Lonnie Plaxico (born September 4, 1960) is an American jazz double bassist.

Biography

Plaxico was born in

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, into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen (playing both double bass and bass guitar). His first recording was with his family's band, and by the time he was twenty he had moved to New York City, where he had stints playing with

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt,

Junior Cook Herman "Junior" Cook (July 22, 1934 – February 3, 1992) was an American hard bop tenor saxophone player. Biography Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook was a member of the Horace Silver Quin ...

, and Hank Jones. He won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award in 1978. Plaxico first came to public attention through his work with the Wynton Marsalis group in 1982, though his first regular attachment was with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1983–86), with whom he recorded twelve

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

s. In the mid-1980s Plaxico joined the M-Base collective and played on the debut-releases of Steve Coleman (''Motherland Pulse'', 1985),

Cassandra Wilson Cassandra Wilson (born December 4, 1955) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. She is one of the most successful female Jazz singers and has been described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed wi ...

('' Point of View'', 1986) and Greg Osby (''Sound Theatre'', 1987). On Wilson's recordings he appeared regularly ever since and is the musical director and first bassist of her tour band for more than 15 years. In 1986

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, ...

reformed his Special Edition and engaged beside guitarist

Mick Goodrick Mick Goodrick (June 9, 1945 – November 16, 2022) was an American jazz guitarist who spent most of his career as a teacher. In the early 1970s, he worked with Gary Burton and Pat Metheny. Biography An Elvis fan, Goodrick began studying guitar ...

the M-Base saxophonists Greg Osby and Gary Thomas and Plaxico on bass. The band existed until 1993, after three albums with pianist

Michael Cain Michael Cain (born April 2, 1966) is a pianist and composer. Biography Cain attended several universities starting with the University of North Texas. Although initially a jazz major, he found that classical music was occupying more of his ...

replacing Goodrick on the last. Plaxico has also performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, David Murray,

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, Andrew Hill, Joe Sample,

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, Lonnie Liston Smith,

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Scott Tixier Scott Tixier (born February 26, 1986) is a French jazz violinist and professor of jazz violin at the University of North Texas. Life and career Tixier was born in Montreuil, France, and studied classical violin at the conservatory in Paris ...

Barbara Dennerlein Barbara Dennerlein (born 25 September 1964 in Munich) is a German jazz organist. She has achieved particular critical acclaim for using the bass pedalboard on a Hammond organ and for integrating synthesizer sounds onto the instrument, and was d ...

Helen Sung Helen Sung is an American jazz pianist. Music career Sung is a native of Houston, Texas, and is of Chinese heritage. She attended Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and went on to receive undergraduate and master's degrees ...

and Nina Vidal.

Discography

As leader

* 1989: ''Plaxico'' ( Muse) * 1990: ''Iridescence'' (Muse) * 1992: ''Short Takes'' (Muse) * 1993: ''With All Your Heart'' (Muse) * 2000: ''Emergence'' (

Savant Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calc ...

) * 2001: ''Mélange'' (

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 ...

) * 2002: ''Live at the 5:01 Jazz Bar'' (Orchard, Plaxmusic) * 2003: ''Rhythm and Soul'' (Sirocco Jazz) * 2004: ''Live at Jazz Standard'' (Village, Japan) * 2006: ''So Alive'' (Eighty-Eight's) * 2006: ''West Side Stories'' (Plaxmusic) * 2007: ''Live at the Zinc Bar NYC'' (Plaxmusic) * 2009: ''Ancestral Devotion'' (Plaxmusic)

As sideman

With 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 ...

* ''Aurex Jazz Festival'' (

Eastworld Eastworld is a Japanese jazz and pop music record label owned by EMI Music Japan (former Toshiba-EMI), under Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlan ...

, 1983) * ''

New York Scene ''New York Scene'' is a live album by drummer Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers recorded in New York City in 1984 and released on the Concord Jazz label.

'' (

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, 1984) * '' Blue Night'' (

Timeless Timeless (or atemporal) or timelessness (or atemporality) may refer to: * Agelessness, the condition of being unaffected by the passage of time * Akal (Sikh term), timelessness in Sikhism * Eternity, timeless existence or infinite duration * Im ...

, 1985) * ''Live at Sweet Basil'' (Paddle Wheel, 1985) * ''Live at Kimball's'' (Concord, 1985) * ''Live at Ronnie Scott's'' (Wadham, 1985) * ''Hard Champion'' (Paddle Wheel, 1985) * ''Farewell'' (Paddle Wheel, 1985) * ''New Year's Eve at Sweet Basil'' (King/ProJazz, 1985) * ''Dr. Jeckyle - Live at Sweet Basil Vol. 2'' (ProJazz, 1985) With

Cindy Blackman Cindy Blackman Santana (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as Cindy Blackman, is an American jazz and rock drummer. Blackman has recorded several jazz albums as a bandleader and has performed with Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Ron Carter ...

*'' Code Red'' (Muse, 1990

992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...

With

Cecil Brooks III Cecil Brooks III (born 1959) is an American jazz drummer and record producer who has worked with Arthur Blythe, Russell Gunn, John Hicks, Andrew Hill, Etta Jones, Roseanna Vitro, Marvin Peterson, and Jimmy Ponder. A native of the Homewood ...

*'' The Collective'' (Muse, 1989) * ''Smokin' Jazz'' (Muse, 1996) With Steve Coleman * '' Motherland Pulse'' ( JMT, 1985) * Five Elements, ''Sine Die'' (Pangaea, 1988) With

*'' Moving Pictures'' (RCA/BMG, 1998) With

Robin Eubanks Robin Eubanks (born October 25, 1955) is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks. His uncles are jazz pianist Ray Bryant and bassist Tommy Bryant. His mother, Vera Eub ...

* ''

Karma Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...

'' (JMT, 1991) With Dizzy Gillespie * '' New Faces'' ( GRP, 1985) With

Bunky Green Vernice "Bunky" Green (born April 23, 1935) is an American jazz alto saxophonist and educator. Biography Green was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he played the alto saxophone, mainly at a local club called "The Brass Rail". Green's fir ...

* '' Another Place'' (Label Bleu, 2004

006 Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Alec Tre ...

With

* '' Point of View'' (JMT, 1986) * '' Blue Skies'' (JMT, 1988) * ''

Jumpworld ''Jumpworld'' is the fourth studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. It was released in 1990 by JMT label. Track listing # "Woman on the Edge" (Cassandra Wilson) – 5:02 # "Domination Switch" (Steve Coleman, Wilson) – ...

'' (JMT, 1990) * ''

Blue Light 'til Dawn ''Blue Light 'til Dawn'' is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson. Her first album on the Blue Note label, it was released in 1993. It contains Wilson's interpretations of songs by various blues and rock artists, as well as thre ...

'' (

, 1993) * ''

New Moon Daughter ''New Moon Daughter'' is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson that was released by Blue Note in 1995. The album reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' magazine jazz album chart and also won the Grammy Award as the Best Jazz Vocal P ...

'' (Blue Note, 1995) * '' Rendezvous'' (Blue Note, 1997), with Jacky Terrasson * ''

Traveling Miles ''Traveling Miles'' is the thirteenth studio album by American jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson. Released on the Blue Note label in 1999, it is a tribute to Miles Davis, taking many of its cues from Davis' catalog of recordings with Columbia Recor ...

'' (Blue Note, 1999) * ''

Loverly ''Loverly'' is a studio album by American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, released in 2008 via Blue Note label. This is her second-ever album of jazz standards. ''Loverly'' won the Grammy Award as the Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2008. Reception Andy ...

'' (Blue Note, 2008) * '' Coming Forth by Day'' (Legacy, 2015) * ''5 Original Albums'' (Blute Note, 2018) With Greg Osby * ''

Greg Osby and Sound Theatre ''Greg Osby and Sound Theatre'' is the debut studio album by saxophonist Greg Osby recorded in 1987 and released on the JMT label.Mindgames'' (JMT, 1988) * ''

Season of Renewal ''Season of Renewal'' is the third album by saxophonist Greg Osby recorded in 1989 and released on the JMT label.Greg Osby disco ...

'' (JMT, 1990) * ''Zero'' (Blue Note, 1998) With

's Special Edition * ''

Irresistible Forces ''Irresistible Forces'' is an album by Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, with Greg Osby, Gary Thomas, Mick Goodrick, Lonnie Plaxico and Naná Vasconcelos. It was recorded in 1987 and released on the MCA label.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 ...

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

, 1987) * '' Audio-Visualscapes'' (Impulse!/MCA, 1988) * '' Earthwalk'' (Blue Note, 1991) With

Ron Jackson Ronnie Damien Jackson (born May 9, 1953 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a coach and a former player in Major League Baseball. He was the hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 when they won their first World Series in 86 seasons. From 1975 t ...

* ''A Guitar Thing You'' (Muse, 1991) * ''Thinking of You'' (Muse, 1993) With Don Byron * ''Tuskegee Experiments'' (

Nonesuch __NOTOC__ Nonesuch may refer to: Plants * '' Lychnis chalcedonica'', a wildflower * ''Medicago lupulina'', a wildflower Places and structures *Nonesuch, Kentucky *Nonesuch Island, Bermuda *Nonesuch Mine, Michigan *Nonesuch Palace, mis-spelling of ...

, 1992) * ''Ivey-Divey'' (Blue Note, 2004) With

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...

* ''I Told You So'' ( Candid, 1992) With

Carola Grey Carola Grey, born Carola Gschrey (born August 5, 1968, Munich) is a German jazz drummer and composer. Grey studied piano as a child, but switched to drums as a teenager after hearing the recordings of Gene Krupa.Mark Gilbert, "Carola Grey". '' The ...

* ''Noisy Mama'' (Jazzline, 1992) With Lafayette Harris * ''Lafayette Is Here'' (Muse, 1993) With Hannibal Marvin Peterson * ''One with the Wind'' (Muse, 1993) With Gust Tsilis * ''Wood Music'' ( Enja, 1993) With Regina Carter * ''Regina Carter'' ( Atlantic, 1995) With Talib Kibwe * ''Introducing Talib Kibwe'' ( Evidence, 1996) With

* ''Take Off!'' ( Verve, 1995) With

Jean-Paul Bourelly Jean-Paul Etienne Bourelly (born November 23, 1960) is an American guitarist whose music crosses the boundaries of jazz fusion and rock. Bourelly was born in Chicago, Illinois, to parents from Haiti. His grandmother taught him Yoruba music. Whe ...

, Harry Sokal, and

Ronnie Burrage Ronnie Burrage (born James Ronaldo Burrage October 19, 1959) is an American jazz drummer. His style draws from jazz, funk, and soul. Career He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Burrage sang in the St. Louis Cathedral boys' choir f ...

* ''Mag Five'' (PAO, 1998) With

LaMont Johnson Ernest Lamont Johnson Jr. (September 30, 1922 – October 24, 2010) was an American actor and film director who has appeared in and directed many television shows and movies. He won two Emmy Awards. Early years Johnson was born in Stockto ...

* ''241 East 3rd St.'' (Orchard, 1998) With Ray Anderson * Lapis Lazuli Band, ''Funkorific'' (Enja, 1998) With

Mark Ledford Mark Ledford (1960 – November 1, 2004) was an American trumpeter, singer, and guitarist. He was known for his multi-instrumentalism and his membership in the Pat Metheny Group. Music career Ledford grew up in Detroit and attended Berklee Col ...

* ''Miles to Go'' (

Verve Forecast Verve Forecast is a record label formed as a division of Verve Records to concentrate on pop, rock, and folk music. Founding Jerry Schoenbaum of Verve and Moe Asch of Folkways created Verve Folkways in 1964 to take advantage of the popularity ...

, 1998) With

* ''Moving Pictures'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Com ...

, 1998) With Jason Moran *''

Soundtrack to Human Motion ''Soundtrack to Human Motion'' is the debut album led by American pianist and composer Jason Moran which was recorded in 1998 and released on the Blue Note label the following year.

'' (Blue Note, 1999) With

Teri Thornton Teri Thornton, born Shirley Enid Avery (September 1, 1934 – May 2, 2000) was an American jazz singer. Thornton first performed in local Detroit clubs in the 1950s. She moved to New York City in the 1960s, where she found work singing for telev ...

* ''I'll Be Easy to Find'' (Verve, 1999) With

* ''Another Place'' (Label Bleu, 2006) With

Brian Landrus Brian Landrus (born September 14, 1978) is a jazz saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and educator. Career Landrus was born in Reno, Nevada, where he began playing professionally at the age of 13. He earned a degree in saxo ...

* ''Traverse'' (BlueLand, 2012) With Yukiko Onishi aka Yucco Miller * ''Yucco Miller'' (King, 2016)

References

External links

*Carr, Ian, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. ''Jazz: The Rough Guide''. London: Rough Guides.
Plaxico's Web site
*

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 bo ...

on Allmusic
Brief bio
by Chris Parker for the

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sco ...

pages
Interview with Plaxico
for 441 Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Plaxico, Lonnie 1960 births Living people African-American guitarists American jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists American jazz bass guitarists American male bass guitarists The Jazz Messengers members Muse Records artists Blue Note Records artists Guitarists from Chicago Jazz musicians from Illinois 21st-century double-bassists American male jazz musicians