Rufus Harley

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

Life and work

Harley grew up in Philadelphia. He learned in high school and played tenor saxophone - influenced by Sonny Stitt, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins - in local clubs with Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1963 he saw and heard in the television broadcast of the funeral of John F. Kennedy an African American Pipe Band, the Scottish Black Watch. As a result, he came up with the idea to learn the instrument, and to jazz. In 1965 he received from Atlantic producer Joel Dorn a contract and played on the same year the first album Bagpipe Blues. The criticism expressed profusely; Sonny Stitt and Herbie Mann were wowed by the sound of the bagpipes and booked Harley for their own albums. He also appeared in the feature film You're a Big Boy Now by Francis Ford Coppola. Until 1970 he released three more albums with Atlantic; another LP Re-Creation of the Gods appeared in 1972. too, he gave the boxer Muhammad Ali instruction on the bagpipes, who came Harleys view from Africa. In November 1974, he joined forces with Sonny Rollins at the Berlin Jazz Festival on - there they were booed (not fare much better, according to them, the Guardian at the joint appearance at Ronnie Scott 's Jazz Club ). He worked in the next decades as a social worker, but did not give the public appearances. He can also be heard on Laurie Anderson's album Big Science ( 1982). Also in the 1990s, he performed on, 1993 played a solo concert at the Lincoln Center and worked with the hip -hop band The Roots ( Do You Want More? !? !, 1995). He also appeared occasionally in American TV shows.

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

Disco Graphical 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 )