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Houston Person

 
Artist: Houston Person
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Similar Artists:

David "Fathead" Newman, Lou Donaldson, Stanley Turrentine, Red Holloway, James Clay, Rusty Bryant, Buster Cooper, Sil Austin, Arnett Cobb

Influenced By:

Illinois Jacquet, Sonny Stitt, Hank Mobley, Harold Land, Gene Ammons

Followers:

The Sugarman 3

Performed Songs By:

James Van Heusen, Horace Ott, Sammy Cahn, Sonny Phillips, Buddy Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Ron Carter, Ran Blake

Worked With:

Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Idris Muhammad, Rudy Van Gelder, Ralph Dorsey, Melvin Sparks, Stan Hope, Jimmy Ponder, Etta Jones

Formal Connection With:

Eddie Allen
  • Born: November 10, 1934, Florence, SC
  • Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
  • Genres: Jazz
  • Instrument: Sax (Tenor)
  • Representative Albums: "The Art & Soul of Houston Person," "The Talk of the Town," "Legends of Acid Jazz"
  • Representative Songs: "My Romance," "Never Let Me Go," "Goodness"

Biography

In the 1990s, Houston Person kept the soulful thick-toned tenor tradition of Gene Ammons alive, particularly in his work with organists. After learning piano as a youth, Person switched to tenor. While stationed in Germany with the Army, he played in groups that also included Eddie Harris, Lanny Morgan, Leo Wright, and Cedar Walton. Person picked up valuable experience as a member of Johnny Hammond's group (1963-1966) and has been a bandleader ever since, often working with singer Etta Jones. A duo recording with Ran Blake was a nice change of pace, but most of Houston Person's playing has been done in blues-oriented organ groups. He has recorded a consistently excellent series of albums for Muse, eventually switching to HighNote Records for 2006's You Taught My Heart to Sing, 2007's Thinking of You, and 2008's Just Between Friends, which featured bassist Ron Carter. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Houston Person
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Houston Person gracing the stage at the Cellar in 2006.
Houston Person performing with his combo at the Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival in 2009.

Houston Person (born November 10, 1934) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. Person is also known for his distinctive sassy sound and his expressive style of playing. He received the Eubie Blake Jazz Award in 1982.

Contents

Biography

Person grew up in Florence, South Carolina, and first played piano before switching to tenor sax.[1] He studied at South Carolina State College (where he was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1999).

In the United States Air Force, he joined a service band stationed in West Germany, and played with Don Ellis, Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton, and Leo Wright. He later continued his studies at Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut.

He first became known for a series of albums for Prestige Records in the 1960s. Contrary to popular belief, he was never married to the vocalist Etta Jones, but did spend many years as her musical partner, recording, performing and touring, and for much of his career this association was what he was best known for. They first met playing in organist Johnny Hammond's band.

There are more than 75 albums recorded by Houston Person as a leader, on Prestige, Westbound, Mercury, Savoy, and Muse Records, and he is currently with HighNote Records. He has recorded with Charles Brown, Bill Charlap, Charles Earland, Lena Horne, Etta Jones, Lou Rawls, Horace Silver, Dakota Staton, Billy Butler, Richard "Groove" Holmes[2] and others.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

  • Goodness! (1969) Prestige
  • The Truth (1970) Prestige
  • The Big Horn (1976) Muse
  • Very Personal (1980) Muse
  • The Party (1989) Muse
  • Why Not! (1990) Muse
  • The Art and Soul of Houston Person (2008) HighNote

As guest or sideman

References

  1. ^ Biography at allmusic
  2. ^ Henderson, Alex & Leggett, Steve at allmusic

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Houston Person".  Read more

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