Rudd, Roswell (Hopkins, Jr.)
Rudd, Roswell (Hopkins, Jr.)
Rudd, Roswell (Hopkins, Jr.) , avant-garde jazz trombonist; b. Sharon, Conn., Nov. 17, 1935. Both his parents were musicians. He studied voice and French horn at Yale Univ. (1954–58). He began his jazz career playing in New Orleans revival-styled bands in the late 1950s and early 1960s; he also co-led a group with Steve Lacy (1963) to play all Monk tunes. He then did a stylistic turnabout; influenced by Albert Ayler, his playing became very free and radical. He formed N.Y. Art Quartet with John Tchicai, playing Scandinavia in 1965. He worked with Archie Shepp in the late 1960s-70s. After a long period of inactivity, he re-emerged on the N.Y. scene in the mid-1990s. In 1999, he played with re-formed N.Y. Art Quartet at a much publicized and well-received gig at 1999 Bell Atlantic Jazz Fest, N.Y. and recorded album with them for DIW label.
Discography
Roswell Rudd (1965); Everywhere (1966); Numatik Swing Band (1973); Flexible Flyer (1974); Maxine (1976); Inside Job (1976); Definitive (1979); Regeneration (1983).
—Lewis Porter