Well Known Jazz Musicians Playing on R&B Hits

[JSngry]

Hello, Ed Blackwell.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Hello Jim Sangrey

Hey, did you ever play on any R&B records, Jim?

MG

[Dan Gould]

I guess this one belongs in a category all it's own:

.

Not really R&B, and filled to the brim with jazz guys. Me likey though.

[JSngry]

Hello Jim Sangrey

Hey, did you ever play on any R&B records, Jim?

MG

Records? Just demos.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I guess this one belongs in a category all it's own:

.

Not really R&B, and filled to the brim with jazz guys. Me likey though.

Yes - I used to have that, but sold it when I was broke. Never seen it again. Looks like it was reissued, because the sleeve's different.

MG

Hello Jim Sangrey

Hey, did you ever play on any R&B records, Jim?

MG

Records? Just demos.

With whom?

MG

[JSngry]

Mostly local aspiring bands who just needed something to preset to bookers as a "representative sample". A few people you might have heard of would include Gregg Smith, Charlie Roberson, and more likely, Little Joe Blue.

Nothing ever released as far as I know.

[johnblitweiler]

A Big Bill Broonzy session from the late 1930s included a bassist identified as something like "probably Wilbur Ware" or "Wilbur Ware (?)" - even though Wilbur would have been only 14 or 15 at the time, he was precocious, so we shouldn't be surprised.

Surely a lot of jazz musicians still play on R&B stage shows.

Ike Rodgers isn't thought of as a jazz musician, but his soulful trombone playing on some records by obscure blues singers of 80+ years ago is what (for me) makes those records valuable.

Completely off the subject: Charles Brown once told me he was raised to play classical piano, didn't play blues at all until adulthood.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Completely off the subject: Charles Brown once told me he was raised to play classical piano, didn't play blues at all until adulthood.

He plays nice jazz on his 2 albums with Houston Person.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Roberta's 'Killing me softly' - personnel:

Roberta Flack – piano, vocals
Eric Gale – guitar
Ron Carter – bass

Grady Tate – drums
Ralph MacDonald – congas, percussion, tambourine

MG

[sgcim]

Kenny Burrell (as mentioned before) did a lot of R&B session work.

I played a recording session with a jazz pianist who did a lot of Motown session work named Al Jabaz Williams.

Rudy Williams (Mingus' cousin) was on Tenor sax.