Buddy Collette

William Marcel "Buddy" Collette (August 6, 1921 – September 19, 2010) was an American jazz flautist, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet.

Music career

William Marcel Collette was born in Los Angeles and raised in Watts. His father played piano and his mother sang. He took up alto saxophone when he was 12. His first group included Britt Woodman on trombone and Charles Mingus on bass. At 17 he started playing professionally.

After serving as a U.S. Navy band leader, he played with the Stars of Swing (Woodman, Mingus, and Lucky Thompson), Louis Jordan, and Benny Carter.

In 1949, he was the only black member of the band for You Bet Your Life, a TV and radio show hosted by Groucho Marx. In the 1950s, he worked as a studio musician with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, and Nelson Riddle. In 1955 he was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, playing chamber jazz flute with guitarist Jim Hall, cellist Fred Katz, and bassist Carson Smith. He also taught, and his students included Mingus, James Newton, Eric Dolphy, Charles Lloyd, and Frank Morgan. He helped merge an all-black musicians' union with an all-white musicians' union.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

• Tanganyika (Dig, 1956)
• Man of Many Parts (Contemporary, 1956)
• Cool, Calm & Collette (ABC-Paramount, 1957)
• Everybody's Buddy (Challenge, 1957)
• Porgy & Bess (Interlude, 1957)
• Nice Day with Buddy Collette (Contemporary, 1957)
• Flute Fraternity (Mode, 1957) with Herbie Mann
• Aloha to Jazz (Bel Canto, 1957)
• Jazz Loves Paris (Specialty, 1958)
• Marx Makes Broadway, (VSOP, 1958)
• Buddy Collette's Swinging Shepherds (EmArcy, 1958)
• At the Cinema! (Mercury, 1959)
• The Polyhedric Buddy Collette (1960)
• Buddy Collette in Italy (Riccordi, 1961)
• The Soft Touch of Buddy Collette (1962)
• The Buddy Collette Quintet (Studio West, 1962) with Irene Kral
• The Girl from Ipenema (Crown, 1964)
• Warm Winds (World Pacific, 1964) with Charles Kynard
• Buddy Collette on Broadway (Survey, 1966)
• Now and Then (Legend, 1973)
• Block Buster (RGB, 1974)
• Flute Talk (Soul Note, 1988)
• Jazz for Thousand Oaks (UFO Bass, 1996)
• Live from the Nation's Capital (Bridge, 2000)
• Tasty Dish (Fresh Sound/Jazz Archives, 2004)
• Live at El Camino College (UFO Bass, 2006)

As sideman

With Chet Baker

• Blood, Chet and Tears (Verve, 1970)

With Louis Bellson

• Music, Romance and Especially Love (Verve, 1957)
• Louis Bellson Swings Jule Styne (Verve, 1960)

With Brass Fever

• Brass Fever (Impulse!, 1975)
• Time Is Running Out (Impulse!, 1976)

With James Brown

• Soul on Top (King, 1969)

With Red Callender

• Swingin' Suite (Crown, 1957)

With Conte Candoli

• Little Band Big Jazz (Crown, 1960)

With Benny Carter

• Additions to Further Definitions (Impulse!, 1966)

With June Christy

• Something Cool (Capitol, 1955)
• Ballads for Night People (Capitol, 1959)

With Nat King Cole

• L-O-V-E (Capitol, 1965)

With Miles Davis and Michel Legrand

• Dingo (Warner Bros., 1991)

With Sammy Davis, Jr.

• The Wham of Sam! (Reprise, 1961)

With Ella Fitzgerald

• Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (Verve, 1959)

With Gil Fuller

• Gil Fuller & the Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra featuring Dizzy Gillespie (Pacific Jazz, 1965)

With Ted Gärdestad

• Blue Virgin Isles (Epic, 1978)

With Jimmy Giuffre

• The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet (Atlantic, 1956)

With Chico Hamilton

• Chico Hamilton Quintet featuring Buddy Collette (Pacific Jazz, 1955)
• The Original Chico Hamilton Quintet (World Pacific, 1955 [1960])
• Chico Hamilton Quintet in Hi Fi (Pacific Jazz, 1956)
• Ellington Suite (World Pacific, 1959)
• The Three Faces of Chico (Warner Bros., 1959)

With Eddie Harris

• How Can You Live Like That? (Atlantic, 1976)

With Jon Hendricks

• ¡Salud! João Gilberto, Originator of the Bossa Nova (Reprise, 1961)

With Freddie Hubbard

• The Love Connection (Columbia, 1979)

With Quincy Jones

• Go West, Man! (ABC Paramount, 1957)

With Fred Katz

• Soul° Cello (Decca, 1958)
• Folk Songs for Far Out Folk (Warner Bros., 1958)

With Stan Kenton

• Kenton / Wagner (Capitol, 1964)

With Barney Kessel

• Easy Like (Contemporary, 1956)
• Music to Listen to Barney Kessel By (Contemporary, 1957)
• Carmen (Contemporary, 1958)

With Wade Marcus

• Metamorphosis (Impulse!, 1976)

With Les McCann

• Les McCann Sings (Pacific Jazz, 1961)

With Carmen McRae

• Carmen for Cool Ones (Decca, 1958)
• Portrait of Carmen (Atlantic, 1968)

With Charles Mingus

• The Complete Town Hall Concert (Blue Note, 1962 [1994])

With Blue Mitchell

• Bantu Village (Blue Note, 1969)

With Lyle Murphy

• Four Saxophones in Twelve Tones (GNP, 1955)

With Oliver Nelson

• Zig Zag (Original Motion Picture Score) (MGM, 1970)
• Skull Session (Flying Dutchman, 1975)
• Stolen Moments (East Wind, 1975)

With Dory Previn

• On My Way to Where (United Artists, 1970)
• Mythical Kings and Iguanas (United Artists, 1971)
• Dory Previn (Warner Bros., 1974)

With Don Ralke

• Bongo Madness (Crown, 1957)

With Buddy Rich

• This One's for Basie (Norgran, 1956)

With Little Richard

• Mr. Big (Joy, 1965 [1971])

With Shorty Rogers

• The Fourth Dimension in Sound (Warner Bros., 1961)

With Pete Rugolo

• The Music from Richard Diamond (EmArcy, 1959)
• Behind Brigitte Bardot (Warner Bros., 1960)

With Horace Silver

• Silver 'n Wood (Blue Note, 1974)
• Silver 'n Brass (Blue Note, 1975)
• The Continuity of Spirit (Silverto, 1985)

With Frank Sinatra

• Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!! (Capitol, 1961)
• L.A. Is My Lady (Qwest, 1984)

With Gábor Szabó and Bob Thiele

• Light My Fire (Impulse!, 1967)

With The Three Sounds

• Soul Symphony (Blue Note, 1969)
• Persistent Percussion (1960, Kent, KST 500)

With Mel Tormé

• Comin' Home Baby! (Atlantic, 1962)

With Stanley Turrentine

• Everybody Come On Out (Fantasy, 1976)

With Gerald Wilson

• You Better Believe It! (Pacific Jazz, 1961)
• Lomelin (Discovery, 1981)

With Nancy Wilson

• Broadway – My Way (Capitol, 1964)

With Red Norvo

• Ad Lib(Liberty, 1957)

• "Buddy Collette | Album Discography | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 October 2016.