Melba Liston

Born in Kansas City, Melba moved to Los Angeles as a child, and became a working musician at age sixteen. She learned to arrange and write, as well as play, and quickly found herself snapped up by Gerald Wilson, who hired her as a copyist, arranger, and trombonist during the War. When Wilson's band broke up in 1948, she joined Count Basie, and in 1949, Dizzy Gillespie. Her writing and arranging were formidable, and after Dizzy's big band folded in 1957, she stayed busy in New York with writing and playing. She returned to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, and moved to Jamaica in 1974, to teach at the Institute of Music there. She returned in 1979, settling in New York to lead her own group. She suffered a stroke in 1986 that ended her playing career, but continued to compose and arrange until her death in 1999.

Melba appears on numerous big band sessions from 1945-57, and recorded one album as a leader. She occasionally returned to playing in her later years, and can be found on a handful of records, with luminaries like Quincy Jones, Randy Weston, Clark Terry, and Oliver Nelson, from the 1960s.

New Releases, Winter JazzFest and a Celebration of Jazz Capricorns

by Mary Foster Conklin
January 23, 2023

This broadcast includes a preview of some of the women artists appearing at the Winter Jazz Fest, new releases from Amina Figarova, the 3D Jazz Trio, a tribute to the music of Irene Higginbotham by Christy Bennett's Fumee plus a single from songwriter Tracey Yarad, with birthday shoutouts to Capricorns Melba Liston, Chelsea McBride, Michelle Walker, Rachel Z, Ruth Brown, Danny Bacher, Kris Davis, Nicole Zuraitis, Ingrid Jensen and Joe Pass, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the ...

Radio & Podcasts

Honoring Melba Liston

by Mary Foster Conklin
February 9, 2019

This broadcast presents a special tribute to trombonist, composer and arranger Melba Liston in the third hour in honor of her 93rd birthday and also includes cuts from new releases by vocalist Roberta Donnay and pianist/composer Carol Albert, with more birthday shout outs to Elvis Presley, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ruth Brown and Ingrid Jensen. Playlist Cynthia Sayer “Banjo Tango" from Attractions: With Bucky Pizzarelli (Self released) 00:00 Jen Hodge “Hey Let's Drink a Beer" from All's Fair in Love ...

Charts of Elegance

Melba and Her Horn - Accomplishments of the Great Melba Liston

by Ava Louise
April 10, 2018

Born in 1926 in Kansas City, Missouri, Melba Liston had an early interest in music. She saw a trombone when she was young and was taken by its beauty. Her family encouraged her interest in music and in learning to play the trombone. When her family moved to Los Angeles, she began to study music formally. This training would strongly inform her career, from instrumental performance to musical composition and arrangement. Melba had a remarkable career for multiple ...

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Album Review

Melba Liston: Melba Liston and Her 'Bones

Read "Melba Liston and Her 'Bones" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
June 2, 2006

Finding an obscure recording, especially one of quality, can be exciting for jazz enthusiasts. This reissue of Melba Liston's only recording as a leader, originally released by the short-lived Metro Jazz label half a century ago, is cause for celebration. The reissued Melba Liston and Her 'Bones also includes four tracks from another session which was originally released under Frank Rehak's name.

Melba Liston is best known as an arranger and composer, thanks to her associations with Dizzy Gillespie and ...

Recording

"Melba!," A Tribute To Melba Liston By Saxophonist/Composer Geof Bradfield, To Be Released By Origin Records April 16

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
April 2, 2013

Saxophonist/composer Geof Bradfield’s new CD Melba!, which Origin Records will release on April 16, has been a long time coming. Bradfield’s suite for jazz septet, a tribute to the great yet underheralded arranger/trombonist Melba Liston (1926-1999), received its premiere performances last summer in Chicago and other Midwest cities. It was supported by a commission from Chamber Music America’s 2011 New Jazz Works program (with funding by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), allowing Bradfield to research the rich Liston trove at ...
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