James Robert Belden (October 31, 1956 – May 20, 2015) was an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader, and producer. As a composer he may be best known for his Grammy Award winning

orchestral jazz An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, cel ...

recording, ''Black Dahlia'' (2001). As producer, he was mostly associated with the remastering of recordings by trumpeter

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

Biography

Belden, born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

, grew up in the

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

suburb of Goose Creek. He briefly attended the University of South Carolina where he met composer Jay Knowles who introduced him to the music of Gil Evans. He then studied saxophone and composition at the University of North Texas before joining the

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...

band. He recorded his first album ''Treasure Island'' in 1990. This was followed by a series of adventurous albums featuring jazz-tinged arrangements of contemporary pop songs culminating with ''Black Dahlia'' in 2001. In 2008, he arranged and produced '' Miles from India'', a world fusion music recording based on the compositions of

for which he assembled a group made up of Davis alumni and musicians from India. In addition to his work as arranger, composer, conductor and A & R director, Belden contributed numerous liner notes for noted recordings, such as "

Lou's Blues ''Lou's Blues'' is a big band jazz album by saxophonist Lou Marini and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra (MCJO) recorded at Bates Brothers Recording in Hueytown, Alabama (near Birmingham, Alabama). This CD was the first recording as a leader by Mar ...

" by

Lou Marini Louis William Marini Jr. (born May 13, 1945), known as "Blue Lou" Marini, is an American saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He is best known for his work in jazz, rock, blues, and soul music, as well as his association with The Blues Brot ...

and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra. Some of his work as the author of liner notes received

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

. In early 2015, Belden became the first American musician in 35 years to bring a band from the USA to perform in Iran. Belden died of a heart attack on May 20, 2015, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. He was 58.

Discography

As leader

* ''Treasure Island'' ( Sunnyside, 1990) * ''La Cigale'' (Sunnyside, 1990) * ''Straight to My Heart: The Music of Sting'' ( Blue Note, 1991) * ''When the Doves Cry: The Music of Prince'' (Metro Blue, 1994) * ''Shades of Blue'' (Blue Note, 1996) * ''Bob Belden Presents: Strawberry Fields'' (Blue Note, 1996) * ''Tapestry – The Blue Note Cover Series'' (Blue Note, 1997) * ''Black Dahlia'' (Blue Note, 2001) * ''Three Days of Rain'' (Sunnyside, 2006) With

Tim Hagans Tim Hagans (born August 19, 1954) is an American jazz trumpeter, arranger, and composer. He has been nominated for three Grammy Awards: Best Instrumental Composition for "Box of Cannoli" on ''The Avatar Sessions'' (Fuzzy Music, 2010); Best Contem ...

and Animation * ''Re-Animation Live!'' (Blue Note, 1999) * ''Animation - Imagination'' (Blue Note, 1999) * ''Agemo'' (RareNoise, 2011) * ''Asiento'' (RareNoise, 2011) * ''Transparent Heart'' (RareNoise, 2012) * ''Machine Language'' (RareNoise, 2015) As conductor * ''The Turning Point'', McCoy Tyner Big Band ( Verve, 1991) * ''Journey'', McCoy Tyner Big Band (Verve, 1993) * ''100 Years of Latin Love Songs'', Paquito D'Rivera ( Heads Up, 1998)

With others

* ''Incognito – Beneath the Surface'', New York City Horns ( Talkin' Loud, 1996) * ''Mysterious Shorter'', Nicholas Payton, Sam Yahel, John Hart, Billy Drummond ( Chesky, 2006)

Biography

Discography

As leader

With others

See also

References and sources

External links