Quick Facts
ScorpioBiography
Roswell Hopkins Rudd, Jr. (born November 17, 1935) is an American jazz trombonist and composer.
Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including Dixieland, which he performed while in college) and other genres of music, he is known primarily for his work in free and avant-garde jazz. Since 1962 Rudd has worked extensively with saxophonist Archie Shepp.
Biography
Rudd was born in Sharon, Connecticut. He attended the Hotchkiss School and graduated from Yale University, where he played with Eli's Chosen Six, a dixieland band of students that Rudd joined in the mid-'50s. The sextet played the boisterous trad jazz style of the day and recorded two albums, including one for Columbia Records. His collaborations with Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy grew out of the lessons learned while playing rags and stomps for drunken college kids in Connecticut.
Rudd later taught ethnomusicology at Bard College and the University of Maine. On and off for a period of three decades, he assisted Alan Lomax with his world music song style (Cantometrics) and Global Jukebox projects.
In the 1960s, Rudd participated in free jazz recordings such as the New York Art Quartet; the soundtrack for the 1964 movie New York Eye and Ear Control; the album Communications by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra; and in collaborations with Don Cherry, Larry Coryell, Pharoah Sanders, and Gato Barbieri. Rudd has had lifelong friendships with saxophonists Archie Shepp and Steve Lacy and has performed and recorded the music of Thelonious Monk with Lacy.
Rudd and his producer and partner Verna Gillis went to Mali in 2000 and 2001. His album MALIcool (2001), a cross-cultural collaboration with kora player Toumani Diabaté and other Malian musicians, represented the first time the trombone had been featured in a recording of Malian traditional music.
In 2004, he brought his Trombone Shout Band to perform at the 4th Festival au Désert in Essakane, Tombouctou Region, Mali. In 2005, he extended his reach further, recording an album with the Mongolian Buryat Band, a traditional music group of musicians from Mongolia and Buryatia, entitled Blue Mongol.
Rudd conducts master classes and workshops both in the United States and around the world.
Awards and honors
- Nomination: Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance Male and Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Monk's Dream (1999)
- Trombonist of the Year, Jazz Journalists Association (2003–2005, 2009, 2010)
- Best Trombonist, Down Beat Critics' Poll (2010)
Discography
As leader
- 1965: Roswell Rudd (America)
- 1966: Everywhere (also released as part of Mixed)
- 1973: Numatik Swing Band
- 1974: Flexible Flyer (Freedom)
- 1976: Blown Bone (Emanem)
- 1976: Inside Job with Enrico Rava, Dave Burrell, Stafford James, Harold White (Arista/Freedom)
- 1978: The Definitive Roswell Rudd (Horo)
- 1982: Regeneration with Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, Kent Carter, Han Bennink (Soul Note)
- 1996: The Unheard Herbie Nichols–Vols. 1 & 2 (CIMP)
- 1999: New York Art Quartet: 35 Reunion (DIW)
- 1999: Monk's Dream (Universal/Verve)
- 2000: Broad Strokes (Knitting Factory)
- 2001: Eventuality: The Charlie Kohlhase Quintet Plays the Music of Roswell Rudd (NADA)
- 2001: Roswell Rudd and Archie Shepp Live in New York (Universal)
- 2002: MALIcool (Universal/Sunnyside)
- 2005: Blue Mongol (Sunnyside)
- 2006: El Espiritu Jibaro (Sunnyside)
- 2007: Keep Your Heart Right (Sunnyside)
- 2008: El Encuentro (Mojito)
- 2013: Trombone for Lovers (Sunnyside)
- 2016: August Love Song with Heather Masse (Red House)
As sideman
- 1957 Eli's Chosen 6, Yale University Dixieland Band (Columbia)
- 1961 New York City R&B, Buell Neidlinger, Cecil Taylor (Mosaic)
- 1962 Into the Hot, Gil Evans/Cecil Taylor (Impulse)
- 1963 School Days, Steve Lacy, Dennis Charles, Henry Grimes (Hathut)
- 1964 Four for Trane, with Archie Shepp (Impulse)
- 1964 New York Art Quartet, John Tchicai, Milford Graves (ESP-Disk)
- 1966 Until, with Robin Kenyatta (Atlantic)
- 1966 Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco, with Archie Shepp (Impulse)
- 1966 Mama Too Tight, with Archie Shepp (Impulse)
- 1966 New York Eye and Ear Control, Don Cherry, Albert Ayler, John Tchicai and Gary Peacock (ESP-Disk)
- 1967 Live at Donaueschingen (SABA)
- 1968 The Jazz Composer's Orchestra
- 1969 The Third World, Gato Barbieri (Flying Dutchman)
- 1971 Escalator over the Hill, Carla Bley (JCOA)
- 1971 Liberation Music Orchestra, Charlie Haden (Impulse)
- 1972 Roswell Rudd, New York Art Quartet (America)
- 1974 Village on the Left, Marcello Melis & Don Moye (Soul Note)
- 1975 Trickles, Steve Lacy, Beaver Harris, Kent Carter (Soul Note)
- 1976 Maine (Bvhaast)
- 1976 Dinner Music, with Carla Bley (Watt)
- 1977 The New Village on the Left, with Marcello Melis and Enrico Rava, Don Moye, Gruppo Rubanu (Black Saint)
- 1977 European Tour 1977, with Carla Bley (Watt)
- 1978 Enrico Rava Quartet, Enrico Rava, J.F. JennyClarke & Aldo Romano (ECM)
- 1979 Divine Song, with Sangeeta Michael Berardi, Rashied Ali, Eddie Gomez, Archie Shepp
- 1979 Sharing, Giorgio Gaslini (Discgidella Quercia)
- 1979 Musique Mecanique with Carla Bley (Watt)
- 1981 Interpretations of Monk,
- 1984 That's the Way I Feel Now
- 1992 Darn it, with Paul Haines (American Clave)
- 1994 Dark Was the Night, with Allen Lowe
- 1995 Wild Weekend, NRBQ & Terry Adams (Virgin)
- 1995 Wozzek's Death, with Allen Lowe (Enja)
- 1996 Bladik, Keith Tippett et al. (Cuneiform)
- 1996 Rumors of an Incident, with Elton Dean (Slam)
- 1996 Terrible, NRBQ & Terry Adams (New World)
- 1997 Newsense, with Elton Dean (Slam)
- 2002 Seize the Time, Nexus Orchestra (Splasch)
- 2003 Sex Mob, Dime Grind Palace (Ropeadope)
- 2006 Dry Bones, with Sonic Youth, The Harry Smith Project (Shout! Factory)
- 2008 Concertos, Michael Mantler (ECM)