* En anglais uniquement
A prolific bassist who's seemingly always in the recording studio,
Rufus Reid's name appears on countless hard bop, bebop, swing, and even some pop sessions. His restrained yet emphatic and pungent tone, time, harmonic sensibility, and discernible, if understated, swing are welcome on any session. Trumpet was
Reid's first love, but he switched to bass while in the Air Force. He played with
Buddy Montgomery in Sacramento, CA, then studied music in Seattle and Chicago in the late '60s and early '70s.
Reid worked in Chicago with
Sonny Stitt,
James Moody,
Milt Jackson,
Curtis Fuller, and
Dizzy Gillespie, and recorded with
Kenny Dorham,
Dexter Gordon,
Lee Konitz, and
Howard McGhee in 1970. He toured internationally several times with the
Bobby Hutcherson-
Harold Land quintet,
Freddie Hubbard,
Nancy Wilson,
Eddie Harris, and
Gordon through the '70s.
Reid moved to New York in 1976, playing and recording with a quartet co-led by
Thad Jones and
Mel Lewis, and taught at William Patterson College in Wayne, NJ, starting in 1979. He recorded with
Konitz,
Ricky Ford,
Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition with
Kenny Burrell, with a quintet co-led by
Frank Wess and
Art Farmer, and in duos with
Kenny Burrell and
Harold Danko in the '80s.
Reid also did sessions with
Art Farmer and
Jimmy Heath. He has co-led a group with drummer
Akira Tana since the late '80s that is called TanaReid. As a leader,
Rufus Reid has cut sets for Theresa, Sunnyside, and Concord. ~ Ron Wynn