George Wallington
Encyclopedia
George Wallington was a highly regarded American bop
pianist
and composer
.
From 1943 to 1953 he played with Dizzy Gillespie
, Joe Marsala
, Charlie Parker
, Serge Chaloff
, Allan Eager, Kai Winding
, Terry Gibbs
, Brew Moore
, Al Cohn
, Gerry Mulligan
, Zoot Sims
, Red Rodney
, and Lionel Hampton
, and recorded as a leader for Savoy
and Blue Note
(1950). From 1954 to 1960 he led groups in New York that included newcomers Donald Byrd
, Jackie McLean
, and Phil Woods
, recording as leader with these musicians for the Prestige
and Atlantic
labels. In 1960 he retired to work in the family business, returning to music in 1984 and recording three albums. His style is often compared to the legendary Earl "Bud" Powell.
His best known compositions are the bop standard
s "Lemon Drop" and "Godchild".
He can be heard playing Lady Fair on the Verve
release Metronome All-Stars 1956.
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
From 1943 to 1953 he played with Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Joe Marsala
Joe Marsala
Joe Marsala was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist and songwriter, born and based in Chicago. He was active during the big band era. Marsala is notable as one of the early employers of drummer Buddy Rich. Among his other musicians included pianist Joe Bushkin and guitarist Jack Lemaire, Carmen...
, Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff
Serge Chaloff was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.The son of noted Boston piano teachers, Margaret and Julius Chaloff, he was among the few major jazz performers on his instrument. Until Chaloff the only prominent baritone player in jazz was Harry Carney of the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
, Allan Eager, Kai Winding
Kai Winding
Kai Chresten Winding was a popular Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is well known for a successful collaboration with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson.-Biography:...
, Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.He has performed and/or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Louie Bellson, Charlie Shavers, Mel Tormé, Buddy DeFranco, and others...
, Brew Moore
Brew Moore
Milton Aubrey Moore , born in Indianola, Mississippi, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.- Early life :...
, Al Cohn
Al Cohn
Al Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...
, Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
, Zoot Sims
Zoot Sims
John Haley "Zoot" Sims was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor and soprano.-Biography:He was born in Inglewood, California, the son of vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. Growing up in a performing family, Sims learned to play both drums and clarinet at an early age...
, Red Rodney
Red Rodney
Robert Roland Chudnick , who performed by the stage name Red Rodney, was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
, and Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
, and recorded as a leader for Savoy
Savoy Records
Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
and Blue Note
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
(1950). From 1954 to 1960 he led groups in New York that included newcomers Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
, and Phil Woods
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...
, recording as leader with these musicians for the Prestige
Prestige Records
Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
and Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
labels. In 1960 he retired to work in the family business, returning to music in 1984 and recording three albums. His style is often compared to the legendary Earl "Bud" Powell.
His best known compositions are the bop standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
s "Lemon Drop" and "Godchild".
He can be heard playing Lady Fair on the Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
release Metronome All-Stars 1956.
As leader
- The George Wallington Trio (Savoy, 1949–51) with Kai WindingKai WindingKai Chresten Winding was a popular Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is well known for a successful collaboration with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson.-Biography:...
, Gerry Mulligan, Max RoachMax RoachMaxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history... - The George Wallingon Trios (OJC, 192-53) with Charles MingusCharles MingusCharles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach, Curly Russell - Trios (RCA Vogue, 1954) with Pierre MichelotPierre MichelotPierre Michelot was a French bebop and hard bop double bass player.Born in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris, Michelot studied piano from 1936 until 1938, but switched to playing bass at the age of sixteen...
- Live At The Café Bohemia (OJC, 1955) with Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean
- Jazz For The Carriage Trade (OJC, 1956) with Phil Woods
- The New York Scene (OJC, 1957)
- Jazz At Hotchkiss (Savoy, 1957) with Donald Byrd, Phil Woods
- The Prestidigitator (East-West RecordsEast-West RecordsEast-West Records was a jazz record label which released 4 albums featuring a combination of American and Swedish jazz musicians..Lars Gullin's Swings was reissued in 1999 on Collectables Records, paired with his 1956 album Baritone...
, 1958) with J. R. MonteroseJ. R. MonteroseJ. R. Monterose , born Frank Anthony Peter Vincent Monterose, Jr. in Detroit, Michigan,was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.- Early life :... - The Pleasure Of A Jazz Inspiration (VSOP, 1985) piano solo
- The Workshop of the George Wallington Trio (Clef MG N-24) with Arthur Taylor and Curly Russell
As sideman
- Serge ChaloffSerge ChaloffSerge Chaloff was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.The son of noted Boston piano teachers, Margaret and Julius Chaloff, he was among the few major jazz performers on his instrument. Until Chaloff the only prominent baritone player in jazz was Harry Carney of the Duke Ellington Orchestra...
: We the People Bop (Cool & Blue, 1946–49) - Al Cohn: Cohn's Tones (Savoy, 1950, 1954)
- Stan Getz: Early Getz (OJC, 1949–53)
- Gerry Mulligan: Mulligan Plays Mulligan (OJC, 1951)
- Annie RossAnnie RossAnnie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
: Annie Ross Sings (OJC, 1952) - Lionel Hampton: Oh! Rock (Natasha, 1953)
- Bobby JasparBobby JasparBobby Jaspar was a cool jazz and hard bop saxophonist, flautist and composer born in Liège, Belgium. He was married to the jazz singer Blossom Dearie....
: Bobby Jaspar with George Walligton, Idrees SuliemanIdrees SuliemanIdrees Sulieman was a bop and hard bop trumpeter. He studied at Boston Conservatory, and gained early experience playing with the Carolina Cotton Pickers and the wartime Earl Hines Orchestra...
(OJC, 1957)
External links
- [ allmusic]
- MusicWeb Encyclopaedia of Popular Music