John Gilmore (musician)
John Gilmore (September 28, 1931 – August 20, 1995)[1] was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and percussionist.[1] He was known for his tenure with the avant-garde keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra from the 1950s to the 1990s,[2] and led The Sun Ra Arkestra from Sun Ra's death in 1993 until his own death in 1995.[3]
This article is about the jazz saxophonist. For other people with this name, see John Gilmore.
John Gilmore
John Gilmore
September 28, 1931
Summit, Mississippi, U.S.
August 20, 1995 (aged 63)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Musician, composer
1952–1995
Biography[edit]
Gilmore was raised in Chicago and played clarinet from the age of 14.[4] He took up the tenor saxophone while serving in the United States Air Force from 1948 through 1951.[1] He then pursued a musical career, beginning as a tenor saxophonist on a national tour with the Harlem Globetrotters in an ensemble that included pianist Earl Hines in 1952.[1]
In 1953 Gilmore met pianist and bandleader Sun Ra who had a profound impact on him as a musician.[1] For the next four decades, he recorded and performed almost exclusively with Sun Ra; first as a trio, and then in the Sun Ra Arkestra.[1] This was puzzling to some, who noted Gilmore's talent, and thought he could be a major star like John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins. Despite being five years older than Gilmore, Coltrane was impressed with his playing, and took informal lessons from Gilmore in the late 1950s. Coltrane's epochal, proto–free jazz "Chasin' the Trane" was inspired partly by Gilmore's sound. The Penguin Guide to Jazz suggests Gilmore remained an influence in Coltrane's later period, particularly on Sun Ship.[5]
In the late 1950s Gilmore co-led a band with Clifford Jordan while simultaneously playing with Arkestra.[1] In 1957 this ensemble recorded a Blue Note session which resulted in the album Blowing in from Chicago.[1] The rhythm section featured Horace Silver, Curly Russell, and Art Blakey.[6] During this period Gilmore also performed with jazz drummer Wilbur Campbell (1958), trumpeter Miles Davis (1959), saxophonist Johnny Griffin (1959), singer Dinah Washington (1959), and pianist Andrew Hill (1959); the latter of whom he had gone to school with as a boy in Chicago.[1]
In 1960 Gilmore moved from Chicago to New York City with the other members of Arkestra.[1] In the early 1960s he worked frequently as a sideman in gigs in New York with artists like trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (1962), singer and guitarist B.B. King (1963-1964), pianist Paul Bley (1964), Andrew Hill (1964), and drummer Art Blakey (1964).[1] From 1964 through 1966 he toured with the Blakey's Jazz Messengers; replacing saxophonist Wayne Shorter in the ensemble.[1] After this he performed with a variety of artists, including double bassist and pianist Charles Mingus (1966), pianists McCoy Tyner (1967) and George Russell (1968); drummer Art Taylor (1968); and trombonist Melba Liston (1969).[1] During this time he also participated in recording sessions with Bley, Hill (Andrew!!! and Compulsion), Pete La Roca (Turkish Women at the Bath), McCoy Tyner (Today and Tomorrow) and a handful of others. In 1970, he co-led a recording with Jamaican trumpeter Dizzy Reece. His main focus throughout, however, remained with the Sun Ra Arkestra.[1]