Julian Priester

Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer.

He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.

Priester attended Chicago's DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett. In his teens he played with blues and R&B artists such as Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, and Bo Diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like Max Roach, trumpeter Clifford Brown, and saxophonist Sonny Stitt.

In the early 1950s Priester was a member of Sun Ra's big band, recording several albums with the group before leaving Chicago in 1956 to tour with Lionel Hampton. In 1958 he settled in New York and joined the band of drummer Max Roach. While playing in Roach's group Priester also recorded two albums as a leader, Keep Swingin' and Spiritsville for Riverside, both of which came out in 1960.

In 1961 Priester left the Max Roach band, and between 1961 and 1969 appeared as a sideman on albums by Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Blue Mitchell, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Johnny Griffin, and Sam Rivers. During that period he also took part in John Coltrane's Africa/Brass ensemble, which played with Coltrane's quartet on the album by the same name recorded in 1961. In 1969 he accepted an offer to play with Duke Ellington's big band, and he stayed with that ensemble for six months before leaving in 1970 to join pianist Herbie Hancock's fusion sextet.

After leaving the Hancock group in 1973, Priester moved to San Francisco, where he recorded two more albums as a leader: Love, Love in 1974 and 1977's Polarization. In 1979 he joined the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where he teaches jazz composition, performance, and history. In the 1980s he became a member of the Dave Holland quintet and also returned to Sun Ra's band; the 1990s saw the addition of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra to his schedule. Priester was recently co-leader with drummer Jimmy Bennington on 'Portraits and Silhouettes' which received an Honorable Mention in All About Jazz New York's 'Best Recordings of 2007', which culminated with the two appearing at the 30th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival.

Julian also performs on the album Monoliths & Dimensions by the avant-metal band SUNN O))), released in May 2009. His major contributions were to the final track of the album, "Alice," a tribute to Alice Coltrane.

In addition to teaching and touring, Priester continues to record albums under his own name. He released Hints on Light and Shadow (with Sam Rivers and Tucker Martine) in 1997 and followed it up in 2003 with In Deep End Dance.

Clifford Jordan: These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly

Read "These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
May 6, 2021

These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly is an oft overlooked item in the canon of tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, whose chef d'oeuvre was undoubtedly Glass Bead Games (Strata-East, 1974), one of the most exalted jazz albums of its era. But These Are My Roots, which was originally released on Atlantic in 1965 and has in 2021 been reissued on vinyl by British audiophile label Pure Pleasure, is of more than passing interest. The hard bop ...

Interview

Julian Priester: Reflections in Positivity

by Paul Rauch
December 8, 2017

My task for the day was to interview legendary trombonist/composer, and jazz icon, Julian Priester. We had met a few times over my 35 years of frequenting the jazz scene in Seattle, coinciding with Priester's years teaching at the esteemed Cornish College of the Arts. In anticipation, I had spent nearly two months preparing, reacquainting myself for that which I already knew-that Julian Priester is a jazz legend that has played an amazing role in the evolution of the music. ...

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Album Review

Max Roach: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite

Read "We Insist! Freedom Now Suite" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
October 8, 2007

Re-released following the passing of drummer Max Roach in August 2007, We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (Candid, 1960) remains a work of enduring musical and social importance. Notwithstanding Roach's central role in the creation of bop, or his later hard bop explorations with trumpeter Clifford Brown, it is, by some margin, the most perfectly realised album he recorded. 1960 was the year in which black Americans' struggle for civil rights reached critical mass. In February, anti-segregationist lunch-counter sit-ins ...

208

Album Review

Julian Priester/Pepe Mtoto: Love, Love

Read "Love, Love" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
September 11, 2005

With ECM's gradual reissue of titles that have previously been unavailable on CD, the label is providing an opportunity to reconnect with some of the early albums that created such remarkable brand loyalty amongst older fans. Equally, it's giving new listeners the chance to hear exactly why the label's emergence in the early '70s represented such a fresh and significant event in modern jazz, allowing the label to quickly build a reputation for diverse and uncompromising music that continues to ...

486

Album Review

McCoy Tyner: Tender Moments

Read "Tender Moments" reviewed by Donald Elfman

by Donald Elfman
May 18, 2005

Now 66 years old, McCoy Tyner has made countless albums and become an elder statesman of jazz. He is certainly best known as the pianist in the transformational John Coltrane Quartet of the '60s, but it was with Blue Note recordings like this one from 1967, recently reissued in remastered form, that he revealed his personality as a composer, arranger, and soloist.Tender Moments was one of Tyner's first major explorations of the world of colors and textures available ...

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Album Review

McCoy Tyner: Tender Moments

Read "Tender Moments" reviewed by Norman Weinstein

by Norman Weinstein
August 25, 2004

This is the first, and arguably, the finest big band album the distinguished pianist ever recorded. Six horns are utilized, with the neglected James Spaulding alternating on flute and alto sax along with tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin, trombonist Julian Priester, trumpeter Lee Morgan, and the exotic horns, with Bob Northern on French horn and Howard Johnson on tuba. There are six Tyner originals gracing the frustratingly brief album (38 minutes). But repeated listening reveals something very subtle and seductive about ...

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Profile

Julian Priester

by AAJ Staff
January 12, 2004

Submitteed on behalf Jonathan Davidson. When you hear the name Julian Priester, you probably think of all of the amazing recordings in which the jazz trombonist participated. You may also wonder what he’s been up to in the past couple of decades. He last visited our fair city some 5 years ago. Fortunately, he will break that musical fast in a matter of weeks and, to be sure, he has been very busy over the last 25 ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian Priester

Source: Michael Ricci
June 29, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Priester's birthday today!

Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. Priester attended Chicago's DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett. In his teens he played with blues and R&B artists such as Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, and Bo Diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like Max Roach, trumpeter ...
read more

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian Priester

Source: Michael Ricci
June 29, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Priester's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian Priester

Source: Michael Ricci
June 29, 2014

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Priester's birthday today! Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. Priester attended Chicago\'s DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett. In his teens he played with blues and R&B artists such as Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, and Bo Diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like Max Roach... Read ...
read more

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian Priester

Source: Michael Ricci
June 29, 2013

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Priester's birthday today!

Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. Priester attended Chicago\'s DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett. In his teens he played with blues and R&B artists such as Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, and Bo Diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like Max Roach... Read ...
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Advocacy

Please Help Julian Priester

Source: All About Jazz
February 9, 2013

Julian Priester, the well-known trombonist who has, in a career now well into its sixth decade, played with everyone from Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Dinah Washington and Booker Little to Herbie Hancock, Sun Ra, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane —not to mention a small but superb discography as a leader that includes Love, Love (ECM, 1974) and Hints on Light and Shadow (Postcards, 1997)—needs your help. Recently retired from a longtime position on the Cornish College of the ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian Priester

Source: Michael Ricci
June 29, 2012

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Priester's birthday today!

Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. Priester attended Chicago\'s DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett. In his teens he played with blues and R&B artists such as Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, and Bo Diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like Max Roach... Read ...
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Performance / Tour

Michele Rosewoman Trio With Special Guest Julian Priester At The Healdsburg Jazz Festival, June 8, 2012

Source: Seton Hawkins
May 21, 2012

On June 8, 2012 at 9:00 p.m., the pianist/composer Michele Rosewoman leads her trio, featuring bassist Andy McKee and drummer Billy Hart, with special guest trombonist Julian Priester, in a concert at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, performing a selection of original works by Rosewoman and by Priester. Hailed by AllAboutJazz.com as a “propulsive bandleader [who] guides the listeners and the players on a most seductive journey," Michele Rosewoman has made her mark in the jazz world by fusing Afro-Cuban influences ...
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Recording

Julian Priester and Aaron Alexander Put It Together on Duo Disk "Conversational Music"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
September 13, 2011

First things first. If you do not know who Julian Priester is (and I of course assume that most readers are very familiar with him) you have missed a very important part of what makes the trombone a central instrument in jazz today. From Max Roach's and Sun Ra's bands in the fifties, Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi in the early '70s, and through to today, he has been a major stylist. The good news is that he sounds great today, especially ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Julian Priester

Source:
June 29, 2011

All About Jazz is celebrating Julian Priester's birthday today!

Julian Priester is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. Priester attended Chicago\'s DuSable High School, where he studied under Walter Dyett. In his teens he played with blues and R&B artists such as Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, and Bo Diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like Max Roach...Julian Priester ...
read more

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Birthday