Jean Toussaint (born July 27, 1960) 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 ...

tenor and soprano saxophonist.

Life and career

Toussaint was born in

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

, Dutch Antilles, and was raised in Saint Thomas and New York City. He learned to play calypso as a child and attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in the late 1970s, studying under Bill Pierce (saxophonist). In 1979 he formed a group with

Wallace Roney Wallace Roney (May 25, 1960 – March 31, 2020) was an American jazz (hard bop and post-bop) trumpeter. He has won 1 Grammy award and has two nominations. Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from ...

and from 1982 to 1986 was a member of

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers The Jazz Messengers were a jazz combo that existed for over thirty-five years beginning in the early 1950s as a collective, and ending when long-time leader and founding drummer Art Blakey died in 1990. Blakey led or co-led the group from the o ...

alongside

Terence Blanchard Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed ...

Donald Harrison Donald Harrison Jr. (born June 23, 1960) is an African-American jazz saxophonist and the Big Chief of The Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans Cultural Group from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Berklee Col ...

Mulgrew Miller Mulgrew Miller (August 13, 1955 – May 29, 2013) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. As a child he played in churches and was influenced on piano by Ramsey Lewis and then Oscar Peterson. Aspects of their styles remained in ...

and

Lonnie Plaxico Lonnie Plaxico (born September 4, 1960) is an American jazz double bassist. Biography Plaxico was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen (playing both ...

. With Blakey he recorded three studio albums, including '' New York Scene'', which won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance. In 1987, Toussaint moved to London, England, when he was invited to be artist-in-residence at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

Lionel Grigson Lionel Grigson (12 February 1942 – 14 June 1994) was an English jazz pianist, cornettist, trumpeter, composer, writer and teacher, who in the 1980s started the jazz course at the Guildhall School of Music. As Simon Purcell wrote in ''The Ind ...

, at the time the school's professor of jazz."Jazz Conversations with Craig Milverton and Special Guest Jean Toussaint"
, recorded at the Blue Vanguard Jazz Club Exeter, August 31, 2014. In the late 1980s Toussaint had a regular slot at the fabled

Dingwalls Dingwalls was a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden, London, England. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings that were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, ...

club in

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...

on Sunday afternoons.Robbie_France
_biography.html" ;"title="Robbie France">Robbie France
biography">Robbie France">Robbie France
biography/ref> Since then, Toussaint has maintained a profile as a band leader in the UK and Europe, playing with British musicians including, among others, Steve Williamson, Courtney Pine,

Julian Joseph Julian Raphael Nathaniel Joseph (born 11 May 1966) is a British jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and broadcaster. Biography Joseph was born in London and attended Allfarthing Primary School and Spencer Park Secondary School in Wan ...

Jason Rebello Jason Matthew Rebello (born 29 March 1969) is a British pianist, songwriter, and record producer. Career Rebello was born in Carshalton, Surrey. His father's family is from India. Rebello was raised a Catholic in Wandsworth, London. He was cl ...

, Cleveland Watkiss. Toussaint has also performed in groups led by McCoy Tyner, Gil Evans,

Kirk Lightsey Kirkland "Kirk" Lightsey (born February 15, 1937, Detroit, Michigan) is an American jazz pianist. Biography Lightsey had piano instruction from the age of five and studied piano and clarinet through high school. After service in the Army, Lights ...

Cedar Walton Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19, 2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and com ...

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz Jazz drumming, 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 h ...

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 ...

and

Jeff Tain Watts Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

. In addition he has collaborated with

Lionel Loueke Lionel Loueke (born 27 April 1973) is a guitarist and vocalist born in Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. Biography Loueke grew up in what he has described as a family of poor intellectuals in the W ...

. Toussaint has released 10 albums as a leader, his most recent entitled ''Tate Song'' in February 2014 with

LYTE Records Lyte Records is an independent record label founded and owned by Northern Irish musician and producer David Lyttle. Artists * Tom Harrison * David Lyttle * Nigel Mooney * Jason Rebello * Jean Toussaint * Andreas Varady Andreas Varady (born ...

. In 2015/16 Toussaint devised a project dedicated to his mentor Blakey. The project was entitled "Roots & Herbs: The Blakey Project" and featured an all-star lineup of British jazz musicians, including

Byron Wallen Byron Wallen (born July 1969) is a British jazz trumpeter, composer and educator. He was described by ''Jazzwise'' as "one of the most innovative, exciting and original trumpet players alive". As characterised by ''All About Jazz'', "He does not ...

Dennis Rollins Dennis Rollins, (born 1964) is an English jazz trombonist, the founder and bandleader of BadBone and Co. Early life and career Dennis George Rollins was born in Birmingham, England, of Jamaican parents, and raised in Bentley, Doncaster, wher ...

and Shane Forbes. The group toured the UK extensively throughout 2015 / 2016.

Discography

As leader * ''Impressions of Coltrane'' (Fever, 1987) * ''What Goes Around'', ( World Circuit, 1991) * ''Life I Want'' (New Note, 1996) * ''Nazaire Who's Blues'' (Jazz House, 1996) * ''Back to Back'' (Jazz Focus, 1998) * ''Street Above The Underground'' ( BMG, 2000) * ''Blue Black'' (Blue Geodesics, 2002) * ''Continuum Act One'' (Space Time, 2004) * ''Live in Paris and London'' (Space Time, 2010) * ''Tate Song'' ( Lyte, 2014) With

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

* '' New York Scene'' (

Concord Jazz Concord Jazz is a record company and label founded in 1973 by Carl Jefferson, the former owner of Jefferson Motors Lincoln Mercury dealership in Concord, California. The label was named after the city in the East San Francisco Bay area, and the j ...

, 1984) * '' Blue Night'' ( Timeless, 1985) * '' Feeling Good'' (Delos, 1986) With

*'' Kirk 'n Marcus'' (Criss Cross Jazz, 1987) with Marcus Belgrave

References

External links

"Jazz Conversations with Craig Milverton and Special Guest Jean Toussaint"
recorded at the Blue Vanguard Jazz Club Exeter, August 31, 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Toussaint, Jean Jazz tenor saxophonists 1960 births Living people Aruban musicians The Jazz Messengers members Berklee College of Music alumni 21st-century saxophonists