John Handy


John Richard Handy III is an American jazz musician most commonly associated with the alto saxophone. He also sings and plays the tenor and baritone saxophone, saxello, clarinet, and oboe.

Biography

Handy was born in Dallas, Texas, 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" and "If Only We Knew".
After completing high school at McClymonds High School in Oakland, he studied music at San Francisco State College, interrupted by service during the Korean War, graduating in 1958. Following graduation, he moved to New York City. Handy has taught music history and performance at San Francisco State University, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
In the 1980s he worked in the project Bebop & Beyond, which recorded tribute albums to Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. 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
  • No Coast Jazz
  • Jazz
  • Recorded Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival
  • The 2nd John Handy Album
  • New View
  • Quote, Unquote
  • Projections
  • Karuna Supreme with Ali Akbar Khan
  • Hard Work
  • Carnival
  • Where Go the Boats
  • Handy Dandy Man
  • Rainbow with Ali Akbar Khan and Dr. L. Subramaniam
  • Excursion in Blue
  • Centerpiece with CLASS
  • Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival
  • Live at Yoshi's Nightspot
  • ''John Handy's Musical Dreamland''

    As sideman

With Brass Fever
With Charles Mingus
With Mingus Dynasty
  • Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 1
  • ''Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 2''