Joe Roland (May 17, 1920 – October 12, 2009) was an American

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 ...

vibraphonist The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vib ...

. Roland began as a

clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...

, attending the Institute of Musical Art (later known as the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

) from 1937 to 1939. He started on

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

in 1940 and began playing vibraphone in the middle of the decade, playing in jazz clubs in

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 ...

. Influenced by the nascent

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

movement, Roland put together his own ensembles late in the decade, and in the 1950s he played with

Oscar Pettiford Oscar Pettiford (September 30, 1922 – September 8, 1960) was an American jazz double bassist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom. Jazz bassist Christian McBride called Pettiford "probably the most imp ...

(1951),

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing (13 August 191914 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 so ...

(1951–1953),

Howard McGhee Howard McGhee (March 6, 1918 – July 17, 1987) was one of the first American bebop jazz trumpeters, with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. He was known for his fast fingering and high notes. He had an influence on younger bebo ...

, and

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

and his Gramercy Five (1953–1954),

Freddie Redd Freddie Redd (May 29, 1928 – March 17, 2021) was an American hard-bop pianist and composer. He is best known for writing music to accompany '' The Connection'' (1959), a play by Jack Gelber. According to Peter Watrous, writing in ''The New Y ...

(1955),

Mat Mathews Mat Mathews, born Mathieu Hubert Wijnandts Schwarts (June 18, 1924 – February 12, 2009), was a Dutch jazz accordionist. Early life Mathews was born in The Hague and learned to play accordion while the Netherlands was still under the Nazi r ...

(1956), and

Aaron Sachs Aaron Sachs (July 4, 1923 – June 5, 2014) was an American jazz saxophone and clarinet player. Career A native of New York City, Sachs began his music career as a young swing protégé of Benny Goodman, and later eased into bebop music, also ...

(1956).

Roland recorded occasionally as a leader; he released on

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

in 1949, on

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

(1950, 1954), Seeco (1953–1954), and

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

(1955). In the early sixties, Roland relocated from New York to Miami, Florida. He was an influential part of a thriving jazz scene in South Florida for many years. During his 13-year "gig" at Monty Trainer's Bayshore Restaurant in

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as "The Grove", is an affluent and the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods of Miami, neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by North Prospect Driv ...

, he was credited for having trained many young musicians from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

. He worked steadfastly throughout his life in local clubs accompanied by bassists such as Lew Berryman and Mark Trail, and singers like Sandy Patton. He died of natural causes at the age of 89 in

Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and Broward County, Florida, Broward County ...

. Roland's contributions can be appreciated in a quote from Peter Dempsy regarding Artie Shaw's Summit Ridge Drive album: "The Gramercy Five recordings of 1953 and 1954 document a brilliant phase in early modern jazz, manifested in the presence of pianist Hank Jones, guitarist Tal Farlow, bassist Tommy Potter and vibraphonist Joe Roland.

Discography

*''

Joltin' Joe Roland ''Joltin' Joe Roland'' is an album by jazz vibraphonist Joe Roland which was released on the Savoy Records, Savoy label in 1955. The album was originally released as two 10-inch LPs recorded at three sessions, two from 1950 and 1954 released as ' ...

'' (Savoy, 1950/54

955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also known as Magyars) near Augsburg (Germa ...

*'' Good Good Listening'' (1955) *'' Joe Roland Quintette'' (Bethlehem, 1956)

References

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

Joe Roland Joe Roland (May 17, 1920 – October 12, 2009) was an American jazz vibraphone, vibraphonist. Roland began as a Clarinet, clarinetist, attending the Institute of Musical Art (later known as the Juilliard School) from 1937 to 1939. He started on x ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, eter Roland, (Guitarist, Son) Bobby Roland, Pianist, Son. His Website http://www.bobbyroland.com/Joe_Roland.html has a page dedicated to Joe Roland with additional history and pictures with other Jazz greats. {{DEFAULTSORT:Roland, Joe 1920 births 2009 deaths American jazz vibraphonists Musicians from New York (state) Savoy Records artists Bethlehem Records artists 20th-century American musicians Juilliard School alumni