Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. (November 17, 1935 – December 21, 2017) 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 ...

trombonist and composer. Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

, which he performed while in college), and other genres of music, he was known primarily for his work in free and

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1 ...

. Beginning in 1962 Rudd worked extensively with saxophonist

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

Biography

Rudd was born in

Sharon, Connecticut Sharon is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, in the northwest corner of the state. At the time of the United States 2020 Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population ...

, United States. He attended the Hotchkiss School and graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he played with Eli's Chosen Six, a

dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

band of students that Rudd joined in the mid-1950s. The sextet played the boisterous

trad jazz Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain that flourished from the 1930s to 1960s, based on the earlier New Orleans Dixieland jazz style. Prominent English trad jazz musicians such as Chris Barb ...

style of the day, and recorded two albums, including one for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. His collaborations with Shepp,

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 ...

John Tchicai John Martin Tchicai ( ; 28 April 1936 – 8 October 2012) was a Danish free jazz saxophonist and composer. Biography Tchicai was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish mother and a Congolese father. The family moved to Aarhus, where he s ...

, and Steve Lacy grew out of the lessons learned while playing rags and stomps for drunken college kids in Connecticut. Rudd later taught

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

and the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

. On and off, for a period of three decades, he assisted

Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music during the 20th century. He was a musician, folklorist, archivist, writer, scholar, political activ ...

with his

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

song style (

Cantometrics Cantometrics ("song measurements") is a method developed by Alan Lomax and a team of researchers for relating elements of the world's traditional vocal music (or folk songs) to features of social organization as defined via George Murdock's Hum ...

) and Global Jukebox projects. In the 1960s, Rudd participated in

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

recordings such as the New York Art Quartet; the soundtrack for the 1964 movie '' New York Eye and Ear Control''; the album ''

Communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

'' by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra; and in collaborations with Don Cherry,

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock ...

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

, and Gato Barbieri. Rudd had lifelong friendships with saxophonists Shepp and Lacy, and performed and recorded the music of

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk ( October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

with Lacy. Rudd and his producer and partner Verna Gillis went to

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

in 2000 and 2001. His album '' MALIcool'' (2001) is a cross-cultural collaboration with kora player Toumani Diabaté and other Malian musicians. In 2004, Rudd brought his Trombone Shout Band to perform at the 4th Festival au Désert in Essakane, Tombouctou Region, Mali. In 2005, he extended his reach further, recording an album with the Mongolian Buryat Band, a traditional music group of musicians from

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

, entitled '' Blue Mongol''. He also conducted master classes and workshops both in the United States and around the world. Rudd died of prostate cancer on December 21, 2017, at home in Kerhonkson, New York. His archives were donated to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Awards and honors

* Nomination:

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Vocal Performance Male and Best Jazz Instrumental Album, '' Monk's Dream'' (1999) * Trombonist of the Year, Jazz Journalists Association (2003–05, 2009–10) * Best Trombonist, ''

Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

'' Critics' Poll (2010)Roswell Rudd's Trombone Tribe 75th Birthday Party, JazzCorner
Archive.is, accessed December 22, 2017.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

As a member

Dixieland Band, Eli's Chosen Six * ''College Jazz: Dixieland'' (Columbia, 1957) * ''Ivy League Jazz'' (Golden Crest, 1957) The New York Art Quartet * 1964: '' New York Art Quartet'' ( ESP-Disk, 1965) * 1965: '' Mohawk'' ( Fontana, 1965) * 1965: '' Old Stuff'' (

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

, 2010) – Live * 1999: '' 35th Reunion'' ( DIW, 2000) * box set: '' Call It Art'' (Triple Point, 2013) LP– contains four hours of previously unreleased material and a 150-plus-page coffee-table book

As sideman

With

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she gained acclaim for her jazz opera ''Escalator ...

* ''

Escalator over the Hill ''Escalator over the Hill'' (or ''EOTH'') is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction", with "words by Paul Haines (poet), Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Mic ...

'' ( JCOA, 1971) * '' Dinner Music'' (Watt, 1976) * '' European Tour 1977'' (Watt, 1977) * '' Musique Mecanique'' (Watt, 1979) With Elton Dean * ''Rumors of an Incident'' (Slam, 1996) * ''Newsense'' (Slam, 1997) With

* '' Four for Trane'' (Impulse!, 1964) * '' Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco'' (Impulse!, 1966) * '' Mama Too Tight'' (Impulse!, 1967) – rec. 1966 * ''Life at the Donaueschingen Music Festival'' ( SABA, 1968) With others * Buell Neidlinger, Cecil Taylor, '' New York City R&B'' (

Mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

, 1961) *

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian Americans, Canadian–American jazz pianist, Music arranger, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators i ...

, '' Into the Hot'' (Impulse!, 1962) * Steve Lacy, Dennis Charles, Henry Grimes ''School Days'' ( Hathut, 1963) * Robin Kenyatta, ''Until'' (Atlantic, 1966) * Don Cherry, Albert Ayler, John Tchicai and Gary Peacock, '' New York Eye and Ear Control'' (ESP-Disk, 1967) * Michael Mantler, '' The Jazz Composer's Orchestra'' ( JCOA, 1968) * Gato Barbieri, '' The Third World'' (

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' () is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the sea forever. The myths and ghost stories are likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dutch East India C ...

, 1969) * Charlie Haden, '' Liberation Music Orchestra'' (Impulse!, 1971) * Marcello Melis and Don Moye, ''Village on the Left'' ( Soul Note, 1974) * Steve Lacy, Beaver Harris, Kent Carter, '' Trickles'' (Soul Note, 1975) * Hans Dulfer, Arjen Gorter, and Martin van Duynhoven, ''Maine'' (Bvhaast, 1976) * Marcello Melis and Enrico Rava, Don Moye, Gruppo Rubanu, ''The New Village on the Left'' (

Black Saint Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italy, 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 ...

, 1977) * Enrico Rava, J.F. JennyClarke and Aldo Romano, '' Enrico Rava Quartet'' (ECM, 1978) * Sangeeta Michael Berardi, Rashied Ali, Eddie Gomez, Archie Shepp, ''Divine Song'' (Sunjump, 1979) * V.A., ''Interpretations of Monk'' (DIW, 1981) * Hal Willner, ''That's the Way I Feel Now: A tribute to Thelonious Monk'' (A&M, 1984) * Paul Haines, ''Darn it'' (American Clave, 1992) * Allen Lowe, ''Dark Was the Night'' (Music & Arts, 1994) * NRBQ and Terry Adams, ''Wild Weekend'' (

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

, 1995) * Allen Lowe, ''Woyzeck's Death'' ( Enja, 1995) *

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "...spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporar ...

et al., ''Bladik'' (

, 1996) * NRBQ and Terry Adams, ''Terrible'' (

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

, 1996) * Nexus Orchestra, ''Seize the Time'' (Splasch, 2002) * Dime Grind Palace, '' Sex Mob'' ( Ropeadope, 2003) * one track with

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

, ''The Harry Smith Project'' ( Shout! Factory, 2006) * Michael Mantler, ''Concertos'' (ECM, 2008) – rec. 2007 * The Second Approach Trio, ''The Light'' (Solyd, 2009)

References

External links

Roswell Rudd and Verna Gillis feature
nytimes.com, November 23, 2007.
Interview with Roswell Rudd
npr.org, 2002

, Mindspring.com; accessed December 22, 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudd, Roswell 1935 births 2017 deaths People from Sharon, Connecticut Hotchkiss School alumni Yale University alumni Bard College faculty American jazz trombonists American male trombonists Avant-garde jazz trombonists Free jazz trombonists Freedom Records artists Deaths from prostate cancer in New York (state) Jazz musicians from Connecticut American male jazz musicians Eli's Chosen Six members New York Art Quartet members Black Lion Records artists Clean Feed Records artists Sunnyside Records artists DIW Records artists RareNoiseRecords artists Jazz Composer's Orchestra members