Benny Bailey

Ernst Harold " Benny " Bailey ( born August 13, 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, † 14 April 2005 in Amsterdam ) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player and singer.

Life and work

Bailey studied music in his hometown of Cleveland at the Conservatory. He began his career with Jay McShann in 1947, he met Dizzy Gillespie and played in the big band. From 1948 he worked in the orchestra of Lionel Hampton. In 1953 he settled down during a European tour this orchestra in Sweden. He played in many big bands of different radio stations throughout Europe and in 1959 joined the Quincy Jones Big Band. He then worked under Werner Müller RIAS Dance Orchestra in Berlin, but also under his own name in smaller groups, for example with Joe Haider and Kurt Bong. From the beginning he was also one of the soloists of the Kenny Clarke / Francy Boland Big Band. With Les McCann and Eddie Harris at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1969, he took part. In 1972 he replaced the orchestra Kurt Edelhagen Shake Keane, 1972-1978 he was a member of The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band.

An attempt in 1980 to work in the U.S. again failed. From 1983, he lived again in Europe and worked for various radio orchestras, but also with his own groups and with Phil Woods, Sarah Vaughan and Klaus Weiss, also with the Paris Reunion Band. Most recently, he lived as a freelance musician in Amsterdam.

Bailey also participated in recordings of Eric Dolphy, Phil Woods, Stan Getz, Count Basie, Peter Herbolzheimer, Miles Davis, Benny Golson, Jon Eardley, Phineas Newborn and Roman Schwaller among others.

Appreciation

Benny Bailey's career reflects the history of jazz resist: Quincy Jones remarked: " (...). Fantastic breath control, remarkable tonal range, most perfect technique that I know of on the trumpet " His multiform phrasing and the rapid change of register, European trumpet players like Bertil Löfgren strongly influenced.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Big Brass ( Candid, 1960) with Julius Watkins, Phil Woods, Les Spann, Tommy Flanagan, Buddy Catlett, Art Taylor
• Swiss Movement ( Rhino, 1969) with Eddie Harris, Les McCann
• Grand Slam ( Storyville, 1978) with Charlie Rouse, Richard Wyands, Sam Jones, Billy Hart
• Live at grave Hall, St. Gallen ( TCB, 1989) with Peter Eigenmann, Carlo Schöb, Reggie Johnson, Peter Schmidlin
• While My Lady Sleeps (Gemini, 1990) with Harald Gundhus, Emil Viklický,
• No Refill (TCB, 1992) with Carlo Schöb, Peter Eigenmann, Jesper Lundgaard