (1961 to 1968), during which time he also performed with Carmen McRae and Ahmad Jamal. He then led his own group for five years. From 1978 to 1980 he played on Broadway in Eubie Blake’s Eubie and from 1981-1986 he played in and conducted the revue Bubbling Brown Sugar. Between tours he has worked with The Copasetics Dance Troupe. Brice has witnessed all of the transitions in the music, from the Swing Era to current times. Don't miss this rare conversation!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Jazz for Curious Listeners Nat Adderley 7:00 – 8:30pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300 or register online
Brother Can You Spare a Dime? Lesser-known jazz siblings
A major player in hard bop jazz during the 1950s, Nat Adderley pioneered the genre of soul jazz. He commanded an extraordinary range of tones on the cornet, and possessed a distinctive ability to play "way down low" on the horn, without losing the agility to discharge powerful notes in the upper registers in rapid succession. He toured the world as a band leader and wrote compositions that were performed and recorded by many of the greatest names in the jazz world. Among Adderley's most popular songs were "Jive Samba," "Hummin'," and "The Work Song," and during his 50-year career he played on nearly 100 albums. Adderley's accomplishments in many areas paralleled those of his older brother, alto saxophone player Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, and the two siblings collaborated for many years, both in the Cannonball Adderley Quintet and on selected projects.
Adderley was born Nathaniel Adderley in Tampa, Florida on November 25, 1931, the second of two sons. He was still an infant when the family moved to Tallahassee in order for his parents, Sugar and Julian Adderley Sr., to teach at Florida A&M University. Nat Adderley's first musical endeavor as a youngster was as a singer, and he was in fact a boy soprano until his voice deepened in adolescence.
While the Adderley brothers were growing up, Julian Adderley Jr. played trumpet. As Nat Adderley entered his teens however, his brother abandoned the trumpet and switched to playing the saxophone. With an idle trumpet in the Adderley house it was not long before Nat Adderley appropriated the instrument for himself. Beginning in 1946 he studied the trumpet, receiving assistance from both his father—a professional musician—and his older brother. Adderley played his trumpet locally with various bands in Florida until joining the army in 1950, at which time he switched instruments and began to play the cornet. He played with an army band during his military tour of duty in Korea, and after his discharge in 1953 he enrolled at Florida A&M, intending to study law at his mother's urging—Adderley's parents were well educated and held high expectations for their children's academic success. Adderley nonetheless abandoned his plans indefinitely in order to accept an unanticipated invitation to tour Europe with the Lionel Hampton band.
He left for Europe in 1954, and when he returned in the following year he joined his brother on an impromptu excursion to New York City, where one of the legendary moments of jazz awaited them upon their arrival. Before the end of their first evening in New York, the two brothers were performing at Café Bohemia in Greenwich Village with featured stars Kenny Clarke, Horace Silver, and Oscar Pettiford. Nat Adderley, who left Florida with his brother on a whim and with only tentative plans to explore the big city jazz scene, was heard on three separate recordings within weeks of his arrival in New York. He contributed to Bohemia after Dark and to Cannonball Adderley: Spontaneous Combustion. Additionally, Nat Adderley released his own album, Nat Adderley: That's Nat. The latter recording featured Nat Adderley's classic compositions, "Work Song," "Sermonette," and "Jive Samba." The following year he released, To the Ivy League from Nat, on EmArcy, a four-star album according to All Music Guide. The younger Adderley maintained a low profile behind his older brother's fame but went on nonetheless to record dozens of albums, including a number of recordings as a bandleader and many with his brother's ensemble, the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. During the 1960s, Nat Adderley recorded most frequently with Riverside Records; additionally he was heard on Capitol, Milestone, Atlantic, and Original Jazz Classics. Some of his albums were later reissued by Original Jazz Classics.
Nat and Julian Adderley initially formed an ensemble in 1956 but disbanded the group by the following year. After the split-up, Nat Adderley played with Woody Herman and trombonist J. J. Johnson until late in 1959, at which time Cannonball Adderley assembled a new band, the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. With the endorsement of trumpeter Miles Davis—who was impressed with the Adderleys—the brothers secured the assistance of agent John Levy and their prospects improved accordingly. Scott Yanow of All Music Guide said of Nat Adderley that he "was at the peak of his powers ... " during those formative years of the quintet.
Adderley, a charter member of the Adderley quintet, remained with the group until its demise after the death of Cannonball Adderley in 1975. During the nearly 20-year history of the quintet, the ensemble left its mark on the Billboard charts, with 12 albums on the charts between 1962 and 1975. The group's classic album, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, was released by Capitol in 1967 and reached number 13 on the music charts. The featured title song on that album not only reached number 11 on the pop singles listing but also hit second place on the rhythm & blues singles chart. In February of 1968, the Mercy album won a Grammy award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) for the best instrumental jazz performance by a small group.
Adderley's exploits veered beyond the Adderley quintet, as he worked additionally as a sideman with Wynton Kelly, drummer Kenny Clarke, and saxophonist Jimmy Heath between 1960 and 1975. During the 1970s, Adderley and his brother collaborated on a cohesive "concept" album called Big Man—The Legend of John Henry. That work, which was released as a musical on the Fantasy label, was performed at Carnegie Hall in 1976 as a tribute to Cannonball Adderley after his untimely death; Joe Williams starred in the concert. In later 1980s productions of John Henry, Adderley expanded the work into a full-blown musical. The expanded version was performed in 1986 at both the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., and at the La Jolla Playhouse in Southern California. Adderley himself appeared off-Broadway in a play on the life of Mahalia Jackson not long after his brother's death. Also after his brother's death, he formed his own band. The new ensemble, including Vincent Herring on saxophone and Walter Booker on bass, performed together for approximately 20 years. Additionally, Sonny Fortune joined Adderley as a sideman during the 1980s, and Adderley toured both as a soloist and as a bandleader in Europe and Japan. Through all of his concert tours, Adderley experienced an enthusiastic reception worldwide and especially in Europe. He was encouraged by the ambience and inspired that jazz stood in the threshold of an international awakening during the 1990s.
In 1975 Adderley went to Florida Southern College for a sojourn as artist-in-residence. In that capacity he performed as a headliner at A&M's Child of the Sun Jazz Festival. His regular appearances at the festival spanned more than ten years, into the mid-1980s. Approximately ten years later, in 1996, he joined the school faculty. He taught music at Harvard, performed an annual stint at Sweet Basil in New York City, and toured with R&B vocalist Luther Vandross on occasion.
Adderley traveled to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, with his most frequent venue being in Zurich, Switzerland during his later years. The early 1990s saw a Broadway production of his 1986 adaptation of the John Henry musical, Shout Up a Morning; and in 1994 Adderley contributed cameos on Antonio Hart's tribute album, For Cannonball and Woody. In 1995 a Mercy, Mercy, Mercy reprise appeared on Evidence Records, with Antonio Hart on saxophone, pianist Rob Bargad, bassist Walter Booker, and Jimmy Cobb on drums.
In 1997 the jazz world honored Nat Adderley with an induction into the Jazz Hall of Fame. Two years later, in 1999, his colleagues in music paid a grand tribute to him at the Playboy Jazz Festival in 1999 with a moving presentation by Longineu Parsons on trumpet, bassist Walter Booker, and percussionists Airto Moreira and Roy McCurdy. George Duke and Michael Wolff shared the piano duties, and Adderley received a standing ovation as Parsons and the group performed a selection of Adderley's most recorded compositions, including "Jive Samba" and "Work Song."
In 1997 Adderley had his right leg amputated as a result of diabetes, and three years later, he died from complications of the disease. On the day before he died, he crossed the bridge into the twenty-first century, ultimately expiring on January 2, 2000. Adderley was survived by his son, Nat Adderley, Jr., who is a pianist and musical director. Also surviving Adderley were his wife, Ann; his daughter, Alison Pittman; and five grandchildren. Philip Elwood noted in the San Francisco Examiner that Adderley was one of the "friendliest and most cordial guys any of us jazz camp followers ever encountered." According to the unassuming Adderley, he was just an "old bebopper."
Saturday, October 31, 2009 Saturday Panels A Song Called Talk Host/Moderator Marc Cary 11:00am – 4:00pm Location: NJMH Visitors Center (104 E. 126th Street, Suite 2C) FREE | For more information: 212-348-8300
Marc Cary is known and respected on the music scene as an innovative and gifted keyboardist whose musical expressions are consistently fresh, unrestrained, and inspiring. Marc's Native American and African American roots and his musical training at the Oxendine Music Academy (MD), Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts (DC) and the University of the District of Columbia Jazz Studies Program, have shaped his approach to musical composition and style of playing. Marc is a Native American from the Wampanoag/Chappaquiddick Nation and African American. The New York City-born, Washington, DC-raised pianist was nurtured in a home environment where Native American traditional music as well as music emanating from all over the world was appreciated, discussed and listened to. Marc's parents, grandfather, and great grandmother were all performing musicians (classical piano, cello, trumpet, percussion) in a variety of genres. As a young man, Marc explored all types of rhythms, but he found a true groove in the "GO-GO" rhythms popularized by the 1980's street bands in Washington, DC. He joined the High Integrity Band and later connected with Let Um Play and the Frontline Jazz Ensemble. In the late eighties Marc moved to New York City where he studied with the late Walter Davis Jr., struck chords with Beaver Harris and Mickey Bass, who introduced Marc to many other musicians. Soon Arthur Taylor's Wailers and Betty Carter beckoned. Cary would tour and record with them as well as Roy Hargrove, Stefon Harris and Abbey Lincoln. Marc evolved as a composer, writer, producer, and bandleader in his own right, releasing a series of well wrought acoustic trio CD's on the Enja, Arabesque, Jazzateria, and Motema labels. In 2000, Mr. Cary was the winner of the first Annual Billboard/BET "Best New Jazz Artist Award." On Sept. 26, 2009 Cary will participate in a Harlem Stage production at the Gatehouse titled, The Hip Hop Experiment, which explores Hip Hop as a multi-media, multi-sensory, and interactive experience by incorporating sensory and triggering technologies to bring artist and audience participation to the next dimension. Along with Master of Ceremony Shon ‘Chance’ Miller, Marc Cary will create a multi-sensory virtual experience, which he'll comment on in detail during our Saturday Panel discussion.
