Lloyd Reese

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Lloyd Reese (* around 1900, † after 1939) was an American jazz trumpeter (initially also alto saxophone , clarinet ), band leader and music teacher. As a teacher and sometimes also a mentor of Californian musicians such as Buddy Collette , Charles Mingus and Dexter Gordon , he was one of the most influential figures on the Los Angeles jazz scene and, with Samuel R. Browne (1906–1991), one of the city's pioneers of jazz education.

Live and act

Reese, whose father was an architect and originally from New Orleans, had classes at Whittier College before graduating from the University of Southern California Conservatory of Music . In Los Angeles he worked for Red Nichols and (as one of the few African American at the time) in the Warner Brothers film studios . In 1929/30 he recorded as a woodwind player with Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders ("Harlem" / "Cuttin 'Off", Victor) and played the alto saxophone with Les Hite in the early 1930s before the trumpet became his main instrument. In 1937 he played with Art Tatum and His Swingsters (including with Marshall Royal , Bill Perkins , Joe Bailey and Oscar Lee Bradley ), with whom he recorded several titles for Decca Records (including " Body and Soul " and "Whit Plenty of Money and You "). In November 1937 he played in a Paramount studio orchestra with Louis Armstrong and George Orendorff ( Doctor Rhythm ); In 1939 he took part in a session arranged by Claude Thornhill for Victor Records with singer Maxine Sullivan .

Reese's apartment on Jefferson Avenue (near Central Avenue) was a mixture of a drawing room and a music school; came to spontaneous sessions a. Ben Webster and Rex Stewart . In the 1940s he led his own band under the umbrella of the musicians' union Black Musician's Union in Los Angeles. a. the young musicians Bill Douglass and Dexter Gordon , also Jackie Kelso , James Nelson, Jack Trainor and Jake Porter played. His students included u. a. also Bill Holman and Eric Dolphy . In his rehearsal tape, which met regularly on Sundays, the young Mingus learned piano, harmony and transposition . With his profound knowledge of jazz , European modernism and music theory , Reese had a very individual, rather informal way of working; for his student Buddy Collette was Reese

" More like a professor or doctor. He wanted to make sure you had the right sound, were tuned, make sure you knew the right chords. I don't think he was so much into saying what you should play. He was just trying to make you have the best knowledge and then allow you to have your own style ".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ted Gioia: West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960 , 1998, p. 40
  2. ^ John Kruth: Eric Dolphy Turns Eighty
  3. ^ Portrait of Horace Tapscott
  4. ^ Kenny Mathieson: Cookin ': Hard Bop and Soul Jazz 1954-65 . 2012
  5. ^ A b Eric Porter: What Is This Thing Called Jazz ?: African American Musicians as Artists . 2002, p. 62
  6. ^ A b c Gene Santoro: Myself When I am Real: The Life and Music of Charles Mingus . P. 36
  7. ^ Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders at Red Hot Jazz
  8. ^ Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : The Rough Guide to Jazz , 2004
  9. ^ Jos Willems: All of Me: The Complete Discography of Louis Armstrong , 2006. p. 108.
  10. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed July 17, 2016)
  11. ^ Clora Bryant , William Green, Steven Isoardi: Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles , 1999, p. 172
  12. ↑ Marc Myers Why Jazz Happened , 2013, p. 64
  13. ↑ John Kruth: God bless the Child - Eric Dolphy Turns 80 (2008)
  14. ^ John Goldsby: The Jazz Bass Book: Technique and Tradition , 2002, p. 47
personal data
SURNAME Reese, Lloyd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH around 1900
DATE OF DEATH 20th century or 21st century