Jazz Articles about Cecil Payne

Cecil Payne: Payne's Window

by Jack Bowers
May 1, 1999

Cecil Payne, one of the most commanding and creative baritone voices to emerge from the bop era, is now 77 years old and, we understand, in failing health, but one would never guess that from his latest Delmark release, recorded only last year, on which Payne apparently has no trouble keeping pace with such relative adolescents as Alexander, Davis, Webber and Farnsworth. Even pianist Mabern, hardly wet behind the ears at 63, is a generation younger than Payne. I'm always ...

Cecil Payne: Performing Charlie Parker Music

by Joel Roberts
January 1, 1998

Cecil Payne has been on the scene since the late 1940s. Perhaps best known for his stint with the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra and his long association with Randy Weston, he is one of the true masters of a difficult instrument, the baritone saxophone. Originally issued in 1961 on Charlie Parker Records, this album features Payne leading an all-star ensemble through a set, appropriately enough, of Charlie Parker tunes.

Payne is joined by Bird's pianist Duke Jordan, the impeccable ...