Onaje Allan Gumbs

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Onaje Allan Gumbs (born September 3, 1949 in New York City , New York ; † April 6, 2020 in Yonkers , New York) was an American jazz musician ( piano , keyboard and arrangement ) who also contributed to fusion music and smooth Jazz delivered as if to the musical avant-garde.

Live and act

Gumbs studied piano at the age of seven and received classical music training in the Music and Art High School (where he also played the trombone in the high school band). He studied at the State University of New York in Fredonia and at Indiana University with David Baker . His first professional engagement was with the Andrew Langston Latin Jazz Quintet. In 1971 his mentor Leroy Kirkland recommended him to the guitarist Kenny Burrell ; In 1973 he performed black music concerts with the Buffalo Philharmony. In 1974 the New York Jazz Repertory Company performed Gumbs' arrangement of Stella by Starlight in a concert in honor of Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall . That same year, Woody invited Shaw Gumbs to join his band, where he appeared on the Moontrane album , staying for the next five years (and serving as musical director for a while). He also joined Nat Adderley's band in the late 1970s . This is how the producer of Steeplechase Nils Winther became aware of him and invited him in 1976 to record the solo album Onaje (although the record was only released in 1994).

In 1976, Gumbs also arranged the piece Betcha by Golly Wow for the singer Phyllis Hyman , which was to become her signature melody. In the late 1970s he also worked on several successful jazz fusion albums with Lenny White and Roy Ayers and showed skills with funk rhythms, keyboards and synthesizers . Building on this, Gumbs worked in the 1980s on the one hand in the avant-garde field with Ronald Shannon Jackson and also with Bill Laswell , on the other hand he toured with the smooth jazz violinist Noel Pointer , the singers Jean Carn and Phyllis Hyman and the guitarists Kevin Eubanks and Stanley Jordan ( Magic Touch 1985). This led to Gumbs being signed to Zebra Records , a subsidiary of MCA , for two smooth-oriented albums in 1988: His album That Special Part of Me was released in 1988, followed by Dare to Dream in 1991 . In the same year he also worked on Will Downing's album Dream Fullfilled . In the late 1990s he was a member of Talib Kibwe's band , on whose album Another Blue (1998) he was keyboardist; he also plays again with Shannon Jackson in the trio ( Puttin On Dog ).

In 2000 he played with Kenny Burrell on his Concord album Lucky So and So ; In 2001 he accompanied the singer Carmen Lundy ( This Is Carmen Lundy , 2001). 2003 began a longer period with his live album Return to Form , in which Gumbs played almost exclusively straight-ahead jazz and released other albums under his name. In 2006 he created his CD Sack Full of Dreams with George Gray , Marcus McLaurine , Gary Fritz , Mark Shim , Bob DeVos and Obba Babatundé .

Gumbs also worked with numerous other jazz, rhythm and blues and pop musicians such as Norman Connors (1973/4), Angela Bofill , Betty Carter , Dakota Staton , Cassandra Wilson , Marlena Shaw , Sadao Watanabe , Kurtis Blow , Mario Escalera , Vanessa Rubin , Jeffrey Osborne , Eddie Murphy , Rebbie Jackson and Gerald Albright together. In the field of jazz, according to Tom Lord , he was involved in 135 recording sessions between 1972 and 2015, most recently with Lou Volpe ( Remembering Ol 'Blue Eyes - A Tribute to Songs of Sinatra ).

Gumbs suffered a stroke in 2010 that temporarily weakened his left side; the pianist recovered from what he attributed to his Buddhist beliefs and continued his work. He suffered another stroke in 2015, followed by a series of strokes in 2018.

Prizes and awards

In 1978, Gumbs and Woody Shaw's group received the Down Beat readers' poll for “best jazz group” and for the best “jazz album of the year”. In 1986 he was honored with the Min-On Art Award for his services in promoting a music movement for peace .

Discographic notes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nate Chinen: Onaje Allan Gumbs, pianist Whose Reach Spanned the Soulful and the Smooth, Dies at 70th WBGO , March 7, 2020, accessed on April 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Onaje Allan Gumbs (1949–2020). In: JazzTimes . April 8, 2020, accessed April 9, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed April 7, 2020)
personal data
SURNAME Gumbs, Onaje Allan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist, keyboardist and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 2020
Place of death Yonkers , New York