Dick Griffin

James Richard "Dick" Griffin (* 1940 in Jackson , Mississippi ) is an American jazz trombonist .

Live and act

Griffin first learned piano in his childhood before switching to the trombone . After earning his bachelor's degree in 1963, he taught at a high school while he was working on his master's degree. The first recordings were made in 1965 with Gloria Coleman , in the late 1960s he played with Sun Ra ( Outer Spaceways Incorporated ), Les McCann and in Rahsaan Roland Kirk's big band formation Vibration Society . In the early part of the following decade he also appeared on the recordings of Charles Tolliver , Jack McDuff , Frank Foster , Leon Thomas , Charles Earland , Billy Harper and George Benson .

In 1973 Griffin recorded his debut album The Eight Wonder ( Strata-East ) with a septet line-up, starring Sam Rivers , Ron Burton , Warren Smith , Cecil McBee , Freddie Waits and Leopoldo Fleming . This was followed by productions with musicians such as Cleo Laine and John Dankworth , Bobby Watson , McCoy Tyner and with Archie Shepps Bigband ( Attica Blues , 1979), and in the 80s with Abdullah Ibrahim , Charli Persip , Muhal Richard Abrams and Joey DeFrancesco . At the beginning of 1985 he played a. a. with Gary Bartz , Stanley Cowell , Cecil McBee and Billy Hart his second album under his own name, A Dream for Rahsaan . Griffin played in the 2000s a. a. in The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra by William Parker , with Steve Swell , Bill Dixon ( 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfour ), Doug Hammond and Billy Bang . In the field of jazz he was involved in 71 recording sessions between 1965 and 2011. In 2018 he forms the trio Trombone Insurgency with Joe McPhee and Steve Swell .

Griffin taught music theory and history of jazz at Wesleyan University . In later years he also occupied himself with painting, with exhibitions in New York and Europe.

Now Is the Time (Boplicity, around 1997), with Don Smith, Gary Bartz, Clifford Jordan , Bill Saxton , Stanley Cowell, Hubert Eaves , Cecil McBee, Calvin Hill , Idris Muhammad , Billy Hart, Nasheet Waits , Lawrence Killian
All Blues (Amosaya, around 1997), with Larry Goldings , Ron Jackson , Cecil Brooks III
Time Will Tell (Ruby, around 2010), with James Spaulding , George Cables , Cecil McBee, Victor Lewis