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Oscar Pettiford

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Oscar Pettiford was an American jazz double bassist and composer, born on 30 September 1922 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and died on 8 September 1960. He was one of the first musicians to work in the idiom of bebop. He grew up in the family band, in which he sang and danced, switched to piano at twelve and to double bass at fourteen. The bassist Christian McBride called him probably the most important bassist of the bebop generation, because he created a new language for the bass.

Music and breakthrough

In 1942 he joined the band of Charlie Barnet, and in 1943 he gained wider recognition through his recording of The Man I Love with Coleman Hawkins. In New York in the early 1940s he took part in jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse, where bebop arose, with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke, among others. In the 1950s he recorded extensively for Debut, Bethlehem and ABC Paramount, among others, and played on the first three albums that Monk recorded for Riverside. Between 1954 and 1958 he led sextets, big bands and orchestras in Manhattan, in which he sought unusual combinations of sound, such as horns and harp. His composition Tricotism is a standard piece for jazz bass.

Influence

Pettiford is also regarded as a pioneer of the cello as a solo instrument in jazz. After breaking his arm in 1949 he could not play his bass and experimented with a cello, which he tuned in fourths, like a double bass, but an octave higher. In 1958 he moved to Copenhagen, where he recorded for European labels, and there he died, just before his thirty-eighth birthday. His influence on later bassists is often mentioned.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Tricotism and notice the bass: it plays not only the accompaniment, but also a melodic line of its own. Hear how songlike and nimble the line sounds.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists