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Red Rodney

Primarily known as Charlie Parker’s trumpet player in 1949, Red Rodney went on to become a legend himself and made several dramatic comebacks during his career to solidify his reputation as a bebop trumpeter and keeper of the flame.

Born Robert Rodney Chudnick, on September 27, 1927, in Philadelphia, and within a few years of taking up the trumpet (first presented to him by a great aunt at his bar mitzvah), Rodney was hired by dance band leader Jerry Wald. While still in his teens he also played with Jimmy Dorsey, Elliot Lawrence and Benny Goodman. By 1946, when he joined Gene Krupa, Rodney was a highly experienced big band trumpeter but was already experimenting with bebop. These inclinations were encouraged by Krupa, Claude Thornhill and Woody Herman, with whom he also played in the late 40s. In 1949, with his reputation as a rising bop star fast gaining ground, he joined the Charlie Parker quintet (via an introduction from Dizzy Gillespie). For the next two years he was acclaimed as one of the best bebop trumpeters around and was certainly among the first white players to gain credibility and acceptance in the field (he would go on to help to record the soundtrack to Clint Eastwood's movie tribute to Parker, “Bird”).

Among the anecdotes to emerge from this time was the tale of Parker telling his agent that Rodney was in fact an albino, in order to ensure he was not barred from a tour of the south. Ill health and drug addiction nevertheless damaged his career and the 50s and 60s were bleak periods both artistically and health wise.

During the early 70s Rodney returned to the centre of the jazz stage, playing better than ever and displaying inventiveness and thorough mastery of his instrument in all bop and post-bop settings. He continued to be in demand playing in festivals, concerts and clubs around the world until his death, from lung cancer, in 1994. Source: James Nadal

Charlie Parker: Be Bop Live

Read "Be Bop Live" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 6, 2021

The name of the record label is ezz-thetics, which was also a composition by George Russell and an album of the same name (which featured Eric Dolphy) released by Riverside Records in 1961. Maybe a better moniker for the label is “Lest We Forget." Not that we could ever abandon Charlie Parker, but today when streaming services replace CDs and LPs, which also replaced 78s and live radio broadcasts (the streaming service of its day), Parker has the possibility of ...

Album Review

Charlie Parker Quintets: Be Bop Live

Read "Be Bop Live" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
January 25, 2021

Benvenuti a uno dei convegni di bellezza più eccitanti che il jazz abbia mai prodotto. Royal Roost, New York City, dicembre 1948-febbraio 1949, due mesi in cui Charlie “Bird" Parker teneva il cartellone nel club della Quarantasettesima, sconvolgendo il pubblico con alcune tra le sue esibizioni più brillanti. Il bop era già linguaggio assimilato ormai, ma l'eccezionalità di quelle serate confermava Parker come punta di diamante di tutta la cultura africana-americana, al di là delle correnti jazzistiche.Questo doppio ...

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Album Review

Red Rodney: The Quintets

by Derek Taylor
March 1, 2001

There’s scene in Clint Eastwood’s biopic Bird that immediately springs to mind hearing these seminal Red Rodney sides. In the scene Rodney is forced to sing in front of an audience of rural Southerners under the dubious alias of blues singer in order to substantiate a ruse devised by Charlie Parker to camouflage his quintet’s racially-integrated ranks. Nervous and completely unprepared his attempts at down-home delivery are down right awful. But when he hoists his horn to his lips and ...

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Album Review

Red Rodney: Live At The Village Vanguard

by Jim Santella
December 1, 1999

The first time on CD, the reissue of Red Rodney’s 1980 sessions at The Village Vanguard marks the beginning of his comeback and finds the leader’s trumpet work in fine form. Two experienced horn players and a young rhythm section made for a strong program with hard bop drama and pure musical ballad sentiment. In the liner notes, Rodney states, “I was determined to associate myself with young musicians in order to move ahead with the music of today."

Ira ...

Video / DVD

Six Red Rodney Videos

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 4, 2019

Trumpeter Red Rodney began his recording career with Jimmy Dorsey in 1944, moving on to Gene Krupa in 1946 just as Gerry Mulligan began writing arrangements for the band. Later that year, Rodney recorded with Dave Lambert and Buddy Stewart and then led his own bop group in 1947. After recording with Serge Chaloff that year, Rodney worked with Claude Thornhill, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman in their leading bands of the era. From 1949 to 1951, Rodney was a ...
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Event

Legendary Multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan Pays Homage To Former Bandmate And Trumpet Great Red Rodney

Source: Decibel
April 8, 2015

New York, NY – Legendary multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan will make a rare appearance next month (April 22-23) at New York’s Zinc Bar (82 West 3rd Street) to celebrate the life of the late jazz trumpet great Red Rodney. Sullivan, who turns 84 in May, was a longtime colleague of Red's since the early 50s and co-led the Red Rodney/Ira Sullivan Quintet during the 80s recording a handful of critically acclaimed records while touring extensively throughout the US and abroad. Beside ...
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