American post-bop jazz musician
Musical artist
Roland Alexander (September 25, 1935 – June 14, 2006)[ 1] post-bop jazz musician.
Early life
Born in Boston , Alexander grew up with his parents and sister, Gloria, in Cambridge, Massachusetts . He earned a bachelor's degree in music composition from the Boston Conservatory in 1958.[ 2]
Career
Alexander played tenor saxophone , soprano saxophone , and piano. He was a prolific composer and arranger who wrote and played for many of the better known bands in Boston during the 1950s, i.e. Sabby Lewis , Preston 'Sandy' Sandiford , Richie Lowery , Jaki Byard and many more. He co-led a group called the Boston All Stars that featured Trumpeter Joe Gordon , and after Joe Gordon left to play with Dizzy Gillespie 's band Joe was replaced by a few of the more innovative trumpet soloists in the area, like Wajid Lateef (Crazy Wilbur Lucaw), and Gordon Wooly . He then moved to New York City in 1958. In addition to two solo releases, he played and recorded with John Coltrane , Howard McGhee , Max Roach , Sonny Rollins , Roy Haynes , Philly Joe Jones , Blue Mitchell , Sam Rivers , Archie Shepp , and Mal Waldron .
Discography
As leader
As sideman
With Paul Chambers
With Eddie Gale
With Abdullah Ibrahim
African Space Program (Enja , 1973)With Howard McGhee
With Charlie Persip
Charles Persip and the Jazz Statesmen (Bethlehem, 1960)With Max Roach
With James Spaulding
References
^ Kennedy, Gary (2002). "Alexander, Roland (E.)". In Barry Kernfeld (ed.). The new Grove dictionary of jazz, vol. 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p. 29. ISBN 1561592846 ^ "Roland Alexander Albums" . Blue Sounds . Retrieved 2022-06-26 .
External links
International National Artists Other
