Jemeel Moondoc (August 5, 1946 – August 29, 2021) was a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

who played

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

. He was a proponent of a highly

improvisational Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

style. He was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States, and studied

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

before settling on

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

at sixteen. He became interested in jazz largely due to

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

and at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, he was a student of Taylor's. After that he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he founded "Ensemble Muntu" with William Parker, Roy Campbell, Jr., and Rashid Bakr. The group also had its own Muntu record label, but eventually faced financial difficulties. In 1984, he formed the Jus Grew Orchestra, which secured a residency at the Neither/Nor club on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. He worked with Parker again in 1998's album, '' New World Pygmies''. He died in August 2021, at the age of 75 from the effects of

sickle cell anemia Sickle cell disease (SCD), also simply called sickle cell, is a group of inherited haemoglobin-related blood disorders. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying ...

Discography

As leader

* '' First Feeding'' (Muntu, 1977) * '' The Evening of the Blue Men'' (Muntu, 1979) * ''New York Live!'' ( Cadence Jazz, 1981) * ''The Intrepid Live in Poland'' (Poljazz, 1981) * '' We Don't'' (

Eremite A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

, 1981; issued 2003) - with Denis Charles * '' Judy's Bounce'' (

Soul Note Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

, 1982) * ''The Athens Concert'' (Praxis, 1982) * '' Konstanze's Delight'' (Soul Note, 1983) * '' Nostalgia in Times Square'' (Soul Note, 1986) * '' Tri-P-Let'' (

, 1996) * '' Fire in the Valley'' (

, 1997) * '' New World Pygmies'' (

, 1998) * '' Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys'' (

, 2001) * '' New World Pygmies vol. 2'' (

, 2002) * '' Live at Glenn Miller Café Vol 1'' ( Ayler, 2002) * '' Live in Paris'' (Cadence, 2003) * '' Muntu Recordings'' ( NoBusiness, 2009) reissue of ''First Feeding'' and ''The Evening of the Blue Men'' plus previously unreleased live material * ''

Two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many ...

'' (

Relative Pitch Relative pitch is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note by comparing it to a reference note and identifying the interval between those two notes. For example, if the notes ''Do'' and ''Fa'' are played on a piano, a ...

, 2012) - with

Connie Crothers Connie Crothers (May 2, 1941 – August 13, 2016) was an American jazz improviser and pianist. Early life Crothers began studying classical piano at age 9 and went on to major in composition at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkele ...

* ''Yellow Back Radio Breakdown'' (Six Gallery Press, 2013) - with Michael Hafftka * '' The Zookeeper's House'' (Relative Pitch, 2014) * '' Cosmic Nickelodeon'' (Relative Pitch, 2016) - with Hilliard Greene * '' The Astral Revelations'' (RogueArt, 2018) ;with the Jus Grew Orchestra * ''

Spirit House A spirit house is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that is found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. They are normally in the form of small roofed ...

'' (

, 2001) * '' Live at the Vision Festival'' (Ayler, 2003)

As sideman

;with Active Ingredients ( Chad Taylor, Moondoc, Tom Abbs, Steve Swell) * ''

Titration Titration (also known as titrimetry and volumetric analysis) is a common laboratory method of Quantitative research, quantitative Analytical chemistry, chemical analysis to determine the concentration of an identified analyte (a substance to be ...

'' (Delmark, 2002

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: * 003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) * 1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway * ''O03 (O2)'' and other related blood type alleles in the AB ...

;with Denis Charles * ''

Captain of the Deep ''Captain of the Deep'' is an album by the American jazz drummer Denis Charles, which was recorded live in 1991 at the Zuid-Nederlands Jazz Festival and released in 1998 on the Eremite label. The album was issued to the public on the day Charles ...

'' (

, 1998) ;with Steve Swell * '' This Now!'' (Cadence Jazz, 2003) * '' Swimming in a Galaxy of Goodwill and Sorrow'' (

RogueArt RogueArt (also written Rogueart and Rogue Art) is a French independent record label based in Paris. It was founded by record producer Michel Dorbon in 2005 and specialises in jazz and improvised music. History RogueArt was founded by record pr ...

, 2007)

References

External links

All Music AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the datab ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moondoc, Jemeel 1951 births Living people Avant-garde jazz musicians University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Jazz alto saxophonists Musicians from Chicago CIMP artists RogueArt artists 21st-century saxophonists NoBusiness Records artists Cadence Jazz Records artists Black Saint/Soul Note artists