Richard Dunbar was a player of the

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

, playing in the

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

scene. He was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, on May 22, 1944. He began studying the French horn in high school and never put it down. He also was known to play the bass guitar and shakeray, an African percussion instrument. His first known appearance on record was on a 1968 recording by

Bill Dixon William Robert “Bill” Dixon (October 5, 1925 – June 16, 2010) was an American composer, improviser, visual artist, activist, and educator. Dixon was one of the seminal figures in free jazz and late twentieth-century contemporary music. Hi ...

, University of the Streets. He appeared as a sideman with players such as Sam Rivers,

Earl Freeman Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

and

Ted Daniel Ted Daniel (born June 4, 1943) is an American jazz trumpeter and composer. Biography He studied trumpet in elementary school, and began his professional career playing local gigs with his childhood friend, the legendary guitarist Sonny Sharrock. ...

. In the 1980s, he started a small label, Jahari Records, where he released five records under his own name: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dunbar also had associations with

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

. Around 1993, Dunbar moved to Paris, where he lived, continuing to play and teach music, until February 8, 2006, when he died suddenly at the age of 61, apparently of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

, on the way to a gig. At the time he had just completed his first film and was working on the release of 5 new recordings.

Discography

*''Clear-Eyed Vision'' (1981) *''Running Buddies, Volume 1'' (1982) *''Running Buddies, Volume 2'' (1983) *''Dream Messages'' (1986) *''Dancing To The Light'' (1987)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Richard 1944 births 2006 deaths Musicians from Brooklyn American jazz horn players 20th-century American musicians Jazz musicians from New York (state)