Ronnell Bright

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Ronnell Bright (born July 3, 1930 in Chicago ) is an American jazz pianist , arranger and composer of modern jazz . He worked for Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan .

Life

Ronnell Bright originally wanted to be a classical pianist; at the age of nine he won a prize and played with the Chicago Youth Piano Symphony Orchestra. He graduated from the Juilliard School and graduated in the early 1950s. His first encounter with jazz was in a US Navy band. He later worked in Chicago with bassist Johnny Tate and was the accompanist pianist for singer Carmen McRae in the mid-1950s . Since then he has been playing a groovy, easy swing style.

In 1955 Bright moved to New York , where he performed and recorded with Rolf Kühn . In 1957 he was a member of Dizzy Gillespie's Big Band ; that same year he also had his own trio with Richard Davis and drummer Art Morgan . From 1958 he was accompanist and conductor of the orchestra for Sarah Vaughan , Lena Horne and Gloria Lynne . In 1964 he became Nancy Wilson's arranger, pianist and musical director and moved to Los Angeles . Bright worked there mainly in Hollywood studios. In 1972 he became a member of the Supersax formation for two years . After that he taught in high school for a year.

Ronnell Bright worked as a composer with lyricist Johnny Mercer , writing compositions that were played by Sarah Vaughan, Cal Tjader , Horace Silver and Blue Mitchell . He was also involved in the recordings of Coleman Hawkins , Anita O'Day , Shirley Scott and Frank Wess .

In the early 1990s he settled in Denver , gave himself the title of "Doctor of Divinity"; with his wife Rev. Dianne Bright he produced jazz programs for their own parish, the Harmony Church , where local musicians often performed as guests of the Harmony Orchestra .

Marc Myers recalled him in 2007 with a detailed blog article after he had searched for Bright intensively, since his achievements in the 1960s, especially as a sought-after companion, would otherwise have been forgotten, which Bright was very happy about.

Discographic notes

As a leader

  • The Ronnell Bright Trio (Polydor / Fresh Sound Records, 1958)
  • Bright's Spot (Savoy, reissue Denon)
  • Bright Flight
  • After hours jazz

As a sideman

  • Coleman Hawkins: The Hawk Relaxes (Prestige / OJC, 1961)
  • Anita O'Day: I Got A Kick Out Of You (Evidence, 1975)
  • Shirley Scott: Workin ' (Prestige, 1958-61)
  • Sarah Vaughan: Misty (Emarcy, 1958);
  • Sarah Vaughan with the Jimmy Jones Orchestra: Dreamy (Roulette, Fresh Sound Rec., 1960)
  • Frank Wess: Trombones And Flute (Savoy, 1956)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Marc Myers on his blog