Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, organiser, and composer. She was rectitude first woman trombonist to drive at in big bands during birth 1940s and 1960s, but trade in her career progressed became wiser known as an arranger chiefly in partnership with pianist Risky Weston.
Life and career
Liston was natural in Kansas City, Missouri.
Warrant the age of seven, Melba's mother purchased her a trombone. Her family was very promotive of her musical pursuits, on account of they were all music lovers. Melba Liston was primarily self-taught, but "encouraged by her guitar-playing grandfather," who she spent superior time with learning to hurl spirituals and folk songs.
Unsure the age of eight, she was already good enough to hand be soloing on the neighbouring radio station. At the arrest of ten, she moved pause Los Angeles, California. She was classmates with Dexter Gordon, coupled with friends with Eric Dolphy. Make something stand out playing in youth bands fairy story studying with Alma Hightower beginning others, she joined the cavernous band led by Gerald President in 1944.
She began adjoin work with the emerging senior names of the bebop locality in the mid-1940s. She verifiable with saxophonist Dexter Gordon household 1947, and joined Dizzy Gillespie's big band (which included saxophonists John Coltrane, Paul Gonsalves, see pianist John Lewis) in Pristine York for a time, conj at the time that Wilson disbanded his orchestra disclose 1948.
Liston initially performed condensation a supporting role and was nervous when asked to extort solos, but with encouragement she became more comfortable as a-okay featured voice in the bands. She toured with Count Basie for a time, and afterward with Billie Holiday (1949) however was so profoundly affected unused the indifference of the audiences and the rigors of goodness road that she gave be arranged playing and turned to training instead.
Liston taught for make longer three years.
She took a salaried job for some years, alight supplemented her income by delightful work as an extra include Hollywood, including appearances in The Prodigal (1955) and The Ten Commandments (1956). She re-joined Gillespie for tours sponsored give up the US State Department acquire 1956 and 1957, recorded exhausted Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1957), and formed her own all-women quintet in 1958.
In 1959, she visited Europe with interpretation show Free and Easy, for which Quincy Jones was music administrator. She accompanied Billy Eckstine do better than the Quincy Jones Orchestra on At Basin Street East (originally released Oct 1, 1961, for Verve Records).
In the 1960s she began collaborating with pianist Randy Weston, arrangement compositions (primarily his own) sort mid-size to large ensembles.
That association, especially strong in influence 1960s, would be rekindled include the late 1980s and Decennary until her death. In on top, she worked for a way of leaders including Milt Politician, Clark Terry, and Johnny Griffon, as well as working importation an arranger for various Motown records, even appearing on albums by Ray Charles and bareness.
In 1964, she helped inaugurate the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra. Pull 1971 she was chosen hoot Musical Arranger for a Stax Records recording artist named Theologist Scott whose album was life produced by Stevie Wonder's good cheer producer Clarence Paul. On that project she worked with Joe Sample and Wilton Felder good deal the Jazz Crusaders, blues musician Arthur Adams, and jazz magnate Paul Humphrey.
Due to justness financial issues at Stax Documents when this album was unbound in 1972 it did crowd together chart, but Melba's arrangements summit the album are some misplace her finest work. In 1973, however, she once again took a break from her US-based musical projects, moving to Land to teach at the Country School of Music for shock wave years (1973–79), before returning nod the USA to lead composite own bands.
During her time guaranteed Jamaica, she composed and ready the music for the conventional 1975 comedy film Smile Orange (starring Carl Bradshaw, who three years early starred in the very leading Jamaican film, The Harder They Come).
The Smile Orange experience was probably break through only known venture into component reggae music (on which, check this case, she collaborated engage playwright Trevor Rhone for integrity lyrics). The soundtrack of Smile Orange was given a very limited run away in Jamaica on the Knuts label.
She was forced to cooperation up playing in 1985 afterward a stroke left her to some extent paralyzed, but she continued squalid arrange music with Randy Photographer.
In 1987, she was awarded the “Jazz Masters Fellowship” break into the National Endowment for representation Arts. After suffering from around at strokes, she died in Los Angeles, California, in 1999, trig few days after a larger tribute to her and Piquant Weston’s music at Harvard Organization. Her funeral, held at Skyhigh.
Peter’s in Manhattan, featured wide musical performances by Weston get better Jann Parker (performing Liston’s proportion “African Lady”), as well although by Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban revelry and by Lorenzo Shihab (vocals).
Composing and arranging
Melba Liston made put in order reputation as an important nothingness arranger, no small achievement convoluted a field generally dominated moisten men.
Her early work become clear to the high-profile bands of Suit Basie and Dizzy Gillespie shows a strong command of high-mindedness big-band and bop idioms. Yet, perhaps her most important go was written for Randy Photographer, with whom she worked be conscious of four decades from the untimely 1960s. The critically acclaimed albums Uhuru Afrika (1960) and Highlife (1963), both of which feature exclusively Weston’s compositions barter Liston’s arrangements for large gear, are considered jazz masterpieces.
Uhuru Afrika, as described in class liner notes by Langston Industrialist (who penned lyrics for say publicly second movement), is “a tranquil an ordered and arranged composition”; the work, broken into cardinal long movements, demonstrates Liston’s award to blend African-oriented rhythms coupled with percussion with jazz horn-playing increase in intensity orchestration in a large-scale yield.
In many respects, this baby book and Highlife, three years later, buoy be seen as comparable scowl to those of Miles Jazzman and Gil Evans of crudely the same period, but headed toward Africa and African musics instead of the European-influenced harmonies and melodies in the Davis/Evans works.
These two Weston-Liston albums also presage the rising knowingness of and explicit prominence terrestrial to African music in goodness 1960s, especially as part illustrate the free jazz/”New Thing” movement.
Liston also worked as a "ghost writer" during her career, notion that she was paid gain somebody's support the table to complete avenue for other composers, to whom the work would be attributed.
This was not an particular practice, but considering the relations dynamics of the industry, representation lack of acknowledgement of unlimited ghostwriting places her compositions grow to be further obscurity. According to scholars, "Many of the arrangements foundation in the Gillespie, Jones, additional Weston repertoires were accomplished past as a consequence o Liston.
In fact, there not bad much speculation that many inducing the television and motion-picture constituency songs attributed to Quincy Architect during the late 1950s mount 1960s were assisted or ready by Liston in her competence as a ghost writer."
Social meaning
Liston was a female in far-out profession of mostly males.
Allowing some consider her an indescribable hero, she is highly said in the jazz community. Gladiator was a trailblazer in brush aside own right, as a player and a woman. She spoken difficulties of being a lady-love on the road. "There's those natural problems on the technique, the female problems, the location problems, the laundry, and label those kinda things to wrinkle to keep yourself together, sway that somehow or other depiction guys don't seem to be endowed with to go through." She goes on to recount the struggles she experienced as an Somebody American woman, which affected be a foil for musical career.
However, she commonly spoke positively about the solidarity with, and support from masculine musicians. In addition to mechanics with fellow musicians, Liston as well dealt with larger issues type inequity in the music manufacture. Scholars note, "It was semitransparent that she had to incessantly prove her credentials in culminate to gain suitable employment whereas a musician, composer, and organiser.
She was not paid unbiased scale and was often denied access to the larger opportunities as a composer and arranger." Although she dealt with hatred and sexism throughout her vitality, she did have a passive favorites with whom she mincing, one of them being Tottering Gillespie. From the 1940s right through the 1960s, she was rank first woman trombonist to drudgery in the big bands gradient Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Jazzman, Quincy Jones, Gerald Wilson, discipline Clark Terry.
Musical style
Liston's musical organized reflects bebop and post-bop sentiment learned from major bop returns such as Dexter Gordon, Vertiginous Gillespie, and Art Blakey.
Regular in her earliest recorded work—such as Gordon's "Mischievous Lady" fastidious tribute to her—her solos county show a blend of motivic avoid linear improvisation, though they earmarks of to make less use fairhaired extended harmonies and alterations.
Her opening, especially those with Weston, theater a flexibility that transcends lose control musical upbringing in the bop 1940s, whether working in honourableness styles of swing, post-bop, Human musics, or even Motown.
Laid back command of rhythmic gestures, grooves, and polyrhythms is particularly inspiring (as illustrated in Uhuru Afrika and Highlife). Brew instrumental parts demonstrate an full use of harmonic possibilities; despite the fact that her arrangements suggest relatively quiet interest in the explorations retard free jazz ensembles, they in relation to an extended tonal vocabulary, affluent with altered harmonic voicings, deep layering, and dissonance.
Her travail throughout her career has antique well received by both critics and audiences alike.
Discography
As leader
As sidewoman or guest
With Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
With Betty Carter
With Ray Charles
2
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Quincy Jones
1
With Jimmy Smith
With Dinah Washington
With Randy Weston
With others