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, but as her career progressed she became better known as an

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...

, particularly in partnership with pianist Randy Weston. Smith, Jessie Carney, and Shirelle Phelps (eds), ''Notable Black American Women: Book 2''. VNR AG, 1996, , pp. 413–415. Other major artists with whom she worked include Dizzy Gillespie,

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and rai ...

and

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 th ...

Biography

Early life and education

Liston was born in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age of seven, Melba's mother purchased her a trombone and began learning to play. Her family encouraged her musical pursuits, as they were all music lovers. Liston was primarily self-taught, but she was "encouraged by her guitar-playing grandfather", with whom she spent significant time learning to play spirituals and folk songs. At the age of eight, she was good enough to be a solo act on a local radio station.Nicole Williams Sitaraman
"Melba Liston"
The Girls in the Band. At the age of 10, she moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

. She was classmates with

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...

, and friends with

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 ...

. After playing in youth bands and studying with Alma Hightower for three years, she decided to become a professional musician and joined the big band led by

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 ...

in 1943.

Career

She recorded with saxophonist

in 1947 and joined Dizzy Gillespie's big band, which included saxophonists

, Paul Gonsalves, and pianist

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashvill ...

in New York for a time when Wilson disbanded his orchestra in 1948. Liston performed in a supporting role and was nervous when asked to take solos, but with encouragement she became more comfortable as a featured voice in bands. She toured with

, then with

(1949) but was so profoundly affected by the indifference of the audiences and the rigors of the road that she gave up playing and turned to education. Liston taught for about three years. She took a clerical job for some years and supplemented her income by taking work as an extra in Hollywood, appearing with

Lana Turner Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized pe ...

in '' The Prodigal'' (1955) and in '' The Ten Commandments'' (1956). Liston returned to Gillespie for tours sponsored by the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

in 1956 and 1957, recorded 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 ...

's Jazz Messengers (1957), and formed an all-women quintet in 1958. In 1959, she visited Europe with the show ''Free and Easy'', for which

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

was music director. She accompanied

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...

with the Quincy Jones Orchestra on ''At Basin Street East'', released on October 1, 1961, by Verve. In the late 1950s she began collaborating with pianist Randy Weston, arranging compositions (primarily his own) for mid-size to large ensembles. This association, especially strong in the 1960s, would be rekindled in the late 1980s and 1990s until her death. In addition, she worked with

Milt Jackson Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging sol ...

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

, and

Johnny Griffin John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of ...

, as well as working as an arranger for

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''mot ...

, appearing on albums by

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

. In 1964, she helped establish the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra. In 1971 she was chosen as musical arranger for Stax recording artist Calvin Scott, whose album was being produced by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...

's first producer,

Clarence Paul Clarence Otto Pauling (March 19, 1928 – May 6, 1995) better known and published as Clarence Paul, was an American songwriter, record producer and singer who was best known for his career with Detroit's Motown Records. Early life and career Bor ...

. On this album she worked with Joe Sample and Wilton Felder of the Jazz Crusaders, blues guitarist Arthur Adams, and jazz drummer

Paul Humphrey Paul Nelson Humphrey (October 12, 1935 – January 31, 2014) was an American jazz and R&B drummer. Biography Humphrey was born in Detroit and began playing drums at age 8, taking private lessons in Detroit. In high school he played baritone hor ...

. In 1973, she moved to Jamaica to teach at the Jamaica School of Music for six years, before returning to the U.S. to lead her own bands. During her time in Jamaica, she composed and arranged music for the 1975 comedy film '' Smile Orange'', starring Carl Bradshaw, who three years earlier starred in the first Jamaican film, '' The Harder They Come'' (1972). She was forced to give up playing in 1985 after a stroke left her partially paralyzed, but she continued to arrange music with Randy Weston. In 1987, she was awarded the Jazz Masters Fellowship 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 federa ...

Death

After suffering repeated strokes, Liston died in Los Angeles, California, in 1999, a few days after a tribute to her and Randy Weston's music at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Her funeral at St. Peter's in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

featured performances by Weston with Jann Parker, as well as by

Chico O'Farrill Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill (October 28, 1921 – June 27, 2001) was a Cuban composer, arranger, and conductor, best known for his work in the Latin idiom, specifically Afro-Cuban jazz or "Cubop", although he also composed traditional jazz pieces ...

's Afro-Cuban ensemble and by Lorenzo Shihab (vocals).

Composing and arranging

Her early work with the high-profile bands of Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie shows a strong command of the big-band and bop idioms. However, perhaps her most important work was written for Randy Weston, with whom she collaborated on and off for four decades from the late 1950s into the 1990. Liston worked as a "ghost writer" during her career. According to one writer, "Many of the arrangements found in the Gillespie, Jones, and Weston repertoires were accomplished by Liston."

Legacy

Liston was a female in a profession of mostly males. Although some consider her an unsung hero, she is highly regarded in the jazz community. Liston was a trailblazer as a trombonist and a woman. She articulated difficulties of being a woman on the road: "There's those natural problems on the road, the female problems, the lodging problems, the laundry, and all those kinda things to try to keep yourself together, problems that somehow or other the guys don't seem to have to go through." She goes on to recount the struggles she experienced as an African-American woman, which affected her musical career. However, she generally spoke positively about the camaraderie with and support from male musicians. Liston also dealt with larger issues of inequity in the music industry. One writer has said, "It was clear that she had to continually prove her credentials in order to gain suitable employment as a musician, composer, and arranger. She was not paid equitable scale and was often denied access to the larger opportunities as a composer and arranger."

Musical style

Liston's musical style reflects bebop and post-bop sensibilities learned from Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey. Her earliest recorded work—such as Gordon's "Mischievous Lady" a tribute to her—her solos show a blend of motivic and linear improvisation, though they seem to make less use of extended harmonies and alterations. Her arrangements, especially those with Weston, show a flexibility that transcends her musical upbringing in the bebop 1940s, whether working in the styles of swing, post-bop, African musics, or Motown. Her command of rhythmic gestures, grooves, and polyrhythms is particularly notable (as illustrated in ''

Uhuru Afrika ''Uhuru Afrika'' (subtitled/translated as ''Freedom Africa'') is an album by American jazz pianist Randy Weston recorded in 1960 and originally released on the Roulette label. The album features lyrics and liner notes by the poet Langston Hughes a ...

'' and ''

Highlife Highlife is a music genre that started in present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British Empire and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It describes multiple local fusions of African metre and wester ...

''). Her instrumental parts demonstrate an active use of harmonic possibilities; although her arrangements suggest relatively subdued interest in the explorations of free jazz ensembles, they use an extended tonal vocabulary, rich with altered harmonic voicings, thick layering, and dissonance. Her work throughout her career has been well received by both critics and audiences alike.

Discography

As leader

* '' Melba Liston and Her 'Bones'' (MetroJazz, 1959) * ''Volcano Blues'' with Randy Weston (Antilles, 1993)

As sidewoman or guest

With Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers * 1957: '' Art Blakey Big Band'' * 1957: ''Theory of Art'' * 1965: '' Hold On, I'm Coming'' With

Betty Carter Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 16, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative int ...

* 1958: ''

Out There with Betty Carter ''Out There'' (also listed as ''Out There with Betty Carter'') is a bebop album by jazz vocalist Betty Carter with an ensemble under the direction of alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce. The arrangements were provided by Gryce, Ray Copeland, Melba Lis ...

'' * 1961: ''I Can't Help It'' With

* 1959: ''The Genius of Ray Charles'' * 1962: ''The Ray Charles Story, Vol. 2'' With Dizzy Gillespie * 1955: '' Jazz Recital'' * 1956: '' World Statesman'' * 1957: '' Dizzy Gillespie at Newport'' * 1957: '' Birks' Works'' * 1957: '' Dizzy in Greece'' With

* 1959: '' The Birth of a Band!'' * 1960: ''Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series, Vol. 1'' * 1960: '' I Dig Dancers'' * 1961: ''Newport '61'' * 1961: ''The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones: Live!'' * 1962: ''The Quintessence'' * 1963: ''Plays Hip Hits'' * 1965: ''

I/We Had a Ball ''I/We Had a Ball'' is an album consisting of jazz versions of songs from Jack Lawrence and Stan Freeman's musical ''I Had a Ball'' performed by Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and Chet Baker which was rele ...

'' * 1965: '' Quincy Plays for Pussycats'' With Jimmy Smith * 1963: ''Any Number Can Win'' * 1966: ''Jimmy & Wes'' * 1966: ''The Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes'' * 1966: '' Hoochie Coochie Man'' * 1969: ''Jimmy Smith Plays the Blues'' With

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

* 1957: ''Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller'' * 1958: ''Dinah Washington Sings Bessie Smith'' With Randy Weston * 1958: '' Little Niles'' * 1959: '' Destry Rides Again'' * 1959: '' Live at the Five Spot'' * 1961: ''

'' * 1963: ''

'' - Music from the new African nations featuring the Highlife * 1973: '' Tanjah'' * 1992: '' The Spirits of Our Ancestors'' * 1993: ''Volcano Blues'' * 1997: ''Earth Birth'' * 1998: '' Khepera'' With others * 1957: '' Last Chorus'', Ernie Henry * 1958: ''Back on the Scene'', Bennie Green * 1959: ''Rhythm Crazy'',

Jimmy Cleveland James Milton Cleveland (May 3, 1926 – August 23, 2008) was an American jazz trombonist born in Wartrace, Tennessee.

* 1959: ''Tales of Manhattan'',

Babs Gonzales Babs Gonzales (October 27, 1919 – January 23, 1980), born Lee Brown, was an American bebop vocalist, poet, and self-published author. His books portrayed the jazz world that many black musicians struggled in, portraying disk jockeys, club owner ...

* 1960: ''

Trane Whistle ''Trane Whistle'' is an album by saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' Big Band with arrangements by Oliver Nelson and Ernie Wilkins recorded in 1960 and released on the Prestige label.Payne, DOliver Nelson discographyaccessed July 11, 2012 Receptio ...

'',

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Edward F. Davis (March 2, 1922 – November 3, 1986), known professionally as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. It is unclear how he acquired the moniker "Lockjaw" (later shortened in "Jaws"): it is either said that ...

* 1961: ''African Waltz'', Cannonball Adderley * 1961: ''At Basin Street East'',

* 1961: ''Rah'', Mark Murphy * 1961: ''

The Chant The Chant is an indie rock band from South Florida that relocated to Atlanta. The band formed in 1984 and was originally composed of Walter Cz on vocals, guitars and mandolin, James "Bing" Johnson on vocals and bass, Todd Barry on drums, and ...

'', Sam Jones * 1961: '' The Soul of Hollywood'', Junior Mance * 1962: ''Afro-American Sketches'',

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 signifi ...

* 1962: '' Big Bags'',

* 1962: ''Bursting Out with the All Star Big Band!'',

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

* 1962: ''Rhythm Is My Business'',

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, i ...

* 1962: ''Snap Your Fingers'',

Al Grey Al Grey (June 6, 1925 – March 24, 2000) was an American jazz trombonist who was a member of the Count Basie orchestra. He was known for his plunger mute technique and wrote an instructional book in 1987 called ''Plunger Techniques''. Car ...

* 1962: '' The Complete Town Hall Concert'',

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...

* 1962: ''This Is Billy Mitchell Featuring Bobby Hutcherson'',

Billy Mitchell William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who is regarded as the father of the United States Air Force. Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, command ...

* 1963: '' For Someone I Love'', Milt Jackson * 1963: ''The Body & the Soul'', Freddie Hubbard * 1964: ''Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Christ of the Andes'', Mary Lou Williams * 1965: ''

And Then Again ''And Then Again'' is a jazz album by drummer Elvin Jones recorded in 1965 and released on the Atlantic label.Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such widely celebra ...

* 1966: '' Roll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands'',

Shirley Scott Shirley Scott (March 14, 1934 – March 10, 2002) was an American jazz organist. Her music was noted for its mixture of bebop, blues and gospel elements. She was known by the nickname "Queen of the Organ". Life and career Scott was born in Ph ...

* 1967: '' A Mann & A Woman'',

Tamiko Jones Tamiko Jones (born Barbara Tamiko Ferguson, 1945) is an American singer. Her most successful record was "Touch Me Baby (Reaching Out For Your Love)" in 1975. Career Barbara Tamiko Ferguson was born in Kyle, West Virginia, and has part Japanese ...

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inc ...

* 1967: ''Heads Up'',

Blue Mitchell Richard Allen "Blue" Mitchell (March 13, 1930 – May 21, 1979) was an American trumpeter and composer who worked in jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and funk. He recorded albums as leader and sideman for Riverside, Mainstream Records, and ...

* 1968: '' Listen Here'',

Freddie McCoy Freddie McCoy (November 29, 1932 – September 27, 2009) was an American soul jazz vibraphonist. McCoy started out with Johnny "Hammond" Smith in 1961, and released seven albums for Prestige Records plus one in 1971 for the short-lived Cobblesto ...

* 1970: ''Kim Kim Kim'', Kim Weston * 1973: ''That Lovin' Feelin' '', Junior Mance * 1978: ''Skylark'', Freddie Hubbard

References

External links

Interview of Melba Liston
Center for Oral History Research, UCLA Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.
"Melba Liston: Bones of an Arranger"
NPR
"Melba Liston: A Sensitive and Daring Arranger"
''The Scotsman''
"Melba Liston and Her 'Bones"
''All About Jazz''

at Women in Jazz

with Randy Weston
Melba Liston biography
at National Endowment for the Arts * Liptrott, Josephine
"Biography: Melba Liston – Jazz Trombonist"
''The Heroine Collection'', December 19, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Liston, Melba 1926 births 1999 deaths 20th-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century American composers 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century trombonists 20th-century women composers African-American Catholics African-American women musicians American jazz composers American jazz trombonists American music arrangers American women jazz musicians Jazz musicians from Missouri Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri Women jazz composers Women trombonists