Dick Collins

Dick Collins (* 19th July 1924 in Seattle as Richard Harrison Collins ) is an American jazz musician ( trumpet , cornet , flugelhorn ) and composer .

Live and act

Dick Collins comes from a musical family; his grandfather was a musician in the Royal Band of Queen Victoria , his father was a band leader and his brother Bob was a trombonist in the octet of Dave Brubeck . He took instrumental lessons from an early age with Red Nichols' father in San José (California) . In 1948 he studied with Darius Milhaud and Alexander Tansman in Paris; thereafter he received his Masters from the University of Southern California .

After his first experiences as a professional musician in the orchestra of Earl Gladman (1938/40) he played in 1946/47 and again in 1949/50 in the formations of Dave Brubeck and participated in his early recordings for Fantasy . During his stay in France he played in Hubert Fol's formation Be-Bop Minstrels , with which he made a guest appearance in the Netherlands in 1948.

In the early 1950s he worked with Charlie Barnet (1951), Charles Mingus and in 1952 with Alvino Rey . In 1953 he was a member of the Charlie Mariano sextet ; In 1954 he formed a short-lived nonet with Nat Pierce . a. also included Jerry Coker , Cy Touff , Jack Nimitz, and Dick Hafer ; he also played in the orchestra of Cal Tjader ( Tjader Plays Mambo ). In May 1954 he recorded a first album under his own name on RCA Victor , Horns of Plenty . His album King Richard the Swing Hearted followed in November ; his orchestra now also included Al Cohn , Richie Kamuca , Dick Meldonian , Bill Perkins , Jack Nimitz, Herb Ellis and Chuck Flores .

From 1954 to 1956, Collins was a member of Woody Herman's orchestra , with whom he visited Europe. He also played in the formation of Herman musicians The Herdsmen . From 1958 to 1966 Collins worked intermittently at Les Brown , with whom he went on extensive tours of Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1978 he played again with Nat Pierce ; in the 1990s he was still a member of its Juggernaut Orchestra.

In addition to his work as an active musician, he worked as a librarian for many years; u. a. at the Californian Institute of Arts , at the National Institute for Earthquake Research and until 1986 in the Los Angeles City Library .

Collins has also worked on recordings for Kenny Clarke , Jesse Belvin / Marty Paich and Paul Desmond during his career . As a composer he wrote for Tennessee Williams ´ At Liberty (1946), which was performed at the 1958 Idlewild Festival . His work Diptych was played at the 1961 Long Beach Music Festival . For his early record H ₂ O he was awarded the Prix ​​de disques by the French magazine Jazz Hot .

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• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .