Oscar Pettiford w as born September 30, 1922 was a virtuoso American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom. In 1942 he played with the Charlie Barnet band and with Coleman Hawkins on his The Man I Love. He also recorded with Earl Hines and Ben Webster and with Dizzy Gillespie led an early bop group in 1943. He then worked with Duke Ellington and for Woody Herman in 1949 before working mainly as a leader in the 1950s. Pettiford is considered the pioneer of the cello as a pizzicato solo instrument in jazz music. He first played the cello as a practical joke on Woody Herman when he walked off stage during his solo spot and came back, unexpectedly with a cello and played on that. In 1949, after suffering a broken arm, Pettiford found it impossible to play his bass, so he experimented with a cello a friend had lent him. Tuning it in fourths, like a double bass, but one octave higher, Pettiford found it possible to perform during his rehabilitation (during which time his arm was in a sling) and made his first recordings with the instrument in 1950. The cello thus became his secondary instrument, and he continued to perform and record with it throughout the remainder of his career. He died in Copenhagen, Denmark, from a virus closely related to polio. On this recording with Billy Strayhorn and other unknown players. youtu.be/kzZOUm1CqNc
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 01:05:07 +0000
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