A self-taught guitarist who later became an instructor,
Ted Dunbar's pithy riffs, taut solos, and accompaniment have been featured in hard bop, soul-jazz, jazz-rock, and free situations.
Dunbar played trumpet and guitar at Texas Southern in the mid-and late '50s. He worked with
Arnett Cobb,
Don Wilkerson, and
Joe Turner.
Dunbar studied and played with
Dave Baker at Indiana in the early '60s, sometimes subbing for
Wes Montgomery. He moved to New York in the mid-'60s, and performed and recorded with
Gil Evans in the '70s, as well as
Tony Williams' Lifetime and
Frank Foster. He also worked with
Sonny Rollins,
Ron Carter,
Billy Harper,
Roy Haynes, and
McCoy Tyner. He was involved with
Billy Taylor's Jazzmobile project, the New Jazz Repertory Co., and
the National Jazz Ensemble before joining Livingston College's (Rutgers) faculty in 1972. On top of recording sessions as a leader for Xanadu and Muse,
Dunbar also wrote several books on jazz harmony and guitar before his death in 1998. ~ Ron Wynn