Rufus Harley

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Rufus Harley (born May 20, 1936 in Raleigh , North Carolina , † August 1, 2006 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) was an American modern jazz musician (initially tenor and soprano saxophone , flute ) who turned the Scottish bagpipes into jazz introduced and showed that one can also improvise convincing jazz solos on this instrument ( Joachim Ernst Berendt ).

Live and act

Harley grew up in Philadelphia. He studied tenor saxophone in high school and played - influenced by Sonny Stitt , John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins - in local clubs with Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie . In 1963 he saw and heard an African-American bagpipe band, the Scottish Black Watch, on television broadcast of the funeral for John F. Kennedy . As a result, he got the idea to learn the instrument and use it in jazz. In 1965 he received a contract from Atlantic producer Joel Dorn and in the same year played the first album Bagpipe Blues . The criticism was profuse; Sonny Stitt and Herbie Mann were also amazed by the sound of the bagpipes and booked Harley for their own albums. He also appeared in the feature film Big Boy, Now You're Going to be a Man! by Francis Ford Coppola on. By 1970 he released three more albums with Atlantic; Another LP Re-Creation of the Gods was released in 1972. He also gave boxer Muhammad Ali lessons on the bagpipes, which Harley believes came from Africa. In November 1974 he appeared together with Sonny Rollins at the Berlin Jazz Days - there they were booed ( according to the Guardian , they fared not much better when they performed together at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club ). He worked as a social worker for the next few decades, but did not give up public appearances. He can also be heard on Laurie Anderson's album Big Science (1982). He continued to give concerts in the 1990s, playing a solo concert at Lincoln Center in 1993 and working with the hip-hop band The Roots ( Do You Want More? !!! ??! , 1995). He also appeared occasionally on American television shows.

Harley died on August 1, 2006 at the age of 70 from complications from prostate cancer .

Discographic notes

  • Bagpipe Blues (Atlantic, 1965)
  • Scotch & Soul (Atlantic, 1967)
  • A Tribute to Courage (Atlantic, 1968)
  • King / Queens (with Nadi Qamar , Richard Tee, Eric Gale , Chuck Rainey , Jimmy Johnson, Montego Joe [Sanders]; Atlantic 1969)
  • Re-Creation of the Gods (Ankh, 1972)
  • Brotherly Love (with Peter Amahl, Tony Cesarano; 1998)
  • Sustain (with Messiah Harley, Emmanuel Thompson, Joshua Yudkin, Keno Speller; Discograph, 2005)
  • The Pied Piper of Jazz (compilation, 1965–70)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The large jazz book Frankfurt am Main, p. 362
  2. ^ Biographical portrait
personal data
SURNAME Harley, Rufus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Raleigh , North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH August 1, 2006
Place of death Philadelphia , Pennsylvania