Charles Tolliver (born 1942) is 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 major f ...

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

, composer, and co-founder of Strata East Records.

Biography

Tolliver was born in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...

, in 1942 and moved with his family to

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 Un ...

when he was 10. During his childhood, his grandmother gave him his first horn, a cornet he had coveted. Tolliver attended

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

in the early 1960s as a pharmacy major, when he decided to pursue music as a career and return home to New York City. He came to prominence in 1964, playing and recording on

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

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 ...

albums. In 1971, Tolliver and

Stanley Cowell Stanley Cowell (May 5, 1941 – December 17, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of the Strata-East Records label. Early life Cowell was born in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing the piano around the age of four, and became interest ...

founded Strata-East Records, and Tolliver released many albums and collaborations on Strata-East. Following a long hiatus, he reemerged in the late 2000s, releasing two albums arranged for

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

, ''With Love'' and ''Emperor March''. ''With Love'' was nominated in 2007 for a Grammy award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. He would later describe his experience: "There was so much going on with the music. Like with bebop, we had a long period of just salivating on. There were all these different idioms within a genre, the avant-garde and free music, bebop still, and of course the music of John Coltrane and

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Englis ...

. It was just a hell of a period. And then there was also the political scene going on...."Interview, Laurence Donohue-Greene, All About Jazz Online.

Discography

As leader

* 1965: "Brilliant Corners" on '' The New Wave in Jazz'' (

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 positi ...

) * 1968: '' Paper Man'' (

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

), also released as ''Charles Tolliver and His All Stars'' (

Black Lion Black Lion, Black Lions, or Blacklions may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Black Lion, Hammersmith, a London pub * Black Lion, Kilburn, a London pub * Black Lion Records, a British jazz record company * Black Lions Films, associated w ...

) * 1970: '' The Ringer'' (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

) * 1970: ''

Live at Slugs' ''Live at Slugs is a live album by American jazz trumpeter-composer Charles Tolliver and his quarter Music Inc. It was recorded in 1970 and released by Strata-East Records as two volumes in 1972. Reception The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow aw ...

'' (

Strata-East Strata-East Records is an American record company and label specialising in jazz founded in 1971 by Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell with the release of their first recording '' Music Inc.'' The label released over 50 albums in the 1970s. M ...

) * 1971: '' Music Inc.'' (Strata-East) * 1972: ''

Impact Impact may refer to: * Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period * Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US Science and technology * Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event * Impact ...

'' (

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...

) * 1972: '' Live at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival'' (Strata-East), also released as ''Grand Max'' (Black Lion) * 1974/1975: '' Live in Tokyo'' (Strata-East) * 1975: ''

'' (Strata-East) * 1977: ''Compassion'' (Strata-East), also released as ''New Tolliver'' ( Baystate) * 1988: ''Live in Berlin at the Quasimodo Vol. 1'' (Strata-East) * 1988: ''Live in Berlin at the Quasimodo Vol. 2'' (Strata-East) * 2007: ''With Love'' (

) * 2009: ''Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note'' (

Half Note ''Half Note'' is a live album by saxophonist Clifford Jordan which was recorded in 1974 and first released on the SteepleChase label in 1985.

) * 2020: ''Connect'' ( Gearbox Records)

As a sideman

With

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Pol ...

*'' Virgo Vibes'' (Atlantic, 1967) *'' Stoned Soul Picnic'' (Atlantic, 1968) With

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Works ...

*'' Another Earth'' (Milestone, 1969) With Booker Ervin *'' Structurally Sound'' (Pacific Jazz, 1966) *'' Booker 'n' Brass'' (Pacific Jazz, 1967) With

Louis Hayes Louis Hayes (born May 31, 1937) is an American jazz drummer and band leader. He was with McCoy Tyner's trio for more than three years. Since 1989 he has led his own band, and together with Vincent Herring formed the Cannonball Legacy Band. He i ...

*'' Light and Lively'' (SteepleChase, 1989) *'' The Crawl'' (Candid, 1989) *''

Una Max ''Una Max'' is an album by the drummer Louis Hayes, recorded in 1989 and released on the Danish SteepleChase label.Louis Hayes: Mu ...

'' (SteepleChase, 1989) With Andrew Hill *'' One for One'' (Blue Note, 1965, 1969, 1970

975 Year 975 ( CMLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor John I raids Mesopotamia and invades Syria, using ...

*'' Dance with Death'' (Blue Note, 1968 980 *'' Time Lines'' (Blue Note, 2006) With

*'' It's Time!'' (Blue Note, 1964) *'' Action Action Action'' (Blue Note, 1964) *''

Jacknife ''Jacknife'' is a 1989 American film directed by David Jones and starring Robert De Niro, Ed Harris and Kathy Baker. The film focuses on a small, serious story, with emphasis on characterization and the complex tension between people in a clos ...

'' (Blue Note, 1965) With

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signif ...

*'' Swiss Suite'' (Flying Dutchman, 1971) 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 work ...

*'' Members, Don't Git Weary'' (Atlantic, 1968) With

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

*'' Serenade to a Soul Sister'' (Blue Note, 1968) With

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gr ...

*'' Song for My Lady'' (Milestone, 1972) With

Gerald Wilson Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. In addition to being a ...

*'' Live and Swinging'' (Pacific Jazz, 1967)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolliver, Charles 1942 births Living people musicians from Jacksonville, Florida American jazz composers American male jazz composers American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Howard University alumni Strata-East Records artists Enja Records artists Freedom Records artists 21st-century trumpeters 21st-century American male musicians Black Lion Records artists