Samuel Carthorne Rivers (September 25, 1923 – December 26, 2011) 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 ...

musician and composer. Though most famously a tenor saxophonist, he also performed on soprano saxophone,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

, flute, harmonica, piano and viola. Active in jazz since the early 1950s, he earned wider attention during the mid-1960s spread of

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 ...

. With a thorough command of

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

, orchestration and composition, Rivers was an influential and prominent artist in jazz music.

Early life

Rivers was born in

El Reno, Oklahoma El Reno is a city in and the county seat of Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 16,989, marking a change of 1.55% from 16,729, recorded in the 2010 census. The city was begun shortly after ...

, United States. His father was a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

musician who had sung with the

Fisk Jubilee Singers The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early ...

and the Silverstone Quartet, exposing Rivers to music from an early age. His grandfather was Marshall W. Taylor, a religious leader from Kentucky. Rivers was stationed in California in the 1940s during a stint in the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. Here he performed semi-regularly with blues singer

Jimmy Witherspoon James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues and jazz singer. Early life, family and education Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, an ...

. Rivers moved to

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, in 1947, where he studied at the

Boston Conservatory Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater. Boston Conservatory was founded o ...

with

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; born Alan Vaness Chakmakjian; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts ...

. He performed with

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

Herb Pomeroy Irving Herbert Pomeroy III (April 15, 1930 – August 11, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, teacher, and the founder of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble. Early life Pomeroy was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing ...

Tadd Dameron Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swi ...

and others.

Blue Note era

In 1959, Rivers began performing with 13-year-old drummer Tony Williams. Rivers was briefly a member of the

Miles Davis Quintet The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and ...

in 1964, partly on Williams's recommendation. This edition of the quintet released a single live album, '' Miles in Tokyo'', from a show recorded on July 14 at Kohseinenkin Hall. Rivers' tenure with the quintet was brief: he had engagements in Boston, and his playing style was too

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

for Davis during this period; he was replaced by

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

shortly thereafter. Rivers was signed by

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

, for whom he recorded four albums as leader and made several sideman appearances. Among noted sidemen on his own Blue Note albums were

Jaki Byard John Arthur "Jaki" Byard (; June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Mainly a pianist, he also played tenor and alto saxophones, among several other instruments. He was known for h ...

, who appears on '' Fuchsia Swing Song'' (1964),

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

and

Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...

. He appeared on Blue Note recordings by Tony Williams, Andrew Hill and Larry Young. Rivers derived his music from

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 ...

, but he was an adventurous player, adept at

. The first of his Blue Note albums, ''Fuchsia Swing Song'', adopts an approach sometimes called "inside-outside". Here the performer frequently obliterates the explicit harmonic framework ("going outside") but retains a hidden link so as to be able to return to it in a seamless fashion. Rivers brought the conceptual tools of bebop harmony to a new level in this process, united at all times with the ability to "tell a story", which

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

had laid down as a benchmark for the jazz improviser. His powers as a composer were also in evidence in this period: the ballad "Beatrice" from ''Fuchsia Swing Song'' has become an important standard, particularly for tenor saxophonists. For instance, it is the first cut on

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and very occasional flute player. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day an ...

's 1985 '' The State of the Tenor, Vols. 1 & 2'', and

Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...

recorded it during the 1989 sessions eventually issued as '' Bossas & Ballads – The Lost Sessions''.

Loft era

During the 1970s, Rivers and his wife, Beatrice, ran a jazz loft called "Studio Rivbea" 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 ...

NoHo NoHo, short for "North of Houston Street, Houston Street" (as contrasted with SoHo), is a primarily residential neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded by Mercer Street (Manhattan), Mercer Street to the west, the Bowery ...

district. It was located on Bond Street in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

and was originally opened as a public performance space as part of the first New York Musicians Festival in 1970. Critic John Litweiler has written that "In New York Loft Jazz meant Free Jazz in the Seventies" and Studio Rivbea was "the most famous of the lofts". The loft was important in the development of jazz because it was an example of artists creating their own performance spaces and taking responsibility for presenting music to the public. This allowed for music to be free of extra-musical concerns that would be present in a nightclub or concert hall situation. A series of recordings made at the loft were issued under the title ''

Wildflowers A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...

'' on the

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

label. Rivers was also recruited by

Clifford Thornton Clifford Edward Thornton III (September 6, 1936 – November 25, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, trombonist, political activist, and educator. He played free jazz and avant-garde jazz in the 1960s and '70s. Career Clifford was born in Phil ...

to lead a student world-music/free-jazz ensemble at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

in 1971. During this era Rivers continued to record, including several albums for Impulse!: ''

Streams A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large stream ...

'', recorded live at Montreux, '' Hues'' (both records contain different trio performances later collated on CD as ''Trio Live''), the quartet album '' Sizzle'' and his first big-band disc, ''

Crystals A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macrosc ...

''; perhaps his best-known work from this period though is his appearance on

Dave Holland Dave Holland or David Holland may refer to: *Dave Holland (bassist) David Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has ...

's '' Conference of the Birds'', in the company of

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...

and

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, in New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea. Biography Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, ...

Later career

In the early 1990s, he and his wife moved to Florida, in part to expand his orchestra compositions with a reading band in Orlando. This band became the longest-running incarnation of the RivBea Orchestra. He performed regularly with his Orchestra and Trio with bassist Doug Mathews and drummer Anthony Cole (later replaced by Rion Smith.) From 1996 to 1998 he toured and recorded three projects for Nato Records in France with pianist

Tony Hymas Anthony James Keith "Tony" Hymas (born 23 September 1943) is an English keyboard player, pianist, and composer. In the Eighties he formed the band Ph.D. (band), Ph.D., who had a Top 10 hit in the UK with the song "I Won't Let You Down (Ph.D. so ...

and others. In 1998, with the assistance of

Steve Coleman Steve Coleman (born September 20, 1956) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader and music theorist. In 2014, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Early life Steve Coleman was born and grew up in South Side, Chicago. He started playing ...

, he recorded two Grammy-nominated big-band albums for

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

with the RivBea All-Star Orchestra, ''

Culmination In observational astronomy, culmination is the passage of a celestial object (such as the Sun, the Moon, a planet, a star, constellation or a deep-sky object) across the observer's local meridian. These events are also known as meridian tran ...

'' and '' Inspiration'' (the title-track is an elaborate reworking of

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 ...

's "Tanga": Rivers was in Gillespie's band near the end of the trumpeter's life). Other late albums of note include ''

Portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

'', a solo recording for FMP, and ''

Vista Vista may refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) a medical records system of the United States ...

'', a trio with drummers

Adam Rudolph Adam Rudolph (born September 12, 1955) is a jazz composer and percussionist performing in the post-bop and world fusion media. Rudolph grew up in the South Side of Chicago among jazz and blues musicians. In 1988 he met jazz musician Yusef La ...

and Harris Eisenstadt for Meta. During the late 1990s he appeared on several albums on

Postcards Records Postcards Records was an American jazz record company and label founded in 1993 by Ralph Simon and Sybil Golden. Through 1997 its catalogue included music by Paul Bley, Bill Frisell, Julian Priester, Gary Peacock, Sam Rivers, and Reggie Workman ...

. In 2005, he released ''Aurora'', a third CD featuring compositions for his Rivbea Orchestra and the first CD featuring members of his working orchestra in Orlando. 2011 saw the release of ''

Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

'', a three-CD box set featuring 22 previously-unheard compositions performed by many of the same musicians. Rivers died from pneumonia on December 26, 2011, at the age of 88 in Orlando, Florida. During 2019–2022, NoBusiness Records issued six live albums as part of their Sam Rivers Archive Series, featuring previously unreleased music drawn from Rivers's extensive collection of recordings.

Discography

As leader

* 1964: '' Fuchsia Swing Song'' (

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

, 1965) * 1965: '' Contours'' (Blue Note, 1967) * 1966: ''

A New Conception ''A New Conception'' is the third album by American saxophonist Sam Rivers (jazz musician), Sam Rivers, recorded in 1966 and released on the Blue Note Records, Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note, 1967) * 1967: '' Dimensions & Extensions'' (Blue Note, 1986) * 1971: '' Archive Series Volume 1 - Emanation'' ( NoBusiness, 2019) with

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of classic jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was b ...

and

Norman Connors Norman Connors (born March 1, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and producer who has led a number of influential jazz and R&B groups. He also achieved several big R&B hits of the day, especially with love ballads. He is poss ...

* 1973: ''

'' ( Impulse!, 1973) – live * 1971–73: '' Hues'' (Impulse!, 1974) – live * 1972–1973: ''The Live Trio Sessions'' (Impulse!, 1978) contains tracks from ''Streams'' and ''Hues'', plus previously unissued material; reissued on CD as ''Trio Live'' (1998) * 1974: ''

'' (Impulse!, 1974) * 1975: '' Sizzle'' (Impulse!, 1976) * 1973–76: ''Jazz of the Seventies'' (Circle, 1977) * 1976: ''The Tuba Trio Vols. 1-3'' (

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

, 1977) * 1976: '' The Quest'' (

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

, 1976) * 1976: ''Black Africa! Villalago'' ( Horo, 1977) * 1976: ''Black Africa! Perugia'' (Horo, 1977) * 1977: '' Paragon'' (

Fluid In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that may continuously motion, move and Deformation (physics), deform (''flow'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are M ...

, 1977) * 1977: '' Archive Series Volume 2 - Zenith'' (NoBusiness, 2019) with Joe Daley,

, and

Charlie Persip Charles Lawrence Persip (July 26, 1929 – August 23, 2020), known as Charli Persip and formerly as Charlie Persip (he changed the spelling of his name to Charli in the late 1960s), was an American jazz drummer. Biography Born in Morristown, N ...

* 1978: '' Archive Series Volume 3 - Ricochet'' (NoBusiness, 2020) with Dave Holland, and Barry Altschul * 1978: ''

Waves United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, ...

'' (

Tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

, 1979) * 1979: '' Archive Series Volume 4 - Braids'' (NoBusiness, 2020) with Joe Daley, Dave Holland, and Thurman Barker * 1979: ''Live in Vancouver'' (Condition West, 2017) * 1979: '' Contrasts'' (

ECM ECM may refer to the following: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Lenstra's Elliptic curve method for factor ...

, 1980) * 1981: ''"Crosscurrent" - Live At Jazz Unité'' ( Blue Marge, 1982) – live * 1981: '' Archive Series Volume 5 - Undulation'' (NoBusiness, 2021) with Jerry Byrd, Rael-Wesley Grant, and Steve Ellington * 1982: ''

Colours Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

'' (

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 ...

, 1983) * 1989: ''

Lazuli Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. Originating from the Persian word for the gem, ''lāžward'', lapis lazuli is a ...

'' ( Timeless, 1990) * 1995: ''

'' ( FMP, 1997) * 1996: ''

Concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

'' with Anthony Cole, Doug Mathews (Rivbea Sound, 1997) * 1998: '' Inspiration'' (RCA Victor/BMG, 1999) * 1998: ''

'' (

/ BMG France, 1999) * 1999: ''Aurora'' (Rivbea Sound, 2005) * 2000: ''Firestorm'' (Rivbea Sound, 2002) * 2002: '' Archive Series Volume 6 - Caldera'' (NoBusiness, 2022) with Doug Mathews and Anthony Cole * 2003: ''Celebration'' ( Posi-Tone, 2004) * 2008–09: '' Mosaic Select: Trilogy'' with the Rivbea Orchestra (

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 ...

, 2011) CD

As co-leader

* 1976: with Dave Holland - '' Dave Holland / Sam Rivers'' ( Improvising Artists) * 1976: with Dave Holland - '' Sam Rivers / Dave Holland Vol. 2'' (Improvising Artists) * 1977: with Mario Schiano - ''Rendez-vous'' (Vedette) * 1977: with

James Newton James W. Newton (born May 1, 1953) is an American jazz and classical flutist. Biography He was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. From his earliest years, James Newton grew up immersed in the sounds of African-American music, inclu ...

- ''Flutes!'' (

) * 1983: with Stephen McCraven - ''Intertwining Spirits'' (

Freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

) * 1995: with Improvisors Pool (

Alexander von Schlippenbach Alexander von Schlippenbach (born 7 April 1938) is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing free jazz in a trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens, and as a member of the Globe Unity Orch ...

) - ''Backgrounds for Improvisors'' ( FMP) * 1996: with

Noël Akchoté Noël Akchoté (born 7 December 1968) is a French guitarist in free improvisation, classical, experimental, and free jazz. Career Starting on guitar at when he was eight years old,Philippe Carles, André Clergeat et Jean-Louis Comolli, ''Dictio ...

/ Paul Rogers / Jacques Thollot - ''Configuration'' (nato) * 1996: with

Julian Priester Julian Priester (born June 29, 1935) is an American jazz trombonist and occasional euphoniumist. He is sometimes credited "Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto". He has played with Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock. Biog ...

- '' Hints on Light and Shadow'' (

Postcards A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin Card stock, cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. In some places, one can send a ...

) * 1997: with Alexander von Schlippenbach - '' Tangens'' (FMP) * 1997: with Tony Hymas, Noël Akchoté, Paul Rogers, and Jacques Thollot - ''Lyon 29.03.1997'' (Noël Akchoté Downloads, 2018) * 1998: with Tony Hymas - ''Eight Day Journal'' (nato) * 1998: with Tony Hymas - ''Winter Garden'' (nato) * 2002: with Doug Mathews, Anthony Cole, Jonathan Powell and David Manson - ''

Fluid Motion In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in motio ...

'' (isospin labs) * 2003: with

/ Harris Eisenstadt - ''

'' (Meta) * 2004: with Ben Street / Kresten Osgood & Bryan Carrott - '' Purple Violets'' (Stunt) * 2004: with Ben Street / Kresten Osgood - '' Violet Violets'' (Stunt) * 2007: with Dave Holland /

- '' Reunion: Live in New York'' ( Pi, 2012)

Compilations

* ''The Complete Blue Note Sam Rivers Sessions'' (

, 1996)

As sideman

With Roots * ''Salutes the Saxophone - Tributes to John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and Lester Young'' (In & Out, 1992) * ''Stablemates'' (In & Out, 1993) With Tony Williams * 1964: '' Life Time'' (

, 1965) * 1965: '' Spring'' (Blue Note, 1966) With

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey, in addition to Alice Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Tri ...

* '' Summit Conference'' (Postcards, 1993) * '' Cerebral Caverns'' (Postcards, 1995) With others *

, '' You Can't Name Your Own Tune'' (

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

, 1977) * Steven Bernstein, ''Diaspora Blues'' (

Tzadik Tzadik ( ''ṣaddīq'' , "righteous ne; also ''zadik'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadīqīm'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ...

, 2002) *

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

, '' Miles in Tokyo'' ( Columbia, 1964) *

Bruce Ditmas Bruce Ditmas (born December 12, 1946) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. Early life Ditmas was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on December 12, 1946, but grew up in Miami; his father was a trombonist in Miami big bands. Ditmas studied ...

, ''What If'' (Postcards, 1994) * Brian Groder, ''Torque'' (2007) * Andrew Hill, ''

Change Change, Changed or Changing may refer to the below. Other forms are listed at Alteration * Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time * Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of t ...

'' (

, 1966) * The

Quartet, '' Conference of the Birds'', (ECM 1973) *

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

, '' Free Beer and Chicken'' (ABC, 1974) *

Bobby Hutcherson Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note Records, Blue Note album ''Components (album), Components'', is one of his best-known composi ...

, ''

Dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

'' (Blue Note, 1965) * Franklin Kiermyer, ''Kairos'' (Evidence, 1996) * NOJO, ''City of Neighbourhoods'' (

True North True north is the direction along Earth's surface towards the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth on its Northern Hemisphere, northern half, the True North Pole. True south is the direction ...

, 2004) – recorded in 2003 * Jason Moran, '' Black Stars'' (Blue Note, 2001) * Music Revelation Ensemble (

James Blood Ulmer James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues music, blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been ...

), '' In the Name of...'' ( DIW, 1993) *

Don Pullen Don Gabriel Pullen (December 25, 1941 – April 22, 1995) was an American jazz pianist and organist. Pullen developed a strikingly individual style throughout his career. He composed pieces ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz. The great ...

, ''

Capricorn Rising ''Capricorn Rising'' is an album by American jazz pianist Don Pullen featuring saxophonist Sam Rivers. It was recorded in 1975 for the Italian Black Saint label.

'' (

, 1975) *

Kazuko Shiraishi was a Japanese poet and translator who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populo ...

, ''Dedicated to the Late John Coltrane and Other Jazz Poems'' (Musicworks, 1977) *

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 ...

, ''

The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor ''The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor'' is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in St. Paul de Vence, Nice, on July 29, 1969, and released on the Prestige label in 1977 as a 3-LP set. The album was originally released as ''Nuits de la Fondation M ...

'' (

Prestige Prestige may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films *Prestige (film), ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett: woman travels to French Indochina to meet up with husband *The Prestige (film), ''The Prestige'' (fi ...

, 1969) * Larry Young, '' Into Somethin''' (Blue Note, 1964)

References

External links

Sam Rivers Web Site

NPR profile
September 20, 2009 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivers, Sam 1923 births 2011 deaths African-American saxophonists American jazz clarinetists American jazz composers American jazz bandleaders American jazz flautists American male saxophonists American jazz soprano saxophonists Avant-garde jazz musicians Bebop clarinetists Bebop saxophonists American big band bandleaders Blue Note Records artists Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni Improvising Artists Records artists Impulse! Records artists Jazz musicians from Illinois American male jazz composers Miles Davis Quintet members Jazz musicians from Boston Musicians from Oklahoma Musicians from Enid, Oklahoma Posi-Tone Records artists NoBusiness Records artists Deaths from pneumonia in Florida