Hard Bop | Musicosity

Hard Bop

Lou Donaldson

Lou Donaldson (born 1926) is a ist, born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to the alto , although in his formative years he was, as many were of the era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker's improvisational approach. His first recordings were with emissaries Milt Jackson and Thelonious Monk in 1952, and lead several small groups with other luminaries such as er Blue Mitchell, pianist Horace Silver and the indomitable skinsman, Art Blakey.

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Ben Williams

Jazz bassist Ben Williams is a forward-thinking musician who crosses easily between straight-ahead, funk, and gospel-influenced jazz. A native of Washington, D.C., Williams graduated from the Duke Ellington School of Music before studying with renowned bassist Rodney Whitaker while earning a B.A. in jazz studies at Michigan State University. He is an in-demand sideman and has performed with a veritable who's who of jazz, including Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Mulgrew Miller, Terence Blanchard, and others.

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Barry Harris

Barry Harris (born December 15, 1929) is an American bebop jazz pianist and educator. Born in Detroit, Michigan, on December 15, 1929, Barry Harris was influenced by Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Harris left Detroit for New York City in 1960. Harris has played with Cannonball Adderley, Illinois Jacquet, Coleman Hawkins, Dexter Gordon, and Max Roach. As a lead artist, he has recorded over 14 albums.

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Ahmad Jamal

Celebrated pianist-composer Ahmad Jamal continues his performance schedule around the world, as he has for well over the last four decades. Noted for his outstanding technical command and identifiable sound as a piano stylist, Mr. Jamal was born on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy who began to play the piano at the age of three, he began formal studies at age seven. While in high school, he completed the equivalent of college master classes under the noted African-American concert singer and teacher Mary Cardwell Dawson and pianist James Miller.

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Charles Lloyd

Charles Lloyd (b. March 15, 1938) is an American jazz musician, playing mostly tenor saxophone along with flute and tarogato.
He started his career by playing together with Chico Hamilton and Cannonball Adderley.
In the latter half of the 60s, his own quartet with Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee and Jack DeJohnette was one of the most popular jazz bands of the time. Their album Forest Flower is one of the best-selling jazz albums ever.
In the 70s Lloyd was mostly retired from music, but came back in the 80s after being persuaded doing so by French pianist Michel Petrucciani.

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Sam Jones

1. Sam Jones, a greatly in-demand bassist who often teamed up with drummer Louis Hayes, was also a talented jazz cello soloist. He always took advantage of the fairly rare opportunities he had to lead sessions to create memorable music. He played with Tiny Bradshaw (1953-1955), moved to New York in 1955 and worked with the groups of Kenny Dorham, Cannonball Adderley (1957), Dizzy Gillespie (1958-1959), and Thelonious Monk, among others.

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Yellowjackets

In 1977, Robben Ford assembled a group of veteran session musicians to record his album The Inside Story. The trio of musicians, which included keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ricky Lawson, soon discovered a certain "chemistry" and musical affinity that led to their formation of Yellowjackets. The Inside Story being mainly instrumental, Robben Ford's record label wanted him to record another album that was more pop and vocal oriented. The group, known as the Robben Ford Group, preferred to pursue the instrumental route, and a "band within a band" was formed.

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James Carter

Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1969, James Carter began playing saxophone at age 11, first recorded with a Detroit student ensemble in 1986 and, by 1991, had recorded with legendary trumpeter Lester Bowie on The Organizer and contributed to the 1991 collection The Tough Young Tenors. Mastering a family of reed instruments, from sopranino to contrabass saxophones to contrabass and bass clarinets, James Carter mesmerized the jazz world after arriving in New York City in 1988 to play under the auspices of Lester Bowie.

Read more about James Carter on Last.fm.

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