Nat Adderley, Cornet, 1931, Tampa, FL
Nat, brother of Cannonball Adderley, took up the trumpet in the mid '40s, while a teenager . He began his career playing with bands in Florida. Between 1951 and 1953 he played in army bands and around this time he also switched to the cornet. In the mid '50s Nat played with Lionel Hampton's band for two years and then went with with his brother's influential small band. During the late '50s he worked with J.J.Johnson and Woody Herman because Cannonball was with Miles Davis at that time. He later worked with various groups and toured extensively. He also recorded with his own quintet and led seminars at Harvard. Eventually Nat emerged from the shadow of his more famous brother and began to develop a successful lyrical style of his own. He was also an accomplished composer with such numbers as "Work Song", and "Jive Samba" to his credit. With his brother, he also composed a musical about John Henry entitled "Shout Up A Morning" that was performed on Broadway in 1986. Nat Adderley died in 2002.
Dick Wellstood, Piano, 1927, Greenwich, CN
It was during the mid '40s that Dick learned to play boogie-woogie and stride piano. By 1950 he was already working with Bob Wilber and Sidney Bechet with whom he recorded during the late '40s. From 1953, while studying law, he performed intermittently with Roy Eldridge, and Conrad Janis's Tailgate Five. Dick, being a brilliant scholar, fluent in Latin, soon passed his bar exams. He did not practice law until the mid '80s. During the 1960s and 1970s he performed with the top musicians in jazz, and also concentrated on developing a career as a piano soloist. His main strength was stride and ragtime piano, but his command of harmony allowed him to perform in many styles. Dick Wellstood died in 1987.
Paul Desmond, Alto Saxophone, 1924, San Francisco, CA
Paul started his music studies on the clarinet while in high school and continued on the instrument at San Francisco State University where he eventually switched to the alto sax. Paul was one of the many saxophonists to come out of the Lester Young school, and was also influenced by Benny Carter. After finishing school he worked with various bands on the West Coast, and in 1951 began a sixteen year gig with Dave Brubeck. He shared in the group's success but never received the recognition he deserved. Paul and Lee Konitz represented the "cool" school of alto players during this period. Paul's composition, "Take Five", has maintained popularity over many years, becoming familiar with non-jazz lovers as well as the purests. His tone had a luminous quality, consistant over the instrument's whole range. In the early '60s Paul teamed up with Gerry Mulligan and Jim Hall, recording work that did him more justice than his numerous recordings with Brubeck. While with Mulligan he toured Europe and Japan as well as the U.S. Paul Desmond died in 1977.
Etta Jones, Singer, 1928, Aiken, SC
Etta was born in South Carolina, but she grew up in New York where she began her singing career with a rhythm-and-blues group when she was sixteen years old. It was the critic (and musician) Leonard Feather who was responsible for Etta getting her first record contract. Her first recording was with Barney Bigard's orchestra in which Feather was the pianist. During the '40s and '50s Etta worked with Pete Johnson, J.C. Heard, and Earl Hines. In 1960 she recorded "Don't Go With Strangers" which won her a Gold Record and led to additional recordings with Prestige Records. She also worked with Art Blakey, and in 1970 toured Japan with his group. From around 1975 Etta performed with Houston Person and numerous other leaders.
Willie (The Lion) Smith, Piano, 1897, Goshen, NY
Willie grew up in Newark, N.J. where his mother played the organ in their church and also sparked his interest in music. He started playing the piano when he was around seven years old, and by the time he was in his teens he was a professional musician. He was mainly self-taught, having had very little formal training. Within a few years Willie became very prominent as a stride or Harlem ragtime pianist. While in the service during the first world war, he was given the nickname "The Lion" for his heroism on the front. Around 1919 he became one of the most popular pianists in New York. Smith was generally unknown to the general public until the mid '30s when Decca began releasing many of his recordings as a soloist. At the end of the '30s Commodore Records also issued his recordings that best illustrate his maturity as a stride pianist comparable with James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. During the 1940s Willie's music became very popular because the big-bands of Artie Shaw and Tommy Dorsey were recording tunes he had written. During the '50s and '60s he toured Europe and performed in numerous jazz festivals throughout the world. As an entertainer he was known for his big cigar and flamboyant behavior, and as a jazz musician he will always be remembered for his blending of ragtime with passages of intense swing. Willie Smith died in 1973.
