John Richard Handy III (born February 3, 1933) is 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 most commonly associated with the alto saxophone. He also sings and plays the

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

and baritone saxophone,

saxello The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, clarinet, and

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

Biography

Handy was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, United States. He first came to prominence while working for Charles Mingus in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Handy led several groups, among them a quintet with Michael White, violin, Jerry Hahn, guitar, Don Thompson, bass, and Terry Clarke, drums. This group's performance at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival was recorded and released as an album; Handy received Grammy nominations for "Spanish Lady" (jazz performance) and "If Only We Knew" (jazz composition). After completing high school at

McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school in West Oakland, opera ...

in Oakland, he studied music at

San Francisco State College San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

, interrupted by service during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, graduating in 1958. Following graduation, he moved to

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 ...

. Handy has taught music history and performance at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

, Stanford University, the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and the

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodg ...

. In the 1980s he worked in the project Bebop & Beyond, which recorded tribute albums to Dizzy Gillespie and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

. His son, John Richard Handy IV, is a drummer who has played with Handy on occasion. In 2009, he received the Beacon Award from SF JAZZ.

Discography

As leader

* '' In the Vernacular'' ( Roulette, 1959) * '' No Coast Jazz'' (Roulette, 1960) * ''

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 ...

'' (Roulette, 1962) * '' Recorded Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival'' ( Columbia, 1966) * ''The 2nd John Handy Album'' (Columbia, 1966) * '' New View'' (Columbia, 1967) * '' Projections'' (Columbia, 1968) * '' Karuna Supreme'' ( MPS, 1975) with

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he a ...

* '' Hard Work'' ( Impulse!, 1976) * '' Carnival'' (Impulse! 1977) * '' Where Go the Boats'' (

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, 1978) * ''Handy Dandy Man'' (Warner Bros., 1978) * ''

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

'' (MPS, 1980) with Ali Akbar Khan and Dr. L. Subramaniam * ''Excursion in Blue'' (Quartet, 1988) * ''Centerpiece'' (

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

, 1989) with CLASS * ''Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival'' ( Koch, 1996) * ''Live at Yoshi's Nightspot'' (

Boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

, 1996) * ''John Handy's Musical Dreamland'' (Boulevard, 1996)

As sideman

With

Brass Fever Brass Fever was an American jazz musical ensemble, which recorded two albums for Impulse! Records. Consisting of both session musicians and leaders such as Shelly Manne, their two albums covered jazz and R&B genres. Their second album charted a ...

* ''

'' (Impulse!, 1975) * '' Time Is Running Out'' (Impulse!, 1976) With Charles Mingus * '' Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland'' (United Artists, 1959) * '' Mingus Ah Um'' (Columbia, 1959) * ''

Mingus Dynasty ''Mingus Dynasty'' is a jazz album by Charles Mingus, recorded in 1959 and released on Columbia Records in May 1960. It is a companion album to his 1959 record, ''Mingus Ah Um'', and was inducted in the List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipie ...

'' (Columbia, 1959) * ''

Blues & Roots ''Blues & Roots'' is an album by Charles Mingus, recorded in 1959 and released on the Atlantic label in 1960. It has been reissued on CD by both Atlantic and Rhino. Inspiration Mingus explained the origins of this record in the album's liner no ...

'' (Atlantic, 1960) * '' Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop'' (Fantasy, 1964) With

* '' Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 1'' (Soul Note, 1988) * '' Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 2'' (Soul Note, 1988)

References

External links

*
John Handy talks about the Fillmore neighborhood and Bop City (1999)

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Handy, John 1933 births Living people American jazz composers American male jazz composers American jazz alto saxophonists American male saxophonists African-American saxophonists Columbia Records artists Impulse! Records artists MPS Records artists San Francisco State University faculty 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians Mingus Dynasty (band) members Bebop & Beyond members Brass Fever members 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people