Wilbur Little
Wilbur Little ( born March 5, 1928 in Parmele, North Carolina, † May 4, 1987 in Amsterdam) was an American jazz bassist.
Wilbur Little was originally a pianist, but switched after his military service to the double bass. In 1949 he moved to Washington, DC, where he played among others with Sir Charles Thompson and his own trio headed, with whom he escorted gas animal musicians such as Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham or John Coltrane. From 1955 to 1958 he was a member of the trio of JJ Johnson, played next in the trio of pianist Tommy Flanagan. As a freelance musician, he also worked with Sonny Stitt, Shirley Horn, Nina Simone and Roland Kirk; Little also worked on recordings by Bobby Jaspar with George Wallington and Idrees Sulieman (1958 ) and Randy Weston ( Live at the Five Spot, 1959) with.
From 1967 to 1970 he played in the band of Elvin Jones with Hannibal Marvin Peterson and George Coleman, with whom he also appeared in New York's Village Vanguard. In 1975 he was one of the trio of Lee Konitz with Dick Katz ( Oleo ). In 1977 he moved to the Netherlands, where he worked for the rest of his life. He was, inter alia, with Charles Tolliver, Barry Harris and Archie Shepp on European tours. Little worked throughout his career in Europe, to recordings of Buck Hill, Duke Jordan, Mel Lewis, Horace Parlan ( Blue Parlan, 1978), Archie Shepp and Clark Terry.
Little was influenced, according to Leonard Feather by Ray Brown.
Swell
- Bielefeld catalog 1988 & 2002
- Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, 8th Edition, London, Penguin, 2006 ISBN 0-141-02327-9