Howard McGhee


Howard McGhee was one of the first American bebop jazz trumpeters, with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. He was known for his fast fingering and high notes. He had an influence on younger bebop trumpeters such as Fats Navarro.

Biography

Howard McGhee was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, and raised in Detroit, Michigan.
During his career, he played in bands led by Lionel Hampton, Andy Kirk, Count Basie and Charlie Barnet. He was in a club listening to the radio when he first heard Charlie Parker and was one of the earliest adopters of the new style.
File:Thelonious Monk and Howard McGhee, Minton's Playhouse, Sept 1947.jpg|thumb|left|230px|Thelonious Monk and Howard McGhee, Minton's Playhouse, c. September 1947
In 1946–1947, some record sessions for the new label Dial were organized in Hollywood, with Charlie Parker and McGhee. The first was held on July 29, 1946. The musicians were Charlie Parker, Howard McGhee, Jimmy Bunn, Bob Kesterson, and Roy Porter. With Parker's health near to collapse, he played "Max is Making Wax", "Lover Man", and "The Gypsy".
McGhee continued to work as a sideman with Parker. He played on titles such as "Relaxin' at Camarillo", "Cheers", "Carvin the Bird" and "Stupendous". Around this time, McGhee was a leading musician in the Los Angeles bebop scene, participating in many concerts, recordings, and even managing a night club for a brief period. His stay in California ended because of racial prejudice, particularly vicious towards McGhee as half of a mixed-race couple.
Drug problems sidelined McGhee for much of the 1950s, but he resurfaced in the 1960s, appearing in many George Wein productions. His career sputtered again in the mid-1960s and he did not record again until 1976. He led one of three jazz big bands trying to succeed in New York in the late 1960s. While the band did not survive, a recording was released in the mid-1970s.
He taught music through the 1970s, both in classrooms and at his apartment in midtown Manhattan and instructed musicians like Charlie Rouse in music theory. He was as much an accomplished composer-arranger as he was a performer.
McGhee died on July 17, 1987, at the age of 69, a memorial service was held for him on July 24, 1987.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

  • 1946–47 Night Music with Hank Jones, Milt Jackson, James Moody, Dodo Marmarosa
  • 1946–47 Trumpet at Tempo
  • 1948 Howard McGhee and Milt Jackson
  • 1948 Be Bop with Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath
  • 1950 Howard McGhee with Fats Navarro
  • 1952 Jazz Goes to the Battle Front, Volume 1
  • 1952 Jazz Goes to the Battle Front, Volume 2
  • 1953 Howard McGhee, Vol. 2 with Gigi Gryce
  • 1955 The Return of Howard McGhee
  • 1956 Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
  • 1956 Jazz South Pacific with J.J. Johnson, Oscar Pettiford; reissues the Hi-Lo material
  • 1960 Dusty Blue
  • 1960 Music from the Connection
  • 1961 Together Again!!!! with Teddy Edwards
  • 1961 Maggie's Back in Town!!
  • 1961 The Sharp Edge
  • 1962 Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
  • 1963 House Warmin'! originally issued in 1962 on Winley Records as Nothin' But Soul under Gene Ammons' name.
  • 1976 Here Comes Freddy with Illinois Jacquet
  • 1976 Just Be There with Horace Parlan, Kenny Clarke
  • 1977 Cookin' Time, Howard McGhee Orchestra
  • 1978 Live at Emerson's, Howard McGhee Sextet
  • 1978 Jazz Brothers with Charlie Rouse
  • 1978 Home Run with Benny Bailey
  • 1979 Young at Heart with Teddy Edwards
  • 1979 Wise in Time with Teddy Edwards

    As sideman

With Lorez Alexandria
  • Deep Roots
With Georgie Auld
  • Rainbow Mist compilation of Apollo recordings
With Billy Eckstine
  • Maggie: The Savoy Sessions includes the infamous Eckstine/McGhee four song session, originally recorded in Chicago for Vitacoustic Records; personnel: Howard McGhee, Billy Eckstine, Kenny Mann, Hank Jones, Ray Brown, J.C. Heard, Marcel Daniels.
With Johnny Hartman
With Coleman Hawkins
  • Hollywood Stampede
  • Disorder at the Border
With Chubby Jackson
  • Chubby Jackson's All Stars
  • Chubby Jackson Sextet and Big Band
With James Moody
  • James Moody, His Saxophone and His Band
  • Cookin' the Blues
With André Previn
  • André Previn All-Stars
  • Previn at Sunset
With Mel Tormé