User:The.Jeremiah02/Booker Little

Biography[edit]
Booker Little Jr. was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Booker, a Pullman porter who was a trombonist, and his wife Ophelia Little, who was a church organist. He also was the brother of Helena, Vivian, and Vera Little (Vera later sung with the London Opera Company)(7). Apart of a musically inclined family, Little naturally gravitated towards music. Like his father, he attempted to learn the trombone but instead choose clarinet at the age of 12(4). At 14, he finally settled on trumpet as his band director urged him play trumpet(4). In 1952, Little attended Manassas High School where he would begin his development on trumpet and later on graduate(7). Being in a city like Memphis, Little was able to grow his talent with other young musicians during that time such as Phineas Newborn Jr., George Coleman, Frank Strozier, and his cousin Louis Smith(8). After graduating, he moved to Chicago, Illinois to continue his studies at the Chicago Conservatory in 1954(4). At the conservatory, he continued studying trumpet but also incorporated studies in composition, theory, and orchestration with a minor in piano(7). He would later on graduate with a bachelors degree in trumpet(8). As a sophomore, Little met Sonny Rollins. For about nine months, they both stayed at the YMCA where Rollins would influence Little greatly by encouraging him to find his own sound versus mimicking other musicians(8).

While attending a recording session with Rollins, Little met renowned drummer Max Roach in 1955(7). Following the death of Clifford Brown the next year, Roaches trumpet player in his band Max Roach Four, Little filled the role. Being in school caused a decline and he was replaced by Kenny Dorham. But following graduation, he joined the Roaches band again taking his spot back from Dorham in 1958(4). Over the course of the year, the group recorded a number of albums(8). In 1958, Little left the group and free-lanced around New York recording more albums with his old constituents Coleman, Strozier, and Smith(8). In 1960, Little rejoined Roaches band and his career began to take off as he recorded 14 albums from April 1960 to September 1961(8). . Moreover, during his breakout year he met Eric Dolphy(7).

With Dolphy, he co-led a residency at the Five Spot club in New York in June 1961, from which three albums were eventually issued by the Prestige label. It was during this stint that he began to show promise of expanding the expressive range of the "vernacular" bebop idiom which originated with Clifford Brown, his most obvious influence as a performer. He also appeared on Dolphy's album Far Cry (New Jazz 8270), recorded on December 21, 1960.

Little died of complications resulting from uremia on October 5, 1961, in New York City. He was survived by his wife, two sons Booker T. III and Larry Cornelius, and two daughters Larue Cornelia and Ana Dorsey.