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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

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 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 notes an octave ...

, 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 is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians dur ...

. With a thorough command of music theory, 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 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 the ...

, United States. His father was a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

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. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditiona ...

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. Here he performed semi-regularly with blues singer

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

. Rivers moved to Boston, Massachusetts 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 founde ...

with

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

. He performed with

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

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 swin ...

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 ''Miles in Tokyo'' is a live album recorded on July 14, 1964, by the Miles Davis Quintet at the Tokyo Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It was released in the United States on CD in 2005 and is the first recording of Davis in Japan ...

'', 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 The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

for Davis during this period; he was replaced by Wayne Shorter shortly thereafter. Rivers was signed by

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...

, 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 hi ...

, who appears on ''

Fuchsia Swing Song ''Fuchsia Swing Song'' is the debut album by American saxophonist Sam Rivers recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.

'',

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...

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 f ...

. 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, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrum ...

, but he was an adventurous player, adept at

. The first of his Blue Note albums, ''Fuchsia Swing Song'' (1964), 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. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

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

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (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 wispy, mellow timbre o ...

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

Loft era

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

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

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

district. It was located on Bond Street in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

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'' on the Douglas label. Rivers was also recruited by

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

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

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

in 1971. During this era Rivers continued to record, including several albums for

Impulse! Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record company and label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positiv ...

: ''

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 streams ...

'', 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, macros ...

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

Dave Holland David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years. His extensive discography r ...

's ''

Conference of the Birds ''The Conference of the Birds'' or ''Speech of the Birds'' ( fa, منطق الطیر, ''Manṭiq-uṭ-Ṭayr'', also known as ''Maqāmāt-uṭ-Ṭuyūr''; 1177) is a Persian poem by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, commonly known as Attar of Ni ...

'', 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 ...

and

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, 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, the ...

Later career

In the early 1990s, he and his wife Beatrice 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. Career Hymas started as a chorister at Exeter Cathedral School, where his contemporaries included composer and cathedral organist ...

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 al ...

, he recorded two Grammy-nominated big-band albums for RCA Victor with the RivBea All-Star Orchestra, ''Culmination'' and ''Inspiration'' (the title-track is an elaborate reworking of Dizzy Gillespie's "Tanga": Rivers was in Gillespie's band near the end of the trumpeter's life). Other late albums of note include ''Portrait'', a solo recording for FMP, and ''Vista'', 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. In 1988, Rudolph met jazz musician Yusef Lateef, and the two would go on to collaborate and perform together for t ...

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 Workma ...

. In 2006, he released ''Aurora'', a third CD featuring compositions for his Rivbea Orchestra and the first CD featuring members of his working orchestra in Orlando. Rivers died from pneumonia on December 26, 2011 at the age of 88 in Orlando, Florida.

Discography

As leader

* 1964: ''

Fuchsia Swing Song ''Fuchsia Swing Song'' is the debut album by American saxophonist Sam Rivers recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

, 1965) * 1965: ''

Contours Contour may refer to: * Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound * Pitch contour * Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system * Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices * Contour line, a curve along which the function h ...

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

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

'' (Blue Note, 1967) * 1967: '' Dimensions & Extensions'' (Blue Note, 1986) * 1973: ''

'' (

, 1973) – live * 1971-73: '' Hues'' (Impulse!, 1974) – live * 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 jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in ...

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 pos ...

* 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 points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

, 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 625–740 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 continuously deforms (''flows'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot resist any shea ...

, 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, ...

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

Waves Waves most often refers to: * Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. *Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music *Waves (band ...

'' (

Tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word , ...

, 1979) * 1979: ''Archive Series Volume 4 - Braids'' (NoBusiness, 2020) with Joe Daley, Dave Holland, and

Thurman Barker Thurman Barker (born January 8, 1948, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American jazz drummer. Barker's first professional experience was at age sixteen with Mighty Joe Young. Barker took his bachelor's at Empire State College, then studie ...

* 1979: '' Contrasts'' (

ECM ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathematics ...

, 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 Bradford Steven "Steve" Ellington (July 26, 1941 – March 22, 2013) was an American jazz drummer. He was the grand-nephew of Duke Ellington. Biography Ellington picked up drums when he was four years old and played with Ray Charles when he was ...

* 1982: ''

Colours Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

'' (

Black Saint 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 ...

, 1983) * 1989: ''Lazuli'' ( Timeless, 1990) * 1995: ''Portrait'' ( FMP, 1997) * 1996: ''Concept'' with Anthony Cole, Doug Mathews (Rivbea Sound, 1997) * 1998: ''Culmination'' (

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Ar ...

/ BMG France, 1999) * 1998: ''Inspiration'' (RCA Victor/BMG, 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 Posi-Tone Records is an American jazz record label founded by Marc Free, a producer and musician who runs the company with engineer Nick O'Toole. The label's first five albums were issued in 1995. The roster includes trombonist Steve Davis, saxop ...

, 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, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

, 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 ...

) * 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 Orchest ...

) - ''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. Bio ...

- ''Hints on Light and Shadow'' (

Postcards A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

) * 1997: with Alexander von Schlippenbach - ''Tangens'' (FMP) * 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'' (isospin labs) * 2003: with

/ Harris Eisenstadt - ''Vista'' (Meta) * 2004: with

Ben Street Ben Street is an American jazz double bassist. Street has performed and recorded with many renowned artists, including John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Ben Monder, Michael Eckroth, Sam Rivers, Billy Hart, Danilo Perez, Aaron ...

/ 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 Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a h ...

'' (Blue Note, 1966) With

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman work ...

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

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

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

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

Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

, 2002) *

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

, ''

'' (

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

, 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 or Changing may refer to: 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 the menstrual period * Metamorphosis, or chang ...

'' (

, 1966) * The

Quartet, ''

'', (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. Hooker often ...

, ''

Free Beer and Chicken ''Free Beer and Chicken'' is an album by blues musician John Lee Hooker recorded in California in 1974 and released by the ABC label the same year. Reception AllMusic reviewer Eugene Chadbourne stated: "In some ways this is a typical John Lee ...

'' (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 album '' Components'', is one of his best-known compositions.Huey, Steve. "Components – Bob ...

, ''

Dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is ...

'' (Blue Note, 1965) *

Franklin Kiermyer Franklin Kiermyer (born 21 July 1956) is a jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader. Biography Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Kiermyer first gained attention in 1994 with his album Solomon's Daughter, featuring tenor saxophonist and forme ...

, ''Kairos'' (Evidence, 1996) * NOJO, ''City of Neighbourhoods'' (

True North True north (also called geodetic north or geographic north) is the direction along Earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole or True North Pole. Geodetic north differs from ''magnetic'' north (the direction a compass points toward t ...

, 2004) – recorded in 2003 * Jason Moran, '' Black Stars'' (Blue Note, 2001) * The Stephen McCraven Quartet, ''Intertwining Spirits'' (Freelance, 1982) * Music Revelation Ensemble (

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

), '' 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 grea ...

, ''

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

'' (

, 1975) *

Kazuko Shiraishi is a Japanese poet and translator who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is a modernist, outsider poet who got her start in Katsue Kitazono's "VOU" poetry group, which led Shiraishi to publish her first book of poems in 1951. S ...

, ''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 complex ...

, ''

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 refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...

, 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 male saxophonists American jazz soprano saxophonists Avant-garde jazz musicians Bebop clarinetists Bebop saxophonists Big band bandleaders Blue Note Records artists Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni Improvising Artists Records artists Impulse! Records artists Jazz musicians from Illinois Jazz musicians from Massachusetts American male jazz composers Miles Davis Quintet members Musicians from Boston Musicians from Oklahoma Musicians from Enid, Oklahoma Posi-Tone Records artists NoBusiness Records artists Deaths from pneumonia in Florida