Fred Hess (September 3, 1944, Abington, Pennsylvania – October 27, 2018) 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 major ...

tenor saxophonist.

Formative years

Born in

Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Abington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is adjacent to Philadelphia's northern fringe. The population was 55,310 as of the 2010 census, making it the second most populous township in Montgomery County after Lower ...

on September 3, 1944, Fred Hess was raised in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and studied at

Trenton State College The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ was the first normal school, or ...

. He also studied composition at, and performed in, The Festival at Sandpoint in 1990. His early experiences included studies with saxophonist

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

, performances with bandleader

Fred Waring Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also ...

, and composing music for the world premiere of a

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

play.

Career

As a composer, Hess's influences encompass avant-garde classical sources, as well as

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 Chica ...

and the members of the AACM. He moved to

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

, in 1981, where he founded the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble. He then completed further studies at the

University of Colorado, Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

, taking his doctorate in composition in 1991. He recorded his first albums as a leader in the early 1990s, and was the director of music composition at Metro State College in Denver, Colorado. In addition to his own projects as a leader (BCME and The Fred Hess Group), he was the founding director of Denver's Creative Music Works Orchestra and was a member of drummer

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

's Denver Jazz Quintet, as well as ensembles led by trumpeter

Ron Miles Ronald Glen Miles (May 9, 1963 – March 8, 2022) was an American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, and composer. He recorded for the labels Prolific (1986), Capri Records (Jazz record label), Capri (1990), and Rykodisc, Gramavision. His final album, ...

. His most recent performing group was the Fred Hess Big Band. Hess's playing was influenced by

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 ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

, the

Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1965 in Chicago by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. The AACM is devote ...

, and

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist. On a few occasions, he also played the clarinet and piccolo. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gai ...

. Among his releases is ''Extended Family'', issued in 2003 on Tapestry Records.

Death

Hess died at the age of seventy-four on October 27, 2018.Fred Hess
(death and funeral information). Denver, Colorado: Fairmount Funeral Home, Cemetery & Crematory, retrieved online June 4, 2023.

Discography

* ''Sweet Thunder'' (

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

, 1991) * ''You Know I Care'' (

, 1994) * ''Faith'' (

Cadence Jazz Cadence Jazz is an American record company and label specializing in noncommercial modern jazz. It is associated with ''Cadence Magazine''. Cadence Jazz was founded by Bob Rusch in Redwood, New York in 1980. By 2000 the label had issued more t ...

, 2000) * ''Exposed'' (

CIMP Creative Improvised Music Projects, usually abbreviated CIMP or C.I.M.P., is an American jazz record company and label. It is associated with ''Cadence Magazine'' and Cadence Jazz Records. The label is noted for its minimal use of electronic proc ...

, 2001) * ''Right at Home'' (Tapestry, 2002) * ''Between the Lines'' (Tapestry, 2003) * ''Ninth Street Park'' (Tapestry, 2003) * ''Extended Family'' (Tapestry, 2003) * ''Long and Short of It'' (Tapestry, 2004) * ''Crossed Paths'' (Tapestry, 2005) * ''How Bout Now'' (Tapestry, 2006) * ''In the Grotto'' (Alison, 2007) * ''Single Moment'' (Alison, 2008) * ''Hold On'' Fred Hess Big Band (Dazzle), 2009) * ''Into the Open'' Fred Hess Big Band (Alison, 2010) * ''Speak'' Fred Hess Big Band (Alison, 2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Fred American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania University of Colorado Boulder alumni CIMP artists 1944 births 2018 deaths American male jazz musicians 20th-century American saxophonists