Lew Soloff

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Lew Soloff
L to R: Steve Ramos, Ray Reach, and Lew Soloff backstage at the Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival, sponsored by the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Alabama, September 27, 2008
L to R: Steve Ramos, Ray Reach, and Lew Soloff backstage at the Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival, sponsored by the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham, Alabama, September 27, 2008
Background information
Birth nameLewis Michael Soloff
Born(1944-02-20)February 20, 1944
New York City, U.S.
DiedMarch 8, 2015(2015-03-08) (aged 71)
New York City, U.S.
Instrument(s)Trumpet, piccolo trumpet
Years active1960–2015
LabelsColumbia Records
Websitewww.lewsoloff.com

Lewis Michael Soloff[1] (February 20, 1944 – March 8, 2015)[2] was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and actor. He was a founding member of the band Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Biography

From his birth place of New York City, United States,[1] he studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School. He worked with Blood, Sweat & Tears from 1968 until 1973.[1] Prior to this he worked with Machito, Tony Scott, Maynard Ferguson, and Tito Puente.[3]

In the 1980s, he was a member of Members Only, a jazz ensemble who recorded for Muse Records.[4]

Soloff was a regular member and sub-leader of Gil Evans' Monday Night Orchestra beginning in 1983, gaining him experience as a band leader.[1] His debut album recording was supported by Gil.[5] His 2010 recording Sketches of Spain is a tribute to the classic 1959–60 Miles Davis-Gil Evans collaboration, and he has performed the reconstructed Evans arrangements of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Soloff was also a longtime member of the Manhattan Jazz Quintet[4] and Mingus Big Band.

Soloff made frequent guest appearances with jazz orchestras all over the world such as the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (directed by Wynton Marsalis).

He was among a handful of trumpeters capable of playing demanding lead trumpet parts while also contributing improvisational solos and of playing baroque, classical, and later orchestral and chamber music styles, which made him an in-demand session player for commercials and soundtracks.[citation needed]

Soloff died in 2015, at the age of 71, after suffering a heart attack in New York City.[6][2]

Discography

As leader

As sideman

With Franco Ambrosetti

With Ray Anderson

With George Benson

With Carla Bley

With Blood, Sweat & Tears

With Hank Crawford

With Gil Evans

With Maynard Ferguson

With Ricky Ford

With Michael Franks

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Jimmy Heath

With O'Donel Levy

With Herbie Mann

With Helen Merrill

With Tisziji Muñoz

  • The Paradox of Completion (Anami Music, 2015)

With Bobby Previte

With Dakota Staton

With Jeremy Steig

With Sonny Stitt

With Stanley Turrentine

With others

References

  1. ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2320. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  2. ^ a b "Lew Soloff dies at 71; trumpet player for Blood, Sweat and Tears". Los Angeles Times. 9 March 2015.
  3. ^ "Down Beat Artist's profile". Archived from the original on 2006-11-17. Retrieved 2006-11-15.
  4. ^ a b "Lew Soloff Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  5. ^ Nakayama, Yasuki (2018). "ギル・エヴァンスのマンディ・ナイト・セッション" [Gil Evans' Monday night sessions]. スイングジャーナル時代の中山康樹 [Yasuki Nakayama in "Swing Journal" era] (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Shinko Music Entertainment. pp. 68–78.
  6. ^ "Passings: Lew Soloff, Jazz & Blood, Sweat & Tears Trumpeter (1944 - 2015) ~ VVN Music". Vintagevinylnews.com. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Better Believe It - Fred Lipsius | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 October 2021.