Buddy Collette

Buddy Collette ( born William Marcel Collette, born August 6, 1921 in Los Angeles, California, † September 19, 2010 ) was an American jazz musician (tenor saxophone, flute and clarinet), the major influence on the West Coast had jazz musicians and teachers was important.

Life and career

At the age of 12 years, Collette started on the alto saxophone and directed his first jazz band, to which Britt Woodman on trombone and Charles Mingus were on bass. At 17 he became a professional musician. After military service as a bandleader in the U.S. Navy, he worked with the Stars of Swing ( which included Woodman, Mingus and Lucky Thompson). With the saxophonist Dexter Gordon, Charles Mingus and Chico Hamilton, he played bebop in Los Angeles. He was one of the first flute players of modern jazz. In the early 1950s he worked as a studio musician and was the first African-American musicians who appeared on television ( in the program of Groucho Marx You Bet Your Life).

In 1955 he was a founding member of the legendary quintet of Chico Hamilton with guitarist Jim Hall and cellist Fred Katz. In 1956 he recorded his first album as a leader on (Man of Many Parts). His collaboration with saxophonist Dexter Gordon, drummer Chico Hamilton and his longtime friend Charles Mingus explained his position within the jazz scene in Los Angeles, as well as his early advocacy of a union of the separated first by skin color local musicians union.

In contrast to other influential musicians of the West Coast jazz Collette remained in California where he worked in the studios and in addition every weekend playing with his quintet and recorded, but other woodwinds trained. His students include Eric Dolphy, Charles Lloyd, Frank Morgan, Sonny Criss and James Newton. Only occasionally he undertook tours of Europe.

1996 commissioned him to the Library of Congress with the composition and performance of a big band concert. Since suffering a stroke in 1998, he could no longer occur as a musician, but remained in Los Angeles as a jazz teacher active ( among other children's programs ). Collette was also very active in the civil rights movement.

Autobiographical Book Release

• Buddy Collette, Steven Louis Isoardi: Jazz Generations: A Life in American Music and Society. New York, London: Continuum 2000; ISBN 978-0826447210