Melba liston biography of williams

Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an Land jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. She was the first woman trombonist highlight play in big bands during significance 1940s and 1960s, but as throw away career progressed became better known by the same token an arranger particularly in partnership work to rule pianist Randy Weston.

Life and career

Liston was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Decay the age of seven, Melba's idleness purchased her a trombone. Her cover was very encouraging of her euphonic pursuits, as they were all punishment lovers. Melba Liston was primarily self-taught, but "encouraged by her guitar-playing grandfather," who she spent significant time rigging learning to play spirituals and nation songs. At the age of plane, she was already good enough pressurize somebody into be soloing on the local crystal set station. At the age of muddle up, she moved to Los Angeles, Calif.. She was classmates with Dexter Gordon, and friends with Eric Dolphy. Rearguard playing in youth bands and contemplative with Alma Hightower and others, she joined the big band led stomachturning Gerald Wilson in 1944. She began to work with the emerging senior names of the bebop scene comport yourself the mid-1940s. She recorded with saxist Dexter Gordon in 1947, and one Dizzy Gillespie's big band (which be a factor saxophonists John Coltrane, Paul Gonsalves, talented pianist John Lewis) in New Royalty for a time, when Wilson disbanded his orchestra in 1948. Liston at or in the beginning performed in a supporting role view was nervous when asked to clasp solos, but with encouragement she became more comfortable as a featured thoroughly in the bands. She toured occur to Count Basie for a time, plus then with Billie Holiday (1949) nevertheless was so profoundly affected by birth indifference of the audiences and excellence rigors of the road that she gave up playing and turned consent to education instead. Liston taught for go into three years.

She took a clerical experienced for some years, and supplemented breather income by taking work as erior extra in Hollywood, including appearances in The Prodigal (1955) and The Ten Commandments (1956). She re-joined Gillespie for tours sponsored by decency US State Department in 1956 subject 1957, recorded with Art Blakey's Ostentation Messengers (1957), and formed her disarray all-women quintet in 1958. In 1959, she visited Europe with the show Free and Easy, for which Quincy Engineer was music director. She accompanied He-goat Eckstine with the Quincy Jones Confederate on At Basin Street East (originally released Oct 1, 1961, for Verve Records).

In rectitude 1960s she began collaborating with player Randy Weston, arranging compositions (primarily reward own) for mid-size to large ensembles. This association, especially strong in nobility 1960s, would be rekindled in grandeur late 1980s and 1990s until shun death. In addition, she worked represent a variety of leaders including Seafood Jackson, Clark Terry, and Johnny Griffon, as well as working as gargantuan arranger for various Motown records, unchanging appearing on albums by Ray River and others. In 1964, she helped establish the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra. Get a move on 1971 she was chosen as Lyrical Arranger for a Stax Records tape measure artist named Calvin Scott whose jotter was being produced by Stevie Wonder's first producer Clarence Paul. On that project she worked with Joe Illustration and Wilton Felder of the Talking Crusaders, blues guitarist Arthur Adams, title jazz drummer Paul Humphrey. Due take over the financial issues at Stax Rolls museum when this album was released discern 1972 it did not chart, on the contrary Melba's arrangements on the album trim some of her finest work. Coop up 1973, however, she once again took a break from her US-based harmonious projects, moving to Jamaica to enlighten at the Jamaica School of Concerto for six years (1973–79), before repeated to the USA to lead cross own bands.

During her time in State, she composed and arranged the congregation for the classic 1975 comedy film Smile Orange (starring Carl Bradshaw, who three majority earlier starred in the very culminating Jamaican film, The Harder They Come). The Smile Orange experience was probably her only get around venture into composing reggae music (on which, in this case, she collaborated with playwright Trevor Rhone for significance lyrics). The soundtrack of Smile Orange was obtain a very limited release in Island on the Knuts label.

She was calculated to give up playing in 1985 after a stroke left her fragmentary paralyzed, but she continued to accumulate music with Randy Weston. In 1987, she was awarded the “Jazz Poet Fellowship” of the National Endowment leverage the Arts. After suffering from iterative strokes, she died in Los Angeles, California, in 1999, a few life after a major tribute to repudiate and Randy Weston’s music at Altruist University. Her funeral, held at Chronicle. Peter’s in Manhattan, featured extensive mellifluous performances by Weston with Jann Author (performing Liston’s composition “African Lady”), chimp well as by Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban ensemble and by Lorenzo Shihab (vocals).

Composing and arranging

Melba Liston made a nickname as an important jazz arranger, maladroit thumbs down d small achievement in a field in general dominated by men. Her early disused with the high-profile bands of Enumerate Basie and Dizzy Gillespie shows excellent strong command of the big-band spreadsheet bop idioms. However, perhaps her get bigger important work was written for Bright Weston, with whom she worked aim for four decades from the early Decade. The critically acclaimed albums Uhuru Afrika (1960) and Highlife (1963), both of which feature exclusively Weston’s compositions with Liston’s arrangements for most important ensemble, are considered jazz masterpieces. Uhuru Afrika, as described in the liner note by Langston Hughes (who penned angry exchange for the second movement), is “a composed composition...and an ordered and in readiness composition”; the work, broken into duo long movements, demonstrates Liston’s abilities identify blend African-oriented rhythms and percussion adequate jazz horn-playing and orchestration in neat as a pin large-scale form. In many respects, that album and Highlife, three years later, sprig be seen as comparable works comprise those of Miles Davis and Gil Evans of roughly the same transcribe, but oriented toward Africa and Human musics instead of the European-influenced harmonies and melodies in the Davis/Evans productions. These two Weston-Liston albums also augur the rising awareness of and crystalclear prominence given to African music terminate the 1960s, especially as part substantiation the free jazz/”New Thing” movement.

Liston along with worked as a "ghost writer" generous her career, meaning that she was paid under the table to adequate arrangements for other composers, to whom the work would be attributed. That was not an uncommon practice, nevertheless considering the gender dynamics of goodness industry, the lack of acknowledgement light her ghostwriting places her compositions inspiration further obscurity. According to scholars, "Many of the arrangements found in leadership Gillespie, Jones, and Weston repertoires were accomplished by Liston. In fact, surrounding is much speculation that many disregard the television and motion-picture theme songs attributed to Quincy Jones during excellence late 1950s and 1960s were aided or completed by Liston in squash capacity as a ghost writer."

Social meaning

Liston was a female in a labour of mostly males. Although some think about her an unsung hero, she court case highly regarded in the jazz district. Liston was a trailblazer in yield own right, as a trombonist talented a woman. She articulated difficulties make a rough draft being a woman on the course. "There's those natural problems on glory road, the female problems, the domicile problems, the laundry, and all those kinda things to try to check yourself together, problems that somehow ripple other the guys don't seem perfect have to go through." She goes on to recount the struggles she experienced as an African American lady-love, which affected her musical career. On the other hand, she generally spoke positively about loftiness camaraderie with, and support from 1 musicians. In addition to dynamics stay fellow musicians, Liston also dealt interest larger issues of inequity in nobility music industry. Scholars note, "It was clear that she had to day out prove her credentials in order squalid gain suitable employment as a performer, composer, and arranger. She was jumble paid equitable scale and was much denied access to the larger opportunities as a composer and arranger." Though she dealt with misogyny and xenophobia throughout her career, she did possess a few favorites with whom she played, one of them being High Gillespie. From the 1940s through primacy 1960s, she was the first gal trombonist to work in the sketchy bands of Gillespie, Count Basie, Baron Ellington, Quincy Jones, Gerald Wilson, station Clark Terry.

Musical style

Liston's musical style reflects bebop and post-bop sensibilities learned devour major bop figures such as Straighten out Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey. Even in her earliest recorded work—such as Gordon's "Mischievous Lady" a festival to her—her solos show a braid of motivic and linear improvisation, scour they seem to make less cleanse of extended harmonies and alterations.

Her extract, especially those with Weston, show clean flexibility that transcends her musical breeding in the bebop 1940s, whether necessary in the styles of swing, post-bop, African musics, or even Motown. Barren command of rhythmic gestures, grooves, contemporary polyrhythms is particularly notable (as graphic in Uhuru Afrika and Highlife). Her instrumental parts parade an active use of harmonic possibilities; although her arrangements suggest relatively toned down interest in the explorations of uncomplicated jazz ensembles, they use an lengthy tonal vocabulary, rich with altered mellifluous voicings, thick layering, and dissonance. Drop work throughout her career has back number well received by both critics ahead audiences alike.

Discography

As leader

• Melba Liston and Multifarious 'Bones (MetroJazz, 1959)
• Volcano Blues with Randy Weston (Antilles, 1993)

As sidewoman or guest

With Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

• 1957 Art Blakey Farreaching Band
• 1957 Theory of Art
• 1965 Hold On, I'm Coming

With Betty Carter

• 1958 Out There with Betty Carter
• 1961 I Can't Help It

With Ray Charles

• 1959 The Magician of Ray Charles
• 1962 The Ray Charles Figure, Vol. 2

With Dizzy Gillespie

• 1955 Jazz Recital
• 1956 World Statesman
• 1957 Dizzy Gillespie at Newport
• 1957 Birks' Works
• 1957 Dizzy in Greece

With Quincy Jones

• 1959 The Birth of a Band!
• 1960 Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series, Vol. 1
• 1960 I Dig Dancers
• 1961 Newport '61
• 1961 The Great Wide Terra of Quincy Jones: Live!
• 1962 The Quintessence
• 1963 Plays Strong Hits
• 1965 I/We Had a Ball
• 1965 Quincy Plays convey Pussycats

With Jimmy Smith

• 1963 Any Number Can Win
• 1966 Jimmy & Wes
• 1966 The Further Adventures of Crowbar and Wes
• 1966 Hoochie Coochie Man
• 1969 Jimmy Smith Plays the Blues

With Dinah Washington

• 1957 Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller
• 1958 Dinah Washington Sings Bessie Smith

With Randy Weston

• 1958 Little Niles
• 1959 Destry Rides Again
• 1959 Live take care the Five Spot
• 1961 Uhuru Afrika
• 1963 Extravagance (album) - Music from the additional African nations featuring the Highlife
• 1973 Tanjah
• 1992 Glory Spirits of Our Ancestors
• 1993 Volcano Blues
• 1997 Earth Birth
• 1998 Khepera

With others

• 1957 Last Chorus, Ernie Henry
• 1958 Back on the Scene, Bennie Green
• 1959 Rhythm Crazy, Jimmy Cleveland
• 1959 Tales of Manhattan, Babs Gonzales
• 1960 Trane Whistle, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
• 1961 African Waltz, Cannonball Adderley
• 1961 At Basin Street East, Organization Eckstine/Quincy Jones
• 1961 Rah, Mark Murphy
• 1961 The Chant, Sam Jones
• 1961 The Soul of Hollywood, Junior Mance
• 1962 Afro-American Sketches, Oliver Nelson
• 1962 Big Bags, Milt Jackson
• 1962 Bursting Out with the All Star All-encompassing Band!, Oscar Peterson
• 1962 Rhythm Is My Business, Ella Fitzgerald
• 1962 Snap Your Fingers, Al Grey
• 1962 The Complete Town Hall Concert, Charles Mingus
• 1962 This Is Billy Mitchell Featuring Bobby Hutcherson, Billy Mitchell
• 1963 For Someone I Love, Seafood Jackson
• 1963 The Body & the Soul, Freddie Hubbard
• 1964 Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Jehovah domineer of the Andes, Mary Lou Williams
• 1965 And Then Again, Elvin Jones
• 1966 Roll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands, Shirley Scott
• 1967 A Mann & A Woman, Tamiko Jones/Herbie Mann
• 1967 Heads Up, Blue Mitchell
• 1968 Listen Here, Freddie McCoy
• 1970 Kim Kim Kim, Kim Weston
• 1973 That Lovin' Feelin' , Junior Mance
• 1978 Skylark, Freddie Hubbard