Booker Little


Booker Little Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He appeared on many recordings in his short career, both as a sideman and as a leader. Little performed with Max Roach, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy and was strongly influenced by Sonny Rollins and Clifford Brown. He died at age 23.

Biography

Little was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was the fourth child of Booker, a Pullman porter and his wife, Ophelia. Little graduated from Manassas High School. He studied trumpet at the Chicago Conservatory with Joseph Summerhill from 1956 to 1958 and it was during this time that he worked with leading local musicians such as Johnny Griffin. Later, after moving to New York, while he lived with Sonny Rollins, Little became associated with drummer Max Roach and multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, recording with them both as a sideman and a leader.
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, 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, and two daughters.

Discography

As leader

With Teddy Charles
With John Coltrane
With Eric Dolphy
With Slide Hampton
With Bill Henderson
With Abbey Lincoln
With Max Roach
With Frank Strozier'