HARD BOP ORIGINS: MEMPHIS & HARD BOP

Calvin H. Neal, Jr.

January 2, 2017

             

The contributions of Memphis, Tennessee to the hard bop era of jazz are hardly ever spoken of, though a wealth of talent emerged from this city in the 1950’s. Ill-fated trumpeter /composer Booker Little slid into the seat formerly occupied by the equally lamentable trumpet sensation, Clifford Brown, as co lead of hard bop aggregations with famed bebop drummer and leader Max Roach.  In the 1950’s, Memphis jazz musicians made vital contributions to the jazz of the era. Memphis musicians of note include pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr., trumpeter Booker Little, drummer Charles Crosby and bassist George Joyner aka Jamil Nasser. 

            Little's cousin, Memphis native trumpeter Louis Smith recorded two excellent hard bop sessions for Blue Note, Here Comes Louis Smith, which was originally recorded on the Transition label, February 4 & 9, 1958 in NYC before being acquired by Alfred Lion, and Smithville, which was recorded in Rudy Van Gelder's Hackensack, NJ studio on March 9, 1958. Smith also recorded with the Horace Silver Quintet at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival,Horace Silver Live at Newport '58 (Blue Note), July 6, 1958. Booker Little, Frank Strozier, Harold Mabern and George Coleman went to Manassas High School in Memphis, under the musical tutelage of music instructor Andy Goodrich.  Just like Lloyd Reese in Los Angeles and Louis Cabrera in Detroit, Goodrich was instrumental in the musical maturation of many prominent jazz stars of the era. 

              The four high school class mates, Coleman, Little, Mabern and Strozier, went together to Chicago, some for formal educations, others for a strict diet of playing night and day, hopefully for pay. The Newborn brothers, pianist Phineas and guitarist Calvin made their way to New York before most of the others. 

                Phineas played and recorded with Charles Mingus, Roy Haynes and Paul Chambers, frequently accompanied by brother Calvin, who was in the bands of Earl Hines and Lionel Hampton.  Booker Little, who’s premature death at age 23 in 1961 was shocking, he was a  brilliant trumpeter and composer, who’s compositions need to be revisited. Little played with some of the era’s most important music.

            Little toured and recorded with hard bop purveyor Max Roach and also recorded with multi-instrumental icon Eric Dolphy. Tenor saxophonist George Coleman played and recorded with Little, Roach and most famously with the Miles Davis Quintet (1963-64). Altoist Frank Strozier recorded for Vee Jay Records as solo artist and as sideman with Wayne Shorter, played with Coleman and Harold Mabern with Miles in 1963 and with the Chicago based group MJT+3. Harold Mabern’s piano can be found on recordings with Donald Byrd and Lee Morgan on Blue Note and Mabern was briefly with Miles in 1963. 

http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/the-memphis-mafia-mabern-strozier-coleman-and-little/