Cecil Payne

Cecil Payne
300x200px Cecil Payne at the Kitano Hotel Jazz Club, NYC on June 11, 2005
Background information
Birth name	Cecil Payne
Born	(1922-12-14)December 14, 1922
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died
Genres	Bop Hard bop
Occupation(s)	Saxophonist Flautist
Instruments	Baritone saxophone Alto saxophone Flute
Labels	Delmark Records
Associated acts	Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston

Cecil Payne (December 14, 1922 – November 27, 2007) was a jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, NY. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute. He played with other prominent jazz musicians, in particular Dizzy Gillespie and Randy Weston, in addition to his solo work as bandleader.

Biography

Payne received his first saxophone at the age of 13, asking his father for one after hearing "Honeysuckle Rose" performed by Count Basie with Lester Young soloing. Payne took lessons from a local alto sax player, Pete Brown. He studied at Boys High School, Bedford-Stuyvesant.

File:Cecil Payne1.jpg

Cecil Payne, Greenwich Village Jazz Festival, Washington Square Park NY 1984

Payne began his professional recording career with J. J. Johnson on the Savoy label in 1946. During that year he also began playing with Roy Eldridge, through whom he met Dizzy Gillespie. His earlier recordings would largely fall under the swing category, until Gillespie hired him. Payne stayed onboard until 1949, heard performing solos on "Ow!" and "Stay On It". In the early 1950s he found himself working with Tadd Dameron, and worked with Illinois Jacquet from 1952 to 1954. He then started freelance work in New York and frequently performed during this period with Randy Weston, whom Payne worked with until 1960. Payne was still recording regularly for Delmark Records in the 1990s, when he was in his seventies, and indeed on into the new millennium.

Payne was a cousin of trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, whom he recorded with briefly. Aside from his career in music, Payne helped run his father's real estate company during the 1950s. Payne once said that his parents urged him to consider dentistry as a career. He countered their suggestion by pointing out that no one would ever entrust his or her teeth to a "Dr. Payne."

Discography

As leader

• Patterns of Jazz (Savoy, 1957)
• Cecil Payne Performing Charlie Parker Music (Charlie Parker, 1961)
• The Connection (Charlie Parker, 1962)
• Brookfield Andante (Spotlite, 1966)
• Zodiac (Strata-East, 1968 [1973])
• Brooklyn Brothers (Muse, 1973) with Duke Jordan
• Bird Gets The Worm (Muse, 1976)
• Bright Moments (Spotlight, 1979)
• Cerupa (Delmark, 1993)
• Scotch and Milk (Delmark, 1997)
• Payne's Window (Delmark, 1998)
• The Brooklyn Four Plus One (Progressive, 1999)
• Chic Boom: Live at the Jazz Showcase (Delmark, 2000) with tenor player Eric Alexander.

As sideman

With Gene Ammons

• Sock! (Prestige, 1955 [1965])

With Count Basie

• High Voltage (MPS, 1970)

With Kenny Burrell

• Kenny Burrell (Prestige, 1957)

With Jimmy Cleveland

• Introducing Jimmy Cleveland and His All Stars (EmArcy, 1955)

With John Coltrane

• Baritones and French Horns (Prestige, 1957)

With Tadd Dameron

• Cool Boppin´ (Fresh Sound, 1949)
• The Magic Touch (Riverside, 1962)

With Kenny Dorham

• Afro-Cuban (Blue Note, 1955)
• Blue Spring (Riverside, 1959) - with Cannonball Adderley

With Matthew Gee

• Jazz by Gee (Riverside, 1956)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (Bluebird, 1937-1949 [1995])
• Pleyel 48 (Vogue, 1948)
• The Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Big Band (MPS, 1968)

With Benny Golson

• Stockholm Sojourn (Prestige, 1974)

With Gigi Gryce

• Doin' the Gigi (Uptown, 2011)

With Johnny Hammond

• The Prophet (Kudu, 1972)

With Ernie Henry

• Last Chorus (Riverside, 1956–57)

With Illinois Jacquet

• Groovin' with Jacquet (Clef, 1951-53 [1956])
• The Soul Explosion (Prestige, 1969)

With J. J. Johnson

• Jazz Quintets (Savoy, 1947–49)

With Duke Jordan

• Duke Jordan Trio and Quintet (Signal, 1955)

With James Moody

• The Blues and Other Colors (Milestone, 1969)

With Archie Shepp

• Kwanza (Impulse!, 1974)

With Jimmy Smith

• Six Views of the Blues (Recorded July 16, 1958, released on Blue Note, 1999)

With Sonny Stitt

• Sonny Stitt Plays Arrangements from the Pen of Quincy Jones (Roost, 1955)

With Idrees Sulieman

• Roots (New Jazz, 1957) with the Prestige All Stars

With Clark Terry:

• Clark Terry (EmArcy, 1955)

With Randy Weston

• With These Hands... (Riverside, 1956)
• Jazz à la Bohemia (Riverside, 1956)
• The Modern Art of Jazz by Randy Weston (Dawn, 1956)
• Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1960)
• Monterey '66 (Verve, 1966 [1994])

With Ernie Wilkins

• Septet (Savoy, 1955)