Harold Ashby

Harold Ashby (* 27. March 1925 in Kansas City , Missouri ; † 13. June 2003 in New York City ) was an American swing - tenor saxophonist and clarinetist .

Live and act

Harold Ashby played the clarinet while at school and made his debut as tenor saxophonist with Tommy Douglas in 1946 after two years in the Navy . In Chicago he played with blues musicians such as Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon . Ashby went to New York in 1957 and initially worked for Mercer Ellington , from 1961/62 occasionally also for Duke Ellington , and for a short time with Count Basie and Lawrence Brown . The album Born To Swing was released under his own name in 1960 , the album Tenor Stuff with Paul Gonsalves in 1961. After a few "freelance" years, Harold Ashby finally joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in July 1968 and took with him the great suites of the early 1970s New Orleans Suite on. Even after his death he played in the big band of Mercer Ellington, gave a concert with former Ellington colleagues and traveled with Ellington alumni bands in the following years. He also worked on albums by Benny Goodman and Sy Oliver . In 1987, he appeared as a guest soloist on the album The Art of the Saxophone by Bennie Wallace with. Ashby's style is similar to that of Ben Webster ; helped that his brothers Herbert and Alex played at Webster.

Selected discography

As a leader

• Quickie: Presenting Harold Ashby (Progressive, 1978), with Don Friedman , George Mraz , Ronnie Bedford
• Scufflin ' (Black & Blue, 1978) with Booty Wood , Raymond Fol , Aaron Bell , Sam Woodyard
• The Viking ( Gemini , 1988) with Norman Simmons , Paul West , Gerryck King
• What Am I Here For? (Criss Cross, 1990), with Mulgrew Miller , Rufus Reid , Ben Riley
• I'm Old Fashioned (Stash, 1991), with Richard Wyands , Aaron Bell , Connie Kay
• On The Sunny Side of the Street (Timeless, 1992) with Horace Parlan , Wayne Dockery , Steve McCraven
• Harold Ashby Plays Duke Ellington (Y'all, 1999), with Lloyd Mayers , Earl May , Leroy Williams
• Just for You ( Mapleshade , 2000), with John Hicks , Keter Betts , Jimmy Cobb
• Ash (Y'all, 2001), with Hilton Ruiz , Andy McCloud , Victor Jones

As a sideman

• Ben Webster: The Soul Of Ben Webster (Verve, 1957/58)
• Benny Golson: Tenor Legacy (Arkadia, 1996)
• Duke Ellington: New Orleans Suite (Atlantic, 1970)
• Duke Ellington: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse - A Suite In 8 Parts (OJC, 1971)
• Duke Ellington: The Intimacy Of The Blues (OJC, 1967-70)
• Scott Hamilton - Warren Vaché Orchestra (Concord, 1979)
• Earl Hines : Once Upon A Time (Impulse !, 1966)
• Bennie Wallace : The Art Of The Saxophone (Denon, 1987)

literature

• Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide of Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
• Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1993
• Bielefeld Catalog Jazz 2001

Web links

• Harold Ashby at Allmusic (English)
• Obituary in The New York Times