Roy Ayers (1940–2025) was an American vibraphonist, composer, and producer who debuted with the 1963 UA release West Coast Vibes. Amid backing credits with Herbie Mann, Ayers cut the 1967–69 Atlantic albums Virgo Vibes, Stoned Soul Picnic, and Daddy Bug. In 1969/70, the Roy Ayers Quartet (with Sonny Sharrock and Miroslav Vitous) cut two albums […]
Bobby Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American vibraphonist who started as a sideman for Les McCann, Eric Dolphy, and Grant Green. Between 1963 and 1977, he recorded twenty-one albums for Blue Note. Background He was born Robert Hutcherson on January 27, 1941, in Los Angeles. His earliest exposure to jazz […]
Robert Wood is an English vibraphonist and singer who also worked as a guitarist and producer. He recorded in France during the 1970s with the early Lard Free lineup and under his own name. Edici issued Tarot and Sonabular before Wood moved to Polydor for Vibrarock and Tombac Vibe. Background Robert Wood was born in […]
The Ted Coleman Band was an American jazz-funk septet that released the 1980 album Taking Care of Business. Background Ted Coleman formed the Ted Coleman Band in New Jersey by 1979 after earlier work in Pittsburgh. Coleman began his professional activity as a Pittsburgh club pianist and later made vibraphone and mallet percussion his principal […]
Mike Mainieri (born July 4, 1938) is an American vibraphonist from the Bronx, N.Y.C., who entered professional music as a teenager with Buddy Rich. He led the Mike Mainieri Quartet on Blues on the Other Side and Insight, then directed the large jazz-rock ensemble White Elephant amid extensive New York session and production work. Mainieri formed […]
Cal Tjader (July 16, 1925 — May 5, 1982) was an American Latin-jazz vibraphonist from St. Louis with a recording career that spanned more than three decades, starting with a 1949–53 stint in the Dave Brubeck Trio. As a bandleader, Tjader made eight albums in the late Fifties on Fantasy Records and eleven on Verve […]
Dave Pike (March 23, 1938 — Oct. 4, 2015) was an American cool-jazz vibraphonist from Detroit who played with Paul Bley and the Jazz Couriers during the late Fifties. In 1961, Pike debuted as a bandleader with an album on Riverside Records, followed by albums on New Jazz, Moodsville, and Atlantic. In 1968, he assembled […]
Joe Chambers is an American jazz-funk drummer, pianist, vibraphonist, and composer from Stoneacre, Va. He became a central Blue Note session player in the 1960s through recordings with Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, and McCoy Tyner, while several of those sessions also featured his compositions. Chambers joined Max Roach in […]
