Female Trombonists - Melba Liston

 

Since I picked up my old trombone again back in February, I have been on a journey to re-learn what I used to know and try to improve beyond that former plateau. I will probably write about this experience at some point, but I want to focus on something different today. I have also been listening to many trombonists and find myself impressed by the women that have made the unpopular choice to play the ol' sliphorn,  The trombone community has been a "boys club" for a long time, but that is no longer as true as it used to be.  Some of the more interesting players right now are women. They still don't get the attention they deserve, IMO. I'm going to focus on them for a while because they are fantastic artists.

The Founding Mother of the female trombonist tribe is Melba Liston who is pictured above. Ms. Liston picked up the horn when she was 10 years old and quickly became proficient, playing pit orchestra gigs in Los Angeles while still in high school. The great tenor saxophonist, Dexter Gordon, was Melba's high school classmate. After a year of playing professionally, Melba landed a job as assistant to composer and arranger Gerald Wilson.  Wilson was in the process of forming his first big band, and Melba was in the trombone section. She recorded with Dexter Gordon in 1947 - he dedicated the tune "Mischievous Lady" to her. I think Melba went through some tough times - racism and sexism made it tough for a black female trombonist and arranger. She dropped out of music for a while. Melba did clerical work and got cast as an extra in some movies (she had a small part in "The Ten Commandments"). In 1950, Dizzy Gillespie reached out and she joined his band. She was also a featured performer with Quincy Jones' bands in the early 1960's. Here is a wonderful example of Melba's trombone lyricism from that time. 

It seems like many trombonists become composers and arrangers. J.J. Johnson and Slide Hampton both were prolific. Melba Liston also took up this profession and she was fabulous. She collaborated extensively with the pianist Randy Weston. She taught music at universities in Jamaica for a number of years in the 1970's, returning to the U.S. in the early 1980's.  When Melba had a stroke in 1985 and couldn't play trombone anymore, she kept composing and arranging. Here is one of her arrangements from Randy Weston's Volcano Blues album - really gorgeous harmonic colors!

Melba Liston was a great trombonist and arranger, but she was more than that. She overcame enormous prejudice and broke out of the social prison imposed on black women. Her art and life force were unstoppable. 

We lost her at age 73 in 1999.  All trombonists should study this woman. In fact, everyone should.

Dexter

I sometimes get a little stuck - maybe a family member isn't doing well, or I suffer a financial setback or the accumulated stress of single parenthood drags me down.  When that happens, I pull the Dexter Gordon playlist out of my iPod.  Dexter fixes bad moods, you see.

He was a very tall man - 6 feet, 6 inches tall.  He did not scuffle as a kid - his father was a prominent African American physician in Los Angeles who looked after patients such as Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton.  Dexter started playing when he was 13 years old; by the time he was 17, he was in Lionel Hampton's band.

Dexter is my favorite tenor saxophonist.  He never over-played.  He had the instrument completely under control and had all the technique in the world, but he never flaunted it.  His tone was large and round, he hung behind the beat by a few micro-seconds; this somehow made everything he played more emotional and deep.  He had a tendency to slide up to higher notes; he used vibrato sparingly, but  perfectly - it always enhanced his art and never created a distraction. He could swing so hard, and he had conquered all the intricacies of be-bop. But his ballads would rip the soul out of your body.   He was a major influence on John Coltrane, but I don't think 'Trane matched Dexter's lyrical magic.  He was a natural - threw down an Oscar-worthy performance as Dale Turner in "'Round Midnight" in 1986.  Here is version of "Body and Soul" from that film.

When I listen to Dex, I feel a space opening up in my chest, pressure and gloom dissipates.  I can't explain it.    He was a poet of the jazz saxophone.

Dexter Gordon died of kidney failure in Philadelphia 23 years ago.  He was 67.  He was playing almost to the end.  At his memorial service, there were no eulogies or prayers, just great music from a group of Dexter's fellow jazz musicians, led by the great trombonist and Dexter Gordon collaborator Slide Hampton.  This is what Dexter requested.

This past February 27 was the 90th anniversary of Dexter Gordon's birth.  The world is a better place because he lived and picked up the saxophone.