Walter Perkins
Encyclopedia
Walter "Baby Sweets" Perkins (February 10, 1932, Chicago
, Illinois
– February 14, 2004, Queens, New York) was an American
jazz
drummer
.
Starting out as a fixture in the Chicago jazz scene, Perkins' first major gigs were with Ahmad Jamal
in 1956-57. He recorded for Argo Records
in 1957 as a leader under the name MJT+3, along with Paul Serrano on trumpet, Nicky Hill
on tenor sax, Muhal Richard Abrams
on piano and Bob Cranshaw
on bass. In 1959, he regrouped under the same name with Willie Thomas on trumpet, Frank Strozier
on alto sax, Harold Mabern
on piano, and Cranshaw on bass; they recorded for Vee-Jay in 1959 and 1960 and played in Chicago until 1962, when he moved to New York City.
He played with Sonny Rollins
in 1962 and accompanied Carmen McRae
in 1962-63. 1964 saw him playing with Art Farmer
and Teddy Wilson
. Following this Perkins recorded with countless jazz figures, including Rahsaan Roland Kirk
, George Shearing
, Gene Ammons
, Charles Mingus
, Billy Taylor
, Booker Ervin
, Jaki Byard
, Lucky Thompson
, Pat Martino
, Sonny Stitt
, Sonny Criss
, Charles Earland
.
With Booker Ervin
With Roland Kirk
With Clark Terry
With Bobby Timmons
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
– February 14, 2004, Queens, New York) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
.
Starting out as a fixture in the Chicago jazz scene, Perkins' first major gigs were with Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker...
in 1956-57. He recorded for Argo Records
Argo Records
Argo Records was started in December of 1955 to accommodate some of the rapidly growing recording activity at Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Argo.Initially, Argo offered a...
in 1957 as a leader under the name MJT+3, along with Paul Serrano on trumpet, Nicky Hill
Nicky Hill
Nicky Hill in Accrington, England, is a retired English professional footballer who played as a defender for Bury in the Football League.-External links:...
on tenor sax, Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
on piano and Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw
Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bassist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long association with Sonny Rollins...
on bass. In 1959, he regrouped under the same name with Willie Thomas on trumpet, Frank Strozier
Frank Strozier
Frank Strozier is an alto saxophonist renowned for his playing in the hard bop idiom.Strozier grew up in Memphis Memphis, Tennessee...
on alto sax, Harold Mabern
Harold Mabern
Harold Mabern is a hard bop and soul jazz pianist.Early in his career, Mabern played in Chicago with Walter Perkins' MJT + 3 in the late 1950s before moving to New York in 1959. Mabern has worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet , Donald Byrd, Miles Davis , J. J...
on piano, and Cranshaw on bass; they recorded for Vee-Jay in 1959 and 1960 and played in Chicago until 1962, when he moved to New York City.
He played with Sonny Rollins
Sonny Rollins
Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
in 1962 and accompanied Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
in 1962-63. 1964 saw him playing with Art Farmer
Art Farmer
Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet/flugelhorn combination designed for him by David Monette. His identical twin brother, Addison Farmer Arthur Stewart "Art" Farmer (August 21, 1928, Council Bluffs, Iowa –...
and Teddy Wilson
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw "Teddy" Wilson was an American jazz pianist whose sophisticated and elegant style was featured on the records of many of the biggest names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.-Biography:Wilson was born in Austin, Texas in...
. Following this Perkins recorded with countless jazz figures, including Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments...
, George Shearing
George Shearing
Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...
, Gene Ammons
Gene Ammons
Eugene "Jug" Ammons also known as "The Boss," was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons.-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...
, Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and since 1994, he was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in...
, Booker Ervin
Booker Ervin
Booker Telleferro Ervin II was an American tenor saxophone player. He was perhaps best known for his association with bassist Charles Mingus....
, Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
, Lucky Thompson
Lucky Thompson
Eli "Lucky" Thompson was a United States jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist...
, Pat Martino
Pat Martino
Pat Martino is an Italian-American jazz guitarist and composer within the post bop, fusion, mainstream jazz, soul jazz and hard bop idioms.-Biography:...
, 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...
, Sonny Criss
Sonny Criss
William "Sonny" Criss was an American jazz musician.An alto saxophonist of prominence during the bebop era of jazz, he was one of many players influenced by Charlie Parker.-Biography:...
, Charles Earland
Charles Earland
Charles Earland was an American jazz composer, organist, and saxophonist in the soul jazz idiom.-Biography:...
.
Discography
With Johnny ColesJohnny Coles
Johnny Coles was an American jazz trumpeter.Coles spent his early career playing with R&B groups, including those of Eddie Vinson , Bull Moose Jackson , and Earl Bostic...
- Little Johnny CLittle Johnny CLittle Johnny C is an album by American trumpeter Johnny Coles recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "The typically impressive Blue Note lineup handles the obscure material with creative...
(Blue Note, 1963)
With Booker Ervin
Booker Ervin
Booker Telleferro Ervin II was an American tenor saxophone player. He was perhaps best known for his association with bassist Charles Mingus....
- Exultation!Exultation!Exultation! is an album by American jazz saxophonist Booker Ervin featuring performances recorded in 1963 for the Prestige label.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1964)
With Roland Kirk
- Reeds & DeedsReeds & DeedsReeds & Deeds is an album by jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk. It was originally released on the Mercury label in 1963 and features performances by Kirk with Virgil Jones, Charles Greenlea, Harold Mabern, Abdullah Rafik, Walter Perkins, Tom McIntosh and Richard Davis with arrangements by...
(1963) - I Talk with the SpiritsI Talk with the SpiritsI Talk with the Spirits is a 1964 album by Roland Kirk. On this album, Kirk only plays the flute, and no saxophone or other instruments. It is notable as being the first appearance of the song "Serenade to a Cuckoo", later covered by Jethro Tull...
(1964)
With Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
- The Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark Terry is an album by American jazz trumpeter Clark Terry featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1964)
With Bobby Timmons
Bobby Timmons
Robert Henry "Bobby" Timmons was an African American jazz pianist and composer.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is best known for his role as sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the composition of "Moanin'", "Dat Dere", and "This Here", each of which are typical of his...
- Holiday SoulHoliday SoulHoliday Soul is an album of Christmas music by American jazz pianist Bobby Timmons recorded in 1964 and released on the Prestige label.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 3 stars.-Track listing:# "Deck the Halls"...
(1964)