Samuel Carthorne Rivers (September 25, 1923 – December 26, 2011) 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 m ...
musician and composer. Though most famously a tenor saxophonist, he also performed on soprano saxophone,
bass clarinet, flute, harmonica, piano and viola.
Active in jazz since the early 1950s, he earned wider attention during the mid-1960s spread of
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 duri ...
. With a thorough command of
music theory, orchestration and composition, Rivers was an influential and prominent artist in jazz music.
Early life
Rivers was born in
El Reno, Oklahoma
El Reno is a city in and county seat of Canadian County, Oklahoma, Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 16,989, marking a change of 1.55% from 16,729, recorded in the ...
, United States.
His father was a
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
musician who had sung with the
Fisk Jubilee Singers
The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American '' a cappella'' ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditio ...
and the Silverstone Quartet, exposing Rivers to music from an early age. His grandfather was
Marshall W. Taylor, a religious leader from Kentucky. Rivers was stationed in California in the 1940s during a stint in the Navy. Here he performed semi-regularly with blues singer
Jimmy Witherspoon
James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues singer.
Early life, family and education
Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, and his mot ...
.
Rivers moved to
Boston, Massachusetts in 1947, where he studied at the
Boston Conservatory
Boston Conservatory at Berklee (formerly The Boston Conservatory) is a private performing arts conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, music, and theater.
Boston Conservatory was founded ...
with
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American- Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) a ...
.
He performed with
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 ...
,
Herb Pomeroy
Irving Herbert Pomeroy III (April 15, 1930 – August 11, 2007) was an American jazz trumpeter, teacher, and the founder of the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble.
Early life
Pomeroy was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. He began playing ...
,
Tadd Dameron
Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swin ...
and others.
Blue Note era
In 1959, Rivers began performing with 13-year-old drummer
Tony Williams.
Rivers was briefly a member of the
Miles Davis Quintet
The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and ...
in 1964, partly on Williams's recommendation.
This edition of the quintet released a single live album, ''
Miles in Tokyo'', from a show recorded on July 14 at Kohseinenkin Hall. Rivers' tenure with the quintet was brief: he had engagements in Boston, and his playing style was too
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
for Davis during this period; he was replaced by Wayne Shorter shortly thereafter.
Rivers was signed by
Blue Note Records, for whom he recorded four albums as leader and made several sideman appearances.
Among noted sidemen on his own Blue Note albums were
Jaki Byard
John Arthur "Jaki" Byard (; June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Mainly a pianist, he also played tenor and alto saxophones, among several other instruments. He was known for hi ...
, who appears on ''
Fuchsia Swing Song'',
Herbie Hancock and
Freddie Hubbard. He appeared on Blue Note recordings by Tony Williams,
Andrew Hill and
Larry Young.
Rivers derived his music from
bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
, but he was an adventurous player, adept at
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 duri ...
. The first of his Blue Note albums, ''Fuchsia Swing Song'' (1964), adopts an approach sometimes called "inside-outside". Here the performer frequently obliterates the explicit harmonic framework ("going outside") but retains a hidden link so as to be able to return to it in a seamless fashion. Rivers brought the conceptual tools of bebop harmony to a new level in this process, united at all times with the ability to "tell a story", which
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 ...
had laid down as a benchmark for the jazz improviser.
His powers as a composer were also in evidence in this period: the ballad "Beatrice" from ''Fuchsia Swing Song'' has become an important standard, particularly for tenor saxophonists. For instance, it is the first cut on
Joe Henderson's 1985 ''
The State of the Tenor, Vols. 1 & 2'', and
Stan Getz recorded it during the 1989 sessions eventually issued as ''
Bossas & Ballads – The Lost Sessions
''Bossas & Ballads: The Lost Sessions'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Stan Getz.
Background
In 1989, Getz recorded his first album for A&M Records, but album wasn't released until 2003. Getz recorded the album with Kenny Barron, Victor Lewis, ...
''.
Loft era
During the 1970s, Rivers and his wife, Bea, ran a
jazz loft called "Studio Rivbea" in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's
NoHo
NoHo, short for North of Houston Street (as contrasted with SoHo), is a primarily residential neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded by Mercer Street to the west and the Bowery to the east, ...
district. It was located on Bond Street in
Lower Manhattan and was originally opened as a public performance space as part of the first New York Musicians Festival in 1970. Critic John Litweiler has written that "In New York Loft Jazz meant Free Jazz in the Seventies" and Studio Rivbea was "the most famous of the lofts".
The loft was important in the development of jazz because it was an example of artists creating their own performance spaces and taking responsibility for presenting music to the public. This allowed for music to be free of extra-musical concerns that would be present in a nightclub or concert hall situation. A series of recordings made at the loft were issued under the title ''
Wildflowers'' on the Douglas label.
Rivers was also recruited by
Clifford Thornton
Clifford Edward Thornton III (September 6, 1936 – November 25, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, trombonist, activist, and educator. He played free jazz and avant-garde jazz in the 1960s and '70s.
Career
Clifford was born in Philadelphia. ...
to lead a student world-music/free-jazz ensemble at
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...
in 1971.
During this era Rivers continued to record, including several albums for
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 positiv ...
: ''
Streams'', recorded live at Montreux, ''
Hues'' (both records contain different trio performances later collated on CD as ''Trio Live''), the quartet album ''
Sizzle'' and his first big-band disc, ''
Crystals
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
''; perhaps his best-known work from this period though is his appearance on
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
's ''
Conference of the Birds'', in the company of
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 Ch ...
and
Barry Altschul
Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.
Biography
Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, the s ...
.
Later career
In the early 1990s, he and his wife Beatrice moved to Florida, in part to expand his orchestra compositions with a reading band in Orlando. This band became the longest-running incarnation of the RivBea Orchestra. He performed regularly with his Orchestra and Trio with bassist Doug Mathews and drummer Anthony Cole (later replaced by Rion Smith.)
From 1996 to 1998 he toured and recorded three projects for Nato Records in France with pianist
Tony Hymas
Anthony James Keith "Tony" Hymas (born 23 September 1943) is an English keyboard player, pianist, and composer.
Career
Hymas started as a chorister at Exeter Cathedral School, where his contemporaries included composer and cathedral organist ...
and others. In 1998, with the assistance of
Steve Coleman, he recorded two Grammy-nominated big-band albums for RCA Victor with the RivBea All-Star Orchestra, ''Culmination'' and ''Inspiration'' (the title-track is an elaborate reworking of
Dizzy Gillespie's "Tanga": Rivers was in Gillespie's band near the end of the trumpeter's life). Other late albums of note include ''Portrait'', a solo recording for
FMP, and ''Vista'', a trio with drummers
Adam Rudolph
Adam Rudolph (born September 12, 1955) is a jazz composer and percussionist performing in the post-bop and world fusion media.
In 1988, Rudolph met jazz musician Yusef Lateef, and the two would go on to collaborate and perform together for t ...
and Harris Eisenstadt for Meta. During the late 1990s he appeared on several albums on
Postcards Records Postcards Records was an American jazz record company and label founded in 1993 by Ralph Simon and Sybil Golden. Through 1997 its catalogue included music by Paul Bley, Bill Frisell, Julian Priester, Gary Peacock, Sam Rivers, and Reggie Workman
...
.
In 2006, he released ''Aurora'', a third CD featuring compositions for his Rivbea Orchestra and the first CD featuring members of his working orchestra in Orlando.
Rivers died from pneumonia on December 26, 2011 at the age of 88 in Orlando, Florida.
Discography
As leader
* 1964: ''
Fuchsia Swing Song'' (
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 ...
, 1965)
* 1965: ''
Contours
Contour may refer to:
* Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound
* Pitch contour
* Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system
* Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices
* Contour line, a curve along which the function has a ...
'' (Blue Note, 1967)
* 1966: ''
A New Conception'' (Blue Note, 1967)
* 1967: ''
Dimensions & Extensions'' (Blue Note, 1986)
* 1973: ''
Streams'' (
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 positiv ...
, 1973) – live
* 1971-73: ''
Hues'' (Impulse!, 1974) – live
* 1971: ''Archive Series Volume 1 - Emanation'' (NoBusiness, 2019) with
Cecil McBee and
Norman Connors
Norman Connors (born March 1, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and producer who has led a number of influential jazz and R&B groups. He also achieved several big R&B hits of the day, especially with love ballads. He is pos ...
* 1974: ''
Crystals
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
'' (Impulse!, 1974)
* 1975: ''
Sizzle'' (Impulse!, 1976)
* 1973–76: ''Jazz of the Seventies'' (Circle, 1977)
* 1976: ''The Tuba Trio Vols. 1-3'' (
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
, 1977)
* 1976: ''The Quest'' (
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
, 1976)
* 1976: ''Black Africa! Villalago'' (
Horo, 1977)
* 1976: ''Black Africa! Perugia'' (Horo, 1977)
* 1977: ''Paragon'' (
Fluid, 1977)
* 1977: ''Archive Series Volume 2 - Zenith'' (NoBusiness, 2019) with
Joe Daley,
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
,
Barry Altschul
Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.
Biography
Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, the s ...
, and
Charlie Persip
* 1978: ''Archive Series Volume 3 - Ricochet'' (NoBusiness, 2020) with Dave Holland, and Barry Altschul
* 1978: ''
Waves
Waves most often refers to:
*Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass.
*Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water.
Waves may also refer to:
Music
*Waves (band) ...
'' (
Tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
, 1979)
* 1979: ''Archive Series Volume 4 - Braids'' (NoBusiness, 2020) with Joe Daley, Dave Holland, and
Thurman Barker
Thurman Barker (born January 8, 1948, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American jazz drummer.
Barker's first professional experience was at age sixteen with Mighty Joe Young. Barker took his bachelor's at Empire State College, then studie ...
* 1979: ''
Contrasts'' (
ECM, 1980)
* 1981: ''"Crosscurrent" - Live At Jazz Unité'' (
Blue Marge, 1982) – live
* 1981: ''Archive Series Volume 5 - Undulation'' (NoBusiness, 2021) with Jerry Byrd, Rael-Wesley Grant, and
Steve Ellington
Bradford Steven "Steve" Ellington (July 26, 1941 – March 22, 2013) was an American jazz drummer. He was the grand-nephew of Duke Ellington.
Biography
Ellington picked up drums when he was four years old and played with Ray Charles when he was ...
* 1982: ''
Colours
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
'' (
Black Saint
Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.
History
Black S ...
, 1983)
* 1989: ''Lazuli'' (
Timeless, 1990)
* 1995: ''Portrait'' (
FMP, 1997)
* 1996: ''Concept'' with Anthony Cole, Doug Mathews (Rivbea Sound, 1997)
* 1998: ''Culmination'' (
RCA Victor/
BMG France, 1999)
* 1998: ''Inspiration'' (RCA Victor/BMG, 1999)
* 1999: ''Aurora'' (Rivbea Sound, 2005)
* 2000: ''Firestorm'' (Rivbea Sound, 2002)
* 2002: ''Archive Series Volume 6 - Caldera'' (NoBusiness, 2022) with Doug Mathews and Anthony Cole
* 2003: ''Celebration'' (
Posi-Tone, 2004)
* 2008–09: ''Mosaic Select: Trilogy'' with the Rivbea Orchestra (
Mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
, 2011)
CD
As co-leader
* 1976: with Dave Holland - ''
Dave Holland / Sam Rivers'' (
Improvising Artists Improvising Artists Inc. known as IAI is a production company created by jazz pianist, Paul Bley
Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well ...
)
* 1976: with Dave Holland - ''
Sam Rivers / Dave Holland Vol. 2'' (Improvising Artists)
* 1977: with
Mario Schiano - ''Rendez-vous'' (Vedette)
* 1977: with
James Newton
James W. Newton (born May 1, 1953) is an American jazz and classical flutist.
Biography
He was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. From his earliest years, James Newton grew up immersed in the sounds of African-American music, inclu ...
- ''Flutes!'' (
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
)
* 1983: with Stephen McCraven - ''Intertwining Spirits'' (
Freelance)
* 1995: with Improvisors Pool (
Alexander von Schlippenbach
Alexander von Schlippenbach (born 7 April 1938) is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing free jazz in a trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens, and as a member of the Globe Unity Orchest ...
) - ''Backgrounds for Improvisors'' (
FMP)
* 1996: with
Noël Akchoté
Noël Akchoté (born 7 December 1968) is a French guitarist in free improvisation, classical, experimental, and free jazz.
Career
Starting on guitar at when he was eight years old,Philippe Carles, André Clergeat et Jean-Louis Comolli, ''Dict ...
/
Tony Hymas
Anthony James Keith "Tony" Hymas (born 23 September 1943) is an English keyboard player, pianist, and composer.
Career
Hymas started as a chorister at Exeter Cathedral School, where his contemporaries included composer and cathedral organist ...
/ Paul Rogers / Jacques Thollot - ''Configuration'' (Nato)
* 1996: with
Julian Priester
Julian Priester (born June 29, 1935) is an American jazz trombonist and occasional euphoniumist. He is sometimes credited "Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto". He has played with Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock.
B ...
- ''Hints on Light and Shadow'' (
Postcards
A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
)
* 1997: with Alexander von Schlippenbach - ''Tangens'' (FMP)
* 1998: with Tony Hymas - ''Eight Day Journal'' (Nato)
* 1998: with Tony Hymas - ''Winter Garden'' (Nato)
* 2002: with Doug Mathews, Anthony Cole, Jonathan Powell and David Manson - ''Fluid Motion'' (isospin labs)
* 2003: with
Adam Rudolph
Adam Rudolph (born September 12, 1955) is a jazz composer and percussionist performing in the post-bop and world fusion media.
In 1988, Rudolph met jazz musician Yusef Lateef, and the two would go on to collaborate and perform together for t ...
/ Harris Eisenstadt - ''Vista'' (Meta)
* 2004: with
Ben Street
Ben Street is an American jazz double bassist. Street has performed and recorded with many renowned artists, including John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Ben Monder, Michael Eckroth, Sam Rivers, Billy Hart, Danilo Perez, Aaron ...
/ Kresten Osgood & Bryan Carrott - ''Purple Violets'' (Stunt)
* 2004: with Ben Street / Kresten Osgood - ''Violet Violets'' (Stunt)
* 2007: with Dave Holland /
Barry Altschul
Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.
Biography
Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, the s ...
- ''
Reunion: Live in New York'' (
Pi, 2012)
Compilations
* ''The Complete Blue Note Sam Rivers Sessions'' (
Mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
, 1996)
As sideman
With Roots
* ''Salutes the Saxophone - Tributes to John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and Lester Young'' (In & Out, 1992)
* ''Stablemates'' (In & Out, 1993)
With
Tony Williams
* 1964: ''
Life Time'' (
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 ...
, 1965)
* 1965: ''
Spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
'' (Blue Note, 1966)
With
Reggie Workman
Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey.
Career
Early in his career, Workman wo ...
* ''
Summit Conference
A summit meeting (or just summit) is an international meeting of heads of state or government, usually with considerable media exposure, tight security, and a prearranged agenda. Notable summit meetings include those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Wi ...
'' (Postcards, 1993)
* ''
Cerebral Caverns
''Cerebral Caverns'' is an album by bassist/composer Reggie Workman. It was recorded on April 27 and 28, 1995, in New York City, and was released by Postcards Records that same year. On the album, Workman is heard in a variety of instrumental comb ...
'' (Postcards, 1995)
With others
*
Barry Altschul
Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.
Biography
Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, the s ...
, ''You Can't Name Your Own Tune'' (
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
, 1977)
*
Steven Bernstein, ''Diaspora Blues'' (
Tzadik
Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...
, 2002)
*
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
, ''
Miles in Tokyo'' (
Columbia, 1964)
*
Bruce Ditmas
Bruce Ditmas (born December 12, 1946) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
Early life
Ditmas was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on December 12, 1946, but grew up in Miami; his father was a trombonist in Miami big bands. Ditmas studie ...
, ''What If'' (Postcards, 1994)
* Brian Groder, ''Torque'' (2007)
*
Andrew Hill, ''
Change
Change or Changing may refer to:
Alteration
* Impermanence, a difference in a state of affairs at different points in time
* Menopause, also referred to as "the change", the permanent cessation of the menstrual period
* Metamorphosis, or change, ...
'' (
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 ...
, 1966)
* The
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
Quartet, ''
Conference of the Birds'', (ECM 1973)
*
John Lee Hooker, ''
Free Beer and Chicken
''Free Beer and Chicken'' is an album by blues musician John Lee Hooker recorded in California in 1974 and released by the ABC label the same year.
Reception
AllMusic reviewer Eugene Chadbourne stated: "In some ways this is a typical John Lee ...
'' (ABC, 1974)
*
Bobby Hutcherson, ''
Dialogue'' (Blue Note, 1965)
*
Franklin Kiermyer
Franklin Kiermyer (born 21 July 1956) is a jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader.
Biography
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Kiermyer first gained attention in 1994 with his album Solomon's Daughter, featuring tenor saxophonist and forme ...
, ''Kairos'' (Evidence, 1996)
*
NOJO, ''City of Neighbourhoods'' (
True North
True north (also called geodetic north or geographic north) is the direction along Earth's surface towards the geographic North Pole or True North Pole.
Geodetic north differs from ''magnetic'' north (the direction a compass points toward t ...
, 2004) – recorded in 2003
*
Jason Moran Jason Moran may refer to:
* Jason Moran (criminal) (1967–2003), Australian mobster
* Jason Moran (musician)
Jason Moran (born January 21, 1975) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator involved in multimedia art and theatrical inst ...
, ''
Black Stars'' (Blue Note, 2001)
* The Stephen McCraven Quartet, ''Intertwining Spirits'' (Freelance, 1982)
* Music Revelation Ensemble (
James Blood Ulmer
James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "ragg ...
), ''
In the Name of...'' (
DIW, 1993)
*
Don Pullen
Don Gabriel Pullen (December 25, 1941 – April 22, 1995) was an American jazz pianist and organist. Pullen developed a strikingly individual style throughout his career. He composed pieces ranging from blues to bebop and modern jazz. The great ...
, ''
Capricorn Rising'' (
Black Saint
Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.
History
Black S ...
, 1975)
*
Kazuko Shiraishi
is a Japanese poet and translator who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is a modernist, outsider poet who got her start in Katsue Kitazono's "VOU" poetry group, which led Shiraishi to publish her first book of poems in 1951. S ...
, ''Dedicated to the Late John Coltrane and Other Jazz Poems'' (Musicworks, 1977)
*
Cecil Taylor, ''
The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor
''The Great Concert of Cecil Taylor'' is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded in St. Paul de Vence, Nice, on July 29, 1969, and released on the Prestige label in 1977 as a 3-LP set. The album was originally released as ''Nuits de la Fondation ...
'' (
Prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...
, 1969)
*
Larry Young, ''
Into Somethin''' (Blue Note, 1964)
References
External links
Sam Rivers Web SiteNPR profile September 20, 2009
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivers, Sam
1923 births
2011 deaths
African-American saxophonists
American jazz clarinetists
American jazz composers
American male saxophonists
American jazz soprano saxophonists
Avant-garde jazz musicians
Bebop clarinetists
Bebop saxophonists
Big band bandleaders
Blue Note Records artists
Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni
Improvising Artists Records artists
Impulse! Records artists
Jazz musicians from Illinois
Jazz musicians from Massachusetts
American male jazz composers
Miles Davis Quintet members
Musicians from Boston
Musicians from Oklahoma
Musicians from Enid, Oklahoma
Posi-Tone Records artists
NoBusiness Records artists
Deaths from pneumonia in Florida