Terry Pollard (August 15, 1931 – December 16, 2009) was an American jazz pianist and vibraphonist active in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

jazz scene of the 1940s and 1950s. She has been described as a "major player who was inexplicably overlooked." Pollard began her career by collaborating with other Detroit musicians, such as

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 ...

(and

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 celebrate ...

, in the house band at the

Blue Bird Inn The Blue Bird Inn, at 5021 Tireman, was a jazz night club in Detroit presenting music every night except Monday. An African American owned venue, by the end of the 1940s it was the most important live outlet for bop in the city. Thad Jones' comp ...

),Björn, Lars Olof (2001) ''Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-60'', p. 126. University of Michigan Press
At Google Books. Retrieved 9 July 2013. Johnny Hill, and the Emmitt Slay Trio. She was discovered by

Terry Gibbs Terry Gibbs (born Julius Gubenko; October 13, 1924) is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader. He has performed or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson,Theroux, Gary"Gibbs, Terry".''Grove Music Online''. Oxford University Press. Re ...

and toured with him in the early 1950s, playing piano and vibraphone. They recorded several albums, including ''Terry Gibbs Quartet - Featuring Terry Pollard''. Pollard appeared with Gibbs on an episode of ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

'' hosted by

Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...

. Her collaborations with Gibbs from 1953 to 1957 marked the height of her career.Cotterrell, Roger. ‘Terry Pollard: Vibe Virtuoso’ ''

Jazz Journal ''Jazz Journal'' is a British jazz magazine established in 1946 by Sinclair Traill (1904–1981). It was first published in London under the title ''Pick Up'', which Traill founded as a locus for serious jazz criticism in Britain.Roberta Freund Sc ...

'', vol 71, no 5 (May 2018), 40. Pollard also performed with

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

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 music ...

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 ...

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

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 ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

and

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, in ...

. Pollard recorded a self-titled solo album for

Bethlehem Records Bethlehem Records was an American jazz independent record label, founded by Gus Wildi in 1953. History Bethlehem is remembered for its jazz releases from the 1950s. Producers included Creed Taylor and Teddy Charles. Bethlehem released the firs ...

in 1955 and won ''

DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' magazine's New Artist award in 1956. Pollard retired from her full-time music career shortly thereafter in order to raise a family, but she continued to play locally in Detroit and performed with artists including

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

and the Supremes. She was inducted into the Michigan Jazz Hall of Fame. Her contributions to the mid-century Detroit jazz scene were recognized in the book ''Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit 1920-1960'', by Lars Bjorn and Jim Gallert.

Discography

* ''Terry Pollard Quintet'' (

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

, 1955) * ''Terry Pollard And Her Septet: Cats vs. Chicks - A Jazz Battle Of The Sexes'' (album shared with

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 ...

Septet,

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

1954) With

* ''Terry'' ( Brunswick, 1954

955 Year 955 (Roman numerals, CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld (955), Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I, H ...

* ''Terry Gibbs'' KA ''Terry Gibbs Quartet Featuring Terry Pollard''(

EmArcy EmArcy Records is a jazz record label founded in 1954 by the American Mercury Records. The name is a phonetic spelling of "MRC", the initials for Mercury Record Company. During the 1950s and 1960s, musicians such as Max Roach, Clifford Brown ...

1955) * ''Mallets-A-Plenty'' (EmArcy 1956) * ''Swingin' with Terry Gibbs and His Orchestra'' (EmArcy, 1957) With

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America. Although Lateef's main instruments ...

* ''

Lateef at Cranbrook ''Lateef at Cranbrook'' (also reissued as ''Yusef Lateef'') is a live album by multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef recorded in 1958 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and released on the Argo label.Argo In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sour ...

, 1958) * '' The Dreamer'' (

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

, 1959) * ''

The Fabric of Jazz ''The Fabric of Jazz'' is an album by multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef recorded in 1959 and released on the Savoy label. Reception A review in the British ''Gramophone'' magazine stated: "When the mood takes him, Lateef can rip through tile ...

'' (Savoy, 1959) * ''Angel Eyes'', (Savoy Jazz, 1979) 2LP reissue of ''The Dreamer'' and ''The Fabric of Jazz'' * ''Beautiful Flowers'' (Savoy Jazz, 2005) CD compilation of Savoy tracks * ''At Cranbrook and Elsewhere'' (2009) With

Dorothy Ashby Dorothy Jeanne Thompson (August 6, 1932 – April 13, 1986), better known as Dorothy Ashby, was an American jazz harpist, singer and composer. Hailed as one of the most "unjustly under loved jazz greats of the 1950s" and the "most accomplished ...

* ''

Soft Winds "Soft Winds" is a 1940 jazz standard composed by Benny Goodman, with lyrics by Fred Royal. Charlie Parker performed it regularly in the 1940s. In 1961, jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby released an album of the same name with the song as the title track ...

'' ( Jazzland, 1961) With

Don Fagerquist Donald Alton Fagerquist (February 6, 1927 – January 23, 1974) was a small group, big band, and studio jazz trumpet player from the West Coast of the United States. Career Fagerquist was a featured soloist with several major bands, including M ...

* ''Portrait of a Great Jazz Artist'' (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Terry 1931 births 2009 deaths Bebop pianists Hard bop pianists Post-bop pianists American jazz vibraphonists American jazz pianists Women jazz pianists 20th-century American pianists Bebop musicians Jazz vibraphonists 20th-century women pianists Jazz musicians from Detroit