Bill Hardman

born on 6/4/1933 in Cleveland, OH, United States

died on 5/12/1990 in Paris, Île-de-France, France

Bill Hardman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

William Franklin Hardman, Jr. (April 6, 1933, Cleveland, Ohio – December 5, 1990, Paris, France) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop.

Biography

While in high school in Cleveland he appeared with Tadd Dameron, and after graduating he joined Tiny Bradshaw's band. He appeared and recorded with some of the foremost jazz musicians: his first recording was with Jackie McLean in 1955; he later played with Charles Mingus, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver, and Lou Donaldson, and led a group with Junior Cook. He also recorded as a leader: Saying Something on the Savoy label received outstanding critical acclaim in jazz circles, although little known to the general public. A most underrated musician boasting three separate tours of duty in as many decades with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers Hardman's bad luck was to not be with the Messengers at the time of their popular Blue Note recordings. A crackling hard bop player with blazing technique, crisp articulations, and a no-frills sound, Hardman later incorporated into his sound the fuller, more extroverted romantic passion of a Clifford Brown - a direction he would take increasingly throughout the late-1960s and 1970s. When put to the test, few could match and none exceed his pyrotechnical or imaginative gifts - Blakey would occasionally feature him playing several extended choruses unaccompanied. In the New York jazz scene of the 1970s, it was not uncommon to find him at all-star trumpet sessions on which he would go head to head with heralded trumpet stars and emerge the clear and decisive winner. He figures by and large among the top ranks of hardbop titans of the time, although he never managed a commercial break through like many of his colleagues such as Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan.

Discography

As leader

  • 1961 - Saying Something (Savoy Records)
  • 1975 - Colors (Strata-East Records, with Brass Company)[1]
  • 1978 - Home (Muse Records)
  • 1989 - Focus (Muse)
  • 1981 - Politely (Muse)
  • 1989 - What's Up (Steeplechase) with Robin Eubanks, Junior Cook, Mickey Tucker

As sideman

With Dave Bailey

  • Two Feet in the Gutter (Epic Records)

With Art Blakey

  • Hard Bop (Columbia, 1956)
  • Originally (Columbia, 1956 [1982])
  • Drum Suite (Columbia, 1957)
  • Selections from Lerner and Loewe's... (Vik, 1957)
  • Tough! (Cadet, 1957 [1966])
  • A Night in Tunisia (Vik, 1957)
  • Cu-Bop (Jubilee, 1957)
  • Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk (Atlantic, 1957)
  • Hard Drive (Bethlehem, 1957)
  • Art Blakey Big Band (Bethlehem, 1957)
  • Jazz Messengers '70 (Catalyst, 1970)
  • Backgammon (Roulette, 1976)

With Lou Donaldson

  • Sunny Side Up (Blue Note, 1960)
  • Possum Head (Argo, 1964)
  • Musty Rusty (Cadet, 1965)
  • Fried Buzzard (Cadet, 1965)

With Curtis Fuller

  • Crankin' (Mainstream, 1971)
  • Smokin' (Mainstream, 1972)

With Benny Golson

  • Pop + Jazz = Swing (Audio Fidelity, 1961) - also released as Just Jazz!

With Eddie Jefferson

  • Come Along with Me (OJC, 1969)

With Jackie McLean

  • Jackie's Pal (Prestige, 1956)
  • McLean's Scene (New Jazz, 1956)
  • Jackie McLean & Co. (Prestige, 1957)

With Charles Mingus

  • A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry (Bethlehem, 1957)

With Steve Turre

  • Viewpoints and Vibrations (Stash, 1987)

With Mal Waldron

References

  1. [Bill Hardman at All Music Guide Allmusic]
This page was last modified 30.11.2013 14:48:38

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