Maurice James Simon is a jazz saxophonist.

A high school classmate of Eric Dolphy

Eric Dolphy

Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...

 (1945-6) Simon appears on an early 1945 Los Angeles recording in a band led by Russell "Illinois" Jacquet

Illinois Jacquet

Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....

 and which also included Teddy Edwards

Teddy Edwards

Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an American jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US. Some consider him to be one of the most influential jazz saxophonists.-Biography:...

, Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles 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...

, Bill Davis

Wild Bill Davis

Wild Bill Davis was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis.Davis was born in Glasgow, Missouri...

 and Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...

.

In 1948, again with Jacquet as leader, Simon was in an all-star band recording in Detroit, which included Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...

, Leo Parker

Leo Parker

Leo Parker was an American jazz baritone saxophonist.Parker studied alto saxophone in high school, and played this instrument on a recording with Coleman Hawkins in 1944. He switched to baritone saxophone later that year when he joined Billy Eckstine's bebop band, playing there until 1946...

, Sir Charles Thompson, Al Lucas

Al Lucas (musician)

Al Lucas was a Canadian jazz double-bassist.Lucas's mother was a concert pianist, and he took lessons from her as a child, eventually switching to bass and tuba at age 12. After moving to New York City, Lucas played with Kaiser Marshall, then joined the Royal Sunset Orchestra, where he played from...

 and Shadow Wilson

Shadow Wilson

Rossiere "Shadow" Wilson was an American jazz drummer.Much of Wilson's early work was with swing jazz orchestras. He played with Lucky Millinder in 1939, and following this with Benny Carter, Tiny Bradshaw, Lionel Hampton, Earl Hines, Count Basie, and Woody Herman...

He went on to join the Gerald Wilson

Gerald Wilson

Gerald Stanley Wilson is an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer/arranger, 8 time Grammy nominee, and educator. He has been based in Los Angeles since the early 1940s....

 Orchestra which also included Snooky Young

Snooky Young

Eugene Edward "Snooky" Young was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known for his mastery of the plunger mute, with which he was able to create a wide range of sounds.-Biography:...

, Red Kelly

Red Kelly

Leonard Patrick "Red" Kelly, CM is a retired Canadian ice hockey player in the NHL. He played on more Stanley Cup winning teams than any player who never played for the Montreal Canadiens, and is the only player to be part of two of the nine dynasties recognized by the NHL in its history...

 and Melba Liston

Melba Liston

Melba Doretta Liston was an American jazz musician . Her collaborations with pianist/composer Randy Weston, beginning in the early 1960s, are widely acknowledged as jazz classics.-Life and career:Liston was born in Kansas City, Missouri...

.

In 1950 he recorded for Savoy Records

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...

 backing Helen Humes

Helen Humes

Helen Humes was an American jazz and blues singer.Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.-Career:...

 in a big band with Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...

, Ernie Freeman

Ernie Freeman

Ernie Freeman was an American pianist, organist and arranger.In 1935 he began playing in local Cleveland area nightclubs, and also formed a classical music trio for local social functions with his father and his sister Evelyn...

, Red Callender

Red Callender

Red Callender, , was a jazz bass and tuba player, famous for turning down a chance to work with Duke Ellington's Orchestra and the Louis Armstrong All-Stars....

 and J.C. Heard.

In the 1970s he was a member of the Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

 orchestra.

He also played with Fats Domino

Fats Domino

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....

, Papa John Creach

Papa John Creach

Papa John Creach played for Jefferson Airplane , Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation, the San Francisco All-Stars , The Dinosaurs , and Steve Taylor...

, Big Maybelle

Big Maybelle

Mabel Louise Smith , known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer and pianist. Her 1956 hit single "Candy" received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.-Biography:...

, Faye Adams

Faye Adams

Faye Adams is an American vocalist.-Early years:She was the daughter of David Tuell, a gospel singer and a key figure in the Church of God in Christ...

, Bumble Bee Slim

Bumble Bee Slim

Amos Easton , better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues musician.-Biography:Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States...

, Percy Mayfield

Percy Mayfield

Percy Mayfield was an American songwriter famous for the songs "Hit the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love", as well as a successful rhythm and blues artist known for his smooth vocal style.-Career:...

 and B. B. King

B. B. King

Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...

.