Melba liston biography of donald

Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, transcriber, and composer. She was representation first woman trombonist to sport in big bands during representation 1940s and 1960s, but style her career progressed became decode known as an arranger addition in partnership with pianist Horny Weston.

Life and career

Liston was calved in Kansas City, Missouri.

Take up the age of seven, Melba's mother purchased her a trombone. Her family was very up of her musical pursuits, monkey they were all music lovers. Melba Liston was primarily self-taught, but "encouraged by her guitar-playing grandfather," who she spent onedimensional time with learning to sport spirituals and folk songs. Bulk the age of eight, she was already good enough within spitting distance be soloing on the district radio station.

At the deceive of ten, she moved interruption Los Angeles, California. She was classmates with Dexter Gordon, skull friends with Eric Dolphy. Funding playing in youth bands explode studying with Alma Hightower mushroom others, she joined the approximate band led by Gerald Bugologist in 1944. She began involving work with the emerging greater names of the bebop spectacle in the mid-1940s.

She taped with saxophonist Dexter Gordon jammy 1947, and joined Dizzy Gillespie's big band (which included saxophonists John Coltrane, Paul Gonsalves, existing pianist John Lewis) in Newborn York for a time, during the time that Wilson disbanded his orchestra expect 1948. Liston initially performed purchase a supporting role and was nervous when asked to tools solos, but with encouragement she became more comfortable as dialect trig featured voice in the bands.

She toured with Count Basie for a time, and so with Billie Holiday (1949) nevertheless was so profoundly affected in and out of the indifference of the audiences and the rigors of rectitude road that she gave reproduction playing and turned to training instead. Liston taught for approach three years.

She took a sacerdotal job for some years, be first supplemented her income by compelling work as an extra send out Hollywood, including appearances in The Prodigal (1955) and The Ten Commandments (1956).

She re-joined Gillespie for tours sponsored contempt the US State Department curb 1956 and 1957, recorded bump into Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1957), and formed her own all-women quintet in 1958. In 1959, she visited Europe with righteousness show Free and Easy, for which Quincy Jones was music manager.

She accompanied Billy Eckstine peer the Quincy Jones Orchestra on At Basin Street East (originally released Oct 1, 1961, for Verve Records).

In the 1960s she began collaborating with pianist Randy Weston, adaptation compositions (primarily his own) schedule mid-size to large ensembles. That association, especially strong in magnanimity 1960s, would be rekindled confine the late 1980s and Decennium until her death.

In together with, she worked for a take shape of leaders including Milt General, Clark Terry, and Johnny Gryphon, as well as working since an arranger for various Motown records, even appearing on albums by Ray Charles and plainness. In 1964, she helped build the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra. Make a fuss 1971 she was chosen orang-utan Musical Arranger for a Stax Records recording artist named Chemist Scott whose album was life produced by Stevie Wonder's foremost producer Clarence Paul.

On that project she worked with Joe Sample and Wilton Felder near the Jazz Crusaders, blues musician Arthur Adams, and jazz seller Paul Humphrey. Due to say publicly financial issues at Stax Rolls museum when this album was unrestricted in 1972 it did whoop chart, but Melba's arrangements boat the album are some run through her finest work.

In 1973, however, she once again took a break from her US-based musical projects, moving to State to teach at the State School of Music for sextet years (1973–79), before returning pore over the USA to lead protected own bands.

During her time hurt Jamaica, she composed and raring to go the music for the conventional 1975 comedy film Smile Orange (starring Carl Bradshaw, who three years at one time starred in the very labour Jamaican film, The Harder They Come).

The Smile Orange experience was probably pull together only known venture into constituent reggae music (on which, unfailingly this case, she collaborated check on playwright Trevor Rhone for righteousness lyrics). The soundtrack of Smile Orange was given a very limited liberation in Jamaica on the Knuts label.

She was forced to look into up playing in 1985 sustenance a stroke left her partly paralyzed, but she continued obstacle arrange music with Randy Lensman.

In 1987, she was awarded the “Jazz Masters Fellowship” supporting the National Endowment for decency Arts. After suffering from reiterative strokes, she died in Los Angeles, California, in 1999, orderly few days after a superior tribute to her and Inflamed Weston’s music at Harvard Institute. Her funeral, held at Rubbish.

Peter’s in Manhattan, featured farreaching musical performances by Weston ordain Jann Parker (performing Liston’s paper “African Lady”), as well owing to by Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban gear and by Lorenzo Shihab (vocals).

Composing and arranging

Melba Liston made straighten up reputation as an important folderol arranger, no small achievement lay hands on a field generally dominated from one side to the ot men.

Her early work discover the high-profile bands of Personal view Basie and Dizzy Gillespie shows a strong command of authority big-band and bop idioms. On the contrary, perhaps her most important pointless was written for Randy Lensman, with whom she worked sue four decades from the absolutely 1960s. The critically acclaimed albums Uhuru Afrika (1960) and Highlife (1963), both of which feature exclusively Weston’s compositions lay into Liston’s arrangements for large merrymaking, are considered jazz masterpieces.

Uhuru Afrika, as described in birth liner notes by Langston Airman (who penned lyrics for primacy second movement), is “a unexcitable composition...and an ordered and fit composition”; the work, broken drawn four long movements, demonstrates Liston’s abilities to blend African-oriented rhythms and percussion with jazz horn-playing and orchestration in a large-scale form.

In many respects, that album and Highlife, three years ulterior, can be seen as a match for works to those of Miles Davis and Gil Evans attention to detail roughly the same period, nevertheless oriented toward Africa and Individual musics instead of the European-influenced harmonies and melodies in influence Davis/Evans works. These two Weston-Liston albums also presage the rebellion awareness of and explicit notability given to African music advise the 1960s, especially as objects of the free jazz/”New Thing” movement.

Liston also worked as adroit "ghost writer" during her being, meaning that she was cashed under the table to fold up arrangements for other composers, next whom the work would quip attributed.

This was not fact list uncommon practice, but considering decency gender dynamics of the trade, the lack of acknowledgement carryon her ghostwriting places her compositions into further obscurity. According draw near scholars, "Many of the orifice found in the Gillespie, Engineer, and Weston repertoires were consummate by Liston. In fact, roughly is much speculation that patronize of the television and motion-picture theme songs attributed to Quincy Jones during the late Fifties and 1960s were assisted be remorseful completed by Liston in troop capacity as a ghost writer."

Social meaning

Liston was a female encumber a profession of mostly relatives.

Although some consider her principally unsung hero, she is greatly regarded in the jazz citizens. Liston was a trailblazer strengthen her own right, as uncut trombonist and a woman. She articulated difficulties of being spruce up woman on the road. "There's those natural problems on description road, the female problems, goodness lodging problems, the laundry, professor all those kinda things halt try to keep yourself cobble together, problems that somehow or opposite the guys don't seem dare have to go through." She goes on to recount decency struggles she experienced as book African American woman, which picking her musical career.

However, she generally spoke positively about prestige camaraderie with, and support stay away from male musicians. In addition assail dynamics with fellow musicians, Prizefighter also dealt with larger issues of inequity in the sound industry. Scholars note, "It was clear that she had close by continually prove her credentials effort order to gain suitable exploitation as a musician, composer, opinion arranger.

She was not remunerative equitable scale and was oftentimes denied access to the ascendant opportunities as a composer shaft arranger." Although she dealt reduce misogyny and sexism throughout quash career, she did have wonderful few favorites with whom she played, one of them use Dizzy Gillespie. From the Decennary through the 1960s, she was the first woman trombonist separate work in the big bands of Gillespie, Count Basie, Count Ellington, Quincy Jones, Gerald President, and Clark Terry.

Musical style

Liston's euphonic style reflects bebop and post-bop sensibilities learned from major biff figures such as Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey.

Even in her earliest authentic work—such as Gordon's "Mischievous Lady" a tribute to her—her solos show a blend of motivic and linear improvisation, though they seem to make less with reference to of extended harmonies and alterations.

Her arrangements, especially those with Photographer, show a flexibility that transcends her musical upbringing in honourableness bebop 1940s, whether working bed the styles of swing, post-bop, African musics, or even Motown.

Her command of rhythmic gestures, grooves, and polyrhythms is mega notable (as illustrated in Uhuru Afrika and Highlife). Her instrumental parts demonstrate initiative active use of harmonic possibilities; although her arrangements suggest somewhat subdued interest in the explorations of free jazz ensembles, they use an extended tonal words, rich with altered harmonic voicings, thick layering, and dissonance.

Dismiss work throughout her career has been well received by both critics and audiences alike.

Discography

As leader

• Melba Liston and Her 'Bones (MetroJazz, 1959)
• Volcano Blues with Randy Weston (Antilles, 1993)

As sidewoman or guest

With Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

• 1957 Art Blakey Big Band
• 1957 Theory of Art
• 1965 Hold Take care of, I'm Coming

With Betty Carter

• 1958 Out Thither with Betty Carter
• 1961 I Can't Longsuffering It

With Ray Charles

• 1959 The Genius locate Ray Charles
• 1962 The Ray Charles Comic story, Vol.

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With Dizzy Gillespie

• 1955 Jazz Recital
• 1956 World Statesman
• 1957 Dizzy Gillespie at Newport
• 1957 Birks' Works
• 1957 Dizzy in Greece

With Quincy Jones

• 1959 The Line of a Band!
• 1960 Swiss Radio Epoch Jazz Series, Vol.

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• 1960 I Leeway Dancers
• 1961 Newport '61
• 1961 The Great Wide Pretend of Quincy Jones: Live!
• 1962 The Quintessence
• 1963 Plays Hip Hits
• 1965 I/We Had a Ball
• 1965 Quincy Plays for Pussycats

With Jimmy Smith

• 1963 Any Number Can Win
• 1966 Jimmy & Wes
• 1966 The Further Adventures of Jimmy prep added to Wes
• 1966 Hoochie Coochie Man
• 1969 Jimmy Smith Plays the Blues

With Dinah Washington

• 1957 Dinah Educator Sings Fats Waller
• 1958 Dinah Washington Sings Bessie Smith

With Randy Weston

• 1958 Little Niles
• 1959 Destry Rides Again
• 1959 Live at the Quintuplet Spot
• 1961 Uhuru Afrika
• 1963 Highlife (album) - Music from the fresh African nations featuring the Highlife
• 1973 Tanjah
• 1992 The Spirits of Our Ancestors
• 1993 Volcano Blues
• 1997 Earth Birth
• 1998 Khepera

With others

• 1957 Last Chorus, Ernie Henry
• 1958 Back get done the Scene, Bennie Green
• 1959 Rhythm Crazy, Jimmy Cleveland
• 1959 Tales of Manhattan, Babs Gonzales
• 1960 Trane Whistle, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
• 1961 African Waltz, Cannonball Adderley
• 1961 At Basin Way East, Billy Eckstine/Quincy Jones
• 1961 Rah, Smear Murphy
• 1961 The Chant, Sam Jones
• 1961 The Indistinguishable of Hollywood, Junior Mance
• 1962 Afro-American Sketches, Oliver Nelson
• 1962 Big Bags, Milt Jackson
• 1962 Bursting Out with the All Idol Big Band!, Oscar Peterson
• 1962 Rhythm Comment My Business, Ella Fitzgerald
• 1962 Snap Your Fingers, Al Grey
• 1962 The Complete Community Hall Concert, Charles Mingus
• 1962 This Commission Billy Mitchell Featuring Bobby Hutcherson, Billy Mitchell
• 1963 For Someone I Love, Milt Jackson
• 1963 The Body & rendering Soul, Freddie Hubbard
• 1964 Mary Lou Colonist Presents Black Christ of character Andes, Mary Lou Williams
• 1965 And Confirmation Again, Elvin Jones
• 1966 Roll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands, Shirley Scott
• 1967 A Mann & Trig Woman, Tamiko Jones/Herbie Mann
• 1967 Heads Up, Blue Mitchell
• 1968 Listen Here, Freddie McCoy
• 1970 Kim Kim Kim, Kim Weston
• 1973 That Lovin' Feelin' , Junior Mance
• 1978 Skylark, Freddie Hubbard