Bill Hardman



William Franklin Hardman Jr. (April 6, 1933 – December 6, 1990) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop. He was married to Roseline and they had a daughter Nadege.

Career
Hardman was born and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and worked with local players including Bobby Few and Bob Cunningham; while in high school he appeared with Tadd Dameron, and after graduation he joined Tiny Bradshaw's band. Hardman's first recording was with Jackie McLean in 1956; he later played with Charles Mingus, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver, and Lou Donaldson, and led a group with Junior Cook. Hardman also recorded as a leader: Saying Something on the Savoy label received critical acclaim in jazz circles, but was little known to the general public. He had three periods in as many decades with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers; Hardman's misfortune was not to be with the Messengers at the time of their popular Blue Note recordings. Blakey occasionally featured him playing several extended choruses unaccompanied.

He died in Paris, France, of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 57.

Playing style and legacy
A crackling hard bop player with blazing technique, crisp articulations, and a no-frills sound, Hardman later incorporated into his sound the fuller, more extroverted romantic passion of a Clifford Brown – a direction he would take increasingly throughout the late-1960s and 1970s. He figures by and large among the top ranks of hardbop titans of the time, although he never managed a commercial breakthrough like many of his colleagues such as Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan.

As leader
With Brass Company
 * 1961 – Saying Something (Savoy)
 * 1978 – Home (Muse)
 * 1980 – Focus (Muse)
 * 1981 – Politely (Muse)
 * 1989 – What's Up (SteepleChase)
 * 1975 – Colors (Strata-East)

As sideman
With Dave Bailey With Art Blakey With Walter Bishop Jr With Junior Cook With Lou Donaldson With Charles Earland With Curtis Fuller With Benny Golson With Eddie Jefferson With Ronnie Mathews With Jackie McLean With Jimmy McGriff With Charles Mingus With Hank Mobley With Houston Person With Mickey Tucker With Steve Turre With Mal Waldron With Reuben Wilson '''With Dodo Marmarosa
 * 2 Feet in the Gutter (Epic, 1961)
 * Hard Bop (Columbia, 1956)
 * Originally (Columbia, 1956 [1982])
 * Drum Suite (Columbia, 1957)
 * Selections from Lerner and Loewe's... (Vik, 1957)
 * Tough! (Cadet, 1957 [1966])
 * A Night in Tunisia (Vik, 1957)
 * Cu-Bop (Jubilee, 1957)
 * Ritual: The Modern Jazz Messengers (Pacific Jazz 1957)
 * A Midnight Session with the Jazz Messengers (Elektra, 1957)
 * Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk (Atlantic, 1957)
 * Hard Drive (Bethlehem, 1957)
 * Art Blakey Big Band (Bethlehem, 1957)
 * Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (Live at Slug's (1968) (Everest 1977)
 * Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (Moanin' Live (1968) (Laserlight CD)
 * Jazz Messengers '70 (Catalyst, 1970)
 * In Walked Sonny Jazz Messengers with Sonny Stitt (Sonnet 1975)
 * Backgammon (Roulette, 1976)
 * Hot House (Muse, 1977/78 [1979])
 * Good Cookin' (Muse, 1979)
 * Sunny Side Up (Blue Note, 1960)
 * Possum Head (Argo, 1964)
 * Musty Rusty (Cadet, 1965)
 * Fried Buzzard (Cadet, 1965)
 * Infant Eyes (Muse, 1979)
 * Pleasant Afternoon (Muse, 1981)
 * Crankin' (Mainstream, 1971)
 * Smokin' (Mainstream, 1972)
 * Pop + Jazz = Swing (Audio Fidelity, 1961) – also released as Just Jazz!
 * Come Along with Me (Prestige, 1969)
 * Legacy (Bee Hive, 1979)
 * Jackie's Pal (Prestige, 1956)
 * McLean's Scene (New Jazz, 1956)
 * Jackie McLean & Co. (Prestige, 1957)
 * Movin' Upside the Blues (JAM, 1982)
 * A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry (Bethlehem, 1957)
 * Hank Mobley (album) (Blue Note, 1957)
 * Wild Flower (Muse, 1977)
 * Sojourn (Xanadu, 1977)
 * Viewpoints and Vibrations (Stash, 1987)
 * Mal 2 (Prestige, 1957) – with John Coltrane
 * The Sweet Life (Groove Merchant, 1973)
 * Dodo Marmarosa - The Chicago Sessions (1961-1962)[2 LP] (Argo Jazz, LP2, 1962-11-02)