Robert Roland Chudnick (September 27, 1927 – May 27, 1994), known professionally as Red Rodney, was an American jazz trumpeter.

Biography

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, he became a professional musician at 15, working in the mid-1940s for the big bands of Jerry Wald,

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards " I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary Peopl ...

Georgie Auld Georgie Auld (May 19, 1919 – January 8, 1990) was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader. Early years Auld was born John Altwerger in Toronto, Canada, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1929. Before the family left Canada, Auld ...

, Elliot Lawrence,

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

, and Les Brown. He was inspired by hearing

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

and

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

to change his style to

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 ...

, moving on to play with Claude Thornhill,

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman ...

, and

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) 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 roo ...

. He was Jewish. He accepted an invitation from Charlie Parker to join his quintet. and was a member of the band from 1949 to 1951. Being the only white member of the group, when playing in the southern United States he was billed as "Albino Red" as a ruse to avoid prejudice against mixed race musical combos. During this time he recorded extensively. During the 1950s, he worked as a bandleader in Philadelphia and recorded with

Ira Sullivan Ira Sullivan (May 1, 1931 – September 21, 2020) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, flautist, saxophonist, and composer born in Washington, D.C., United States. An active musician since the 1950s, he often worked with Red Rodney ...

. He became addicted to heroin and started a pattern of dropping in and out of jazz. During 1969, Rodney played in Las Vegas with fellow Woody Herman colleague, trombonist Bill Harris, as part of the Flamingo casino house band led by Russ Black. Similar work continued through 1972. In the early 1970s he was bankrupted by medical costs following a stroke. He returned to jazz. In 1975 he was incarcerated in Lexington, Kentucky for drug offenses. While jailed he gave music lessons to guitarist

Wayne Kramer Wayne Stanley Kramer (''né'' Kambes; April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and Film score, film and television composer. Kramer came to prominence in the 1960s as the lead guitarist of t ...

of the

MC5 MC5 was an American rock music, rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The classic lineup consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis (bassist), Michael Davis, and drummer ...

He reunited with Ira Sullivan and performed with

. From 1980 to 1982, Rodney made five albums with Sullivan. On these albums he started to play post bop jazz. He continued to work and record into the 1990s. He performed on a Charlie Parker tribute album by

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who was the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a Graphic designer, graphic artist, Watts developed an interest i ...

, drummer for the Rolling Stones. He provided an early showcase for saxophonist Chris Potter, who was a member of his group and only 19 years old when Rodney recorded ''Red Alert'' in late 1990. He performed at

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center is an organization based in New York City. Part of Lincoln Center, the organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center (now Deutsche Bank Center) in October 2004. The organization seeks to “represent th ...

and the JVC Jazz Festival. He worked as an adviser for ''

Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

'', a movie about Charlie Parker directed by

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

. Michael Zelniker played him in the movie. Rodney died on May 27, 1994, from lung cancer.

Discography

As leader

* ''Modern Music from Chicago'' (Fantasy, 1956) * ''Red Rodney: 1957'' (Savoy, 1957) * '' Red Rodney Returns'' (Argo, 1959) * ''Broadway'' (Status, 1965) * ''

Bird Lives! ''Bird Lives!'' is an album by trumpeter Red Rodney featuring performances of tunes by, or associated with, Charlie Parker which was recorded in 1973 and released on the Muse Records, Muse label.Superbop'' (Muse, 1974) * ''Red Rodney with the Bebop Preservation Society'' (Spotlite, 1975) * '' The Red Tornado'' (Muse, 1976) * ''Yard's Pad'' (Sonet, 1976) * '' Red, White and Blues'' (Muse, 1978) * '' Home Free'' (Muse, 1979) * '' Live at the Village Vanguard'' (Muse, 1980) * '' Night and Day'' (Muse, 1981) * '' Spirit Within'' with Ira Sullivan (Elektra Musician, 1982) * '' The 3R's'' Richie Cole and Ricky Ford (Muse, 1982) * '' Sprint'' (Elektra Musician, 1983) * '' Hi Jinx at the Vanguard'' (Muse, 1984) * '' Social Call'' with Charlie Rouse (Uptown, 1984) * '' Alive in New York'' (Muse, 1986) * ''Red Giant'' ( SteepleChase, 1988) * ''Red Snapper'' ( SteepleChase, 1988) * ''Red Giant'' ( SteepleChase, 1988) * ''No Turn on Red'' (Denon, 1989) * ''Code Red'' (Continuum, 1989) * ''Then and Now'' (Chesky, 1992)

As sideman

, '' To Diz with Love'' (Telarc, 1992) *

, ''The Fourth Herd'' (Jazzland, 1960) *

Clifford Jordan Clifford Laconia Jordan (September 2, 1931 – March 27, 1993) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player and composer. Originally from Chicago, Jordan later moved to New York City, where he recorded extensively in addition to touring across ...

, '' Dr. Chicago'' (Bee Hive, 1985) * Lee Konitz, '' Live at Laren'' (Soul Note, 1984) *

, ''Gene Krupa's Sidekicks'' (Columbia, 1955) * Elliot Lawrence, ''The Uncollected Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra 1946'' (Hindsight, 1982) *

, ''Bird at St. Nick's'' (Jazz Workshop, 1957) * Charlie Parker, ''Swedish Schnapps'' (Verve, 1958) * Ali Ryerson, ''Blue Flute'' (Red Baron, 1992) *

, '' Ira Sullivan Does It All'' (Muse, 1983) * Bob Thiele, ''Louis Satchmo'' (Red Baron, 1992) * Claude Thornhill, ''The Uncollected Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra'' (Hindsight, 1977)

References

Sources

* ''Fresh Air'' on WHYY, December 30, 2002 * Morton, Richard and Cook, Brian. ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'', New Edition, London, Penguin, 1994 * Morton, Richard and Cook, Brian. ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD'', sixth Edition, London, Penguin, 2002,

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodney, Red 1927 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American trumpeters American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters American people convicted of drug offenses Bebop trumpeters Hard bop trumpeters Jazz musicians from Philadelphia Chesky Records artists Muse Records artists Savoy Records artists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Jewish jazz musicians Uptown Records (jazz) artists Fantasy Records artists Deaths from lung cancer in Florida DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame members