Elvira Louise Redd (September 20, 1928 – February 6, 2022) 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 ...
alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...
player, vocalist and educator. She was active from the early 1950s and was known primarily for playing in the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
style. She was highly regarded as an accomplished veteran, and performed with
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (born Ronald Theodore Kirk; August 7, 1935Kernfeld, Barry.Kirk, Roland" ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'', 2nd ed. Ed. Barry Kernfeld. ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Grove Music Online''. ''Grove Dictionary of M ...
,
Linda Hopkins,
Marian McPartland and
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 ...
.
Life and career
Redd was born on September 20, 1928, in Los Angeles, California,
the daughter of
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
jazz drummer and
Clef Club co-founder
Alton Redd and Mattie Redd (née Thomas).
Her mother played saxophone, although not professionally, and her brother was a percussionist.
She was deeply influenced during her formative years by her father, who was one of the leading figures on the
Central Avenue jazz scene. Another important musical mentor was her paternal great aunt
Alma Hightower,
who convinced the 10-year-old Redd to switch from piano to saxophone.
During junior high school, Redd played alto saxophone in a band with
Melba Liston
Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands, she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, ...
and
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians. Gordon's height was , so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" an ...
.
Redd graduated from
Los Angeles State College in 1954,
and earned a teaching certificate from
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
. After working for the Board of Education from 1957 to 1960, Redd returned to jazz. She played in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
in 1962, toured with
Earl Hines
Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...
in 1964 and led a group in San Francisco in the mid-1960s with her husband, drummer
Richie Goldberg. During this time, Redd also worked with
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...
. While active, she toured as far as Japan, London (including an unprecedented 10 weeks at
Ronnie Scott's), Sweden, Spain and Paris. In 1969, she settled in Los Angeles where she played locally while also working as an educator.
She recorded two albums under her own name. ''Bird Call,'' released on
United Artists
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
in 1962, featured
Russ Freeman,
Roy Ayers
Roy Edward Ayers Jr. (September 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025) was an American vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure ...
,
Herb Ellis,
Bob Whitlock and Richie Goldberg on its first half of tracks; the other half was recorded with trumpeter Kansas Lawrence instead of Ellis, and
Leroy Vinnegar on bass.
On her second 1963 album ''Lady Soul'' (
Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to:
Businesses
* ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies
** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company
* Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...
), there were also two sessions with different line-ups. For the most part, pianist
Dick Hyman,
Paul Griffin on organ,
Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar, bassist
Ben Tucker and drummer
Dave Bailey played; the remaining three tracks were recorded with
Bill Perkins on tenor saxophone and flute, organist
Jennell Hawkins
Jennell Ruth Hawkins (née Grimes, April 8, 1938 – October 13, 2006) was an American R&B singer and musician who recorded in the 1950s and early 1960s and had a Top 50 chart hit in 1961 with "Moments to Remember".
Biography
Jennell "Jenny ...
, guitarist
Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" gu ...
, Vinnegar on bass, and Leroy Harrison on drums. For both albums
Leonard Feather
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
supervised the recordings and wrote the liner notes.
In the late 1970s, she recorded another album called ''Now's the Time'' with an all-female group of musicians led by
Marian McPartland featuring guitarist
Mary Osborne, Lynn Milano on bass, and
Dottie Dodgion on drums, released on Partland's label Halcyon in 1977.
Redd taught and lectured for many years from the 1970s onward upon returning to Los Angeles.
She served on the music advisory panel of the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
in the late 1970s.
In 1989, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Jazz Society.
In 2001, she received the
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and ...
Women in Jazz Award from the
Kennedy Center
The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...
.
Redd died on February 6, 2022, at the age of 93.
Discography
* ''Bird Call'' (
United Artists
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
, 1962)
* ''Lady Soul'' (
Atco Atco or ATCO may refer to:
Businesses
* ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies
** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company
* Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...
, 1963)
* ''Now's the Time'' with
Marian McPartland,
Mary Osborne, Lynn Milano, and
Dottie Dodgion (
Halcyon, 1977)
References
Further reading
;Interviews
* Rowe, Monk
Vi Redd Hamilton College
Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...
Jazz Archive, February 13, 1999.
;Publications
*
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Redd, Vi
1928 births
2022 deaths
African-American saxophonists
American music educators
American women music educators
American jazz alto saxophonists
Bebop saxophonists
Count Basie Orchestra members
Hard bop saxophonists
Post-bop saxophonists
Soul-jazz saxophonists
Soul-jazz vocalists
American women jazz singers
American jazz singers
California State University, Los Angeles alumni
21st-century American saxophonists
American women jazz saxophonists
21st-century American women musicians
African-American women musicians
Musicians from Los Angeles