Jazz
Fats Navarro - Trumpet
Allen Eager - Sax (Tenor)
Art Blakey - Drums, Drums (Snare)
Barry Ulanov - MC
Billy Bauer - Guitar
Bud Powell - Piano
Budd Johnson - Sax (Alto)
Buddy Rich - Drums
Carlos Vidal Bolado - Conga
Cecil Payne - Bars, Sax (Baritone)
Chano Pozo - Bongos
Charlie Rouse - Sax (Tenor)
Chuck Wayne - Guitar, Guitar (Baritone)
Coleman Hawkins - Sax (Tenor)
Curly Russell - Bass
Denzil Best - Drums, Drums (Snare)
Dexter Gordon - Sax (Tenor)
Diego Ibarra - Bongos
Don Lanphere - Sax (Tenor)
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Sax (Tenor)
Ernie Henry - Sax (Alto)
Gene Ramey - Bass
Hank Jones - Piano
Howard McGhee - Trumpet
Huey Long - Guitar, Guitar (Baritone)
J.J. Johnson - Trombone
Jack Lesberg - Bass
Jimmy Johnson - Bass
John LaPorta - Clarinet
Kai Winding - Trombone
Kenny Clarke - Drums (Snare)
Lennie Tristano - Piano
Leo Parker - Bars, Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone)
Linton Garner - Piano
Marion Deveta - Bars, Sax (Baritone)
Max Roach - Drums, Drums (Snare)
Milt Jackson - Piano, Vibraphone
Nelson Boyd - Bass, Drums (Snare)
Roy Haynes - Drums
Sahib Shihab - Sax (Alto)
Shadow Wilson - Drums, Drums (Snare)
Sonny Rollins - Sax (Tenor)
Tadd Dameron - Piano
Tommy Porter - Bass
Tommy Potter - Bass
Wardell Gray - Sax (Tenor)
A 23-track overview of Fats' brief moments of brilliance in the jazz skyline. The groups are varied, as was Navarro's wont, featuring such luminaries as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Tadd Dameron, Leo Parker, Art Blakey, Howard McGhee, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Clarke, Milt Jackson, and Fats' idol, Charlie Parker. Navarro was a brilliant musician, done in by drugs and tuberculosis. This disc gives you an idea of how tragic his loss was to the jazz world.
---Cub Koda, All Music Guide
Fats Navarro
Active Decades: '40s and '50s
Born: Sep 24, 1923 in Key West, FL
Died: Jul 07, 1950 in New York, NY
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Bop
One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, Fats Navarro had a tragically brief career yet his influence is still being felt. His fat sound combined aspects of Howard McGhee, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie, became the main inspiration for Clifford Brown, and through Brownie greatly affected the tones and styles of Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw.
Navarro originally played piano and tenor before switching to trumpet. He started gigging with dance bands when he was 17, was with Andy Kirk during 1943-1944, and replaced Dizzy Gillespie with the Billy Eckstine big band during 1945-1946. During the next three years, Fats was second to only Dizzy among bop trumpeters. Navarro recorded with Kenny Clarke's Be Bop Boys, Coleman Hawkins, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Illinois Jacquet, and most significantly Tadd Dameron during 1946-1947. He had short stints with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman, continued working with Dameron, made classic recordings with Bud Powell (in a quintet with a young Sonny Rollins) and the Metronome All-Stars, and a 1950 Birdland appearance with Charlie Parker was privately recorded. However, Navarro was a heroin addict and that affliction certainly did not help him in what would be a fatal bout with tuberculosis that ended his life at age 26. He was well documented during the 1946-1949 period and most of his sessions are currently available on CD, but Fats Navarro (who would have turned 72 in 1995) could have done so much more.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
