Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne, who asserted the baritone’s role in bop, died Tuesday morning of cancer in New York.
Payne was born in New York City on Dec. 14, 1922. He started his musical life singing and playing guitar. After hearing Young on a recording with Count Basie, Payne asked his father, who played tenor, for a horn and received an alto. His father thought the light, airy playing of Young was done on the alto. Payne mastered that as well as the clarinet, which he played in army bands from ‘43 to ‘46. In ‘46 Payne made his debut on baritone sax with a band led by Clarence Briggs, and his last recording on alto on a session led by J.J. Johnson. After a stint with Roy Eldridge, Payne established himself as a bop saxophonist in Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. Settled in New York City, he played in bands led by James Moody and Tadd Dameron; freelanced from ‘49 to ‘52; toured with Illinois Jacquet from ‘52 to ‘54; and made notable recordings with Duke Jordan and Randy Weston. Payne retired from the jazz scene during the late ‘50s but acted and wrote songs for Jack Gelber’s play The Connection in the early ‘60s.
Payne returned to music as a soloist in Machito’s Afro-Cubans and with Lucky Thompson’s octet. After touring Europe with Lionel Hampton in ‘64, he again left the scene, only to return a couple years later to play with Weston, Woody Herman, and Gillespie. After a two-year stint with Basie, Payne formed a quartet which was active well into the ‘80s. Payne also recorded with Nick Brignola in ‘79 and formed a trio with Bill Harman and Richard Wyand in ‘86.
Recently, Payne began playing gigs in New York after six years in seclusion due to blindness. He reunited with friends, Quincy Jones, Ron Carter, Frank Foster, Freddie Hubbard, when he played the annual “Great Night In Harlem” Benefit Concert for the Jazz Foundation at the Apollo. After this, Cecil found time to perform in the local nursing homes in the Somerdale area, entertaining elderly patients for free.
“What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.
Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
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On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
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Butcher Brown, clockwise from top left: Marcus Tenney, DJ Harrison, Morgan Burrs, Corey Fonville and Andrew Randazzo. (Keyboardist Harrison couldn’t make the gig, so special guest Jacob Mann sat in with the band at the Reno Jazz Festival.)
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This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.
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The organizers of Lisbon, Portugal’s Jazz em Agosto Festival assume its audience is thoughtful and independent. Over…
