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Buddy Collette

When it comes to unsung jazz heroes, Buddy Collette's talents on tenor saxophone, flute, and clarinet are as close to unmatched as it gets. A gifted composer of classical music in addition to his jazz pedigree, Collette continues to fly almost defiantly under the radar of greater renown.

William Marcel Collette was born on August 6, 1921 in the Watts district of Los Angeles. Along with saxophonist Dexter Gordon bassist Charles Mingus, and drummer Chico Hamilton, he helped keep bebop alive in the city's historic Central Avenue neighborhood. Buddy also played an important role with the development of the cool jazz movement. After attending a concert by the legendary trumpeter Louis Armstrong with his parents, a young Collette was taken by the idea of a career in jazz. Satchmo's achievements and lifestyle presented an appealing alternative to the menial and often degrading jobs open to African Americans during the Depression.

n 1933, at the age of 12, Collette formed his first jazz ensemble. The group contained, of all people, a talented teenager named Charles Mingus, who Buddy convinced to switch from cello to bass. Mingus was already an extraordinary talent, but his infamous temper was also firmly in place. In the years that followed, Collette was instrumental in helping Mingus forge better relationships with various musicians and producers. Buddy's gentle, friendly demeanor was the perfect counterpoint to the ornery bassist; they became lifelong friends.

Remembering the action on and off Central Avenue, Collette speaks fondly of the lengthy jam sessions from that district during the 1930s and '40s. During those years the area around Central Avenue was filled with the sounds of swing, and, after World War II, bebop. Collette enlisted in the military during World War II. When he returned to Los Angles, he quickly became one of the city's first bebop players.

In 1949, Collette recorded "It's April" in the backroom studios of Dolphin's of Hollywood. Although "It's April" and other tunes recorded at Dolpin's were receiving radio airplay and selling well, studio owner John Dolphin seldom paid the musicians. This money conflict eventually led to the stabbing and killing of Dolphin by one of his musicians. Buddy left Dolphin behind and overcame tough racial barriers in the industry by becoming the first African American to perform in a television studio band, appearing on Groucho Marx's television show, You Bet Your Life.

Fortunately, Collette was not content on being the only black musician in the television studio orchestra. He eventually became a political and cultural activist in the battle against segregation in the music industry, and the burgeoning influence of McCarthyism. He also helped organize a concert and rally protesting government repression of the legendary African American singer, actor, and political activist Paul Robeson. Collette's artistic and social activism continued when he led a grassroots campaign to desegregate the Los Angeles musician's union. Gerald Wilson, Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, and saxophonist Benny Carter were some of Collette's early supporters.

None of these activities got in the way of Collette's music making. In 1955, he became a founding member of drummer Chico Hamilton's legendary quintet. The unusual quintet also featured pianist and cellist Fred Katz, whom Collette calls "the first jazz cello player." A year later, Collette recorded Man of Many Parts, his first album as a bandleader. The album not only demonstrated Collette's mastery on saxophone but also his compositional talents.

In the late 1950s, the careers of Collette and his West Coast contemporaries were taking off. But while most of them like Mingus, Hamilton and saxophonists Eric Dolphy and Charles Lloyd moved to New York for more lucrative gigs, Collette stayed in Los Angeles. Although Collette didn't become a household name like his friends, he did become a noteworthy educator in the 1960s. His students included such wonderful woodwind players as James Newton, Frank Morgan, Sonny Criss, Eric Dolphy, and Charles Lloyd.

In 1996, the Library of Congress commissioned Collette to write and perform a special big band concert to highlight his long career. For the concert Buddy brought together some of his old musical mates from Los Angeles including Jackie Kelson, Britt Woodman, and Chico Hamilton.

Today, Collette is receiving more recognition than ever. Although he no longer performs due to a stroke in 1998, the gleaming beauty, immense talent, and gentle spirit of Collette remain intact and highly influential.
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Banding Together Against Segregation in Los Angeles

by Eve Goldberg
April 13, 2022

Once upon a time, jazz musicians in Los Angeles led a groundbreaking struggle for racial justice and economic opportunity that sent ripples of change across the country. Most of us are aware of the seminal names and events of the civil rights era: Rosa Parks spearheading the Montgomery bus boycott; Martin Luther King leading the Selma to Montgomery march for voting rights; Jackie Robinson integrating the Brooklyn Dodgers, to name a few. But the big national needle-movers would ...

Extended Analysis

Buddy Collette: Four Classic Albums

by David Rickert
April 28, 2016

Like many of his fellow West Coast musicians, Buddy Collette was proficient on multiple instruments. He could play alto and tenor sax, but tended toward the clarinet and the flute for most of his recording career. His solo records were as light and effortless as most jam form the West Coast tended to be at the time, and they are very pleasant, if a bit toothless at times. There's no doubt that Collette was a main figure of the West ...

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Album Review

The Buddy Collette Big Band: Live at El Camino College

Read "Live at El Camino College" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
September 21, 2006

On May 19, 1990, Buddy Collette assembled a twenty-piece big band for a one-night special performance at El Camino College in Torrance, California. Although it has taken over fifteen years to grace the airwaves for all to enjoy, it is well worth the wait. Though the master tapes were lost, producer David Keller fortunately kept a backup tape, from which this recording was made. Tenor and bandleader Buddy Collette no longer plays as a result of a 1998 stroke, and ...

125

Album Review

Buddy Collette: Jazz for Thousand Oaks

by AAJ Staff
March 1, 1999

Considering his importance, Buddy Collette should be better known than he is. He’s played with Mingus, Rosolino, Gerald Wilson, and (in his most famous gig) Chico Hamilton. He was a major part of the “West Coast Sound” during its heyday in the ‘Fifties, and played on many “woodwind jazz” dates for Contemporary Records. He also suggested to Eric Dolphy (his successor at Hamilton’s) to study the bass clarinet. Outstanding credentials, and still overlooked – but not by everybody. In 1996, ...

Recording

Backgrounder: Buddy Collette - Man of Many Parts

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 9, 2023

West Coast jazz in the 1950s wasn't exclusively a white enterprise. There was a significant number of black jazz artists in Los Angeles then as well who played in the breezy, contrapuntal style. But in the late 1940s and early '50s, black jazz artists were largely isolated as a result of the segregated locals of the American Federation of Musicians. Black musicians belonged to Local 767 while whites belonged to Local 47. In April 1953, Local 47 was amalgamated with ...
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Video / DVD

Buddy Collette: Bossa Nova

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 2, 2017

I love “jazz samba"—bossa nova albums recorded by American jazz artists in the 1960s. The bossa nova, of course, dates back to Brazil in the late 1950s. Back then, young musicians in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo cooled off the rousing samba with a drier, more laid back and sophisticated approach. Songs had infectious melodies and romantic lyrics delivered in a gentle, hushed singing style. The bossa nova leaped to the U.S. after the U.S. State Department sponsored a ...
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Interview

The Swinging Shepherds

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 23, 2015

In the final installment of my three-part series on off-the-radar jazz supergroups of the 1950s, I'm turning today to Buddy Collette and His Swinging Shepherds—a West Coast quartet of superb flutists that regrettably recorded only two albums for Mercury. Both albums were arranged by Pete Rugolo, who pulled out all the stops in terms of writing complexity, since the four flutists in question were studio pros who could handle anything: Buddy Collette and Paul Horn (fl), Harry Klee (pic,fl) and ...
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Interview

JazzClip: Buddy Collette

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 21, 2012

Buddy Collette could play just about every reed and woodwind instrument proficiently. As a result, the West Coast musician was called often by studio contractors and session leaders for pop and jazz recordings. But Buddy's ability transcended technique. His sound was full, seductive and brimming with energy. Buddy also was a major civil rights figure, which made his inclusion in the recording studios in the '50s and '60s all the more exceptional. Buddy was responsible for helping to merge the ...
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Interview

Buddy Collette Said It

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 20, 2010

In addition to being a superb reed and woodwind musician, the late Buddy Collette also was a courageous advocate for civil rights in Los Angeles. Up through the late '40s and early '50s, integration was actively discouraged by the city. Even the musicians' union had two locals—one for whites and another for blacks. By 1950, the jazz scene on Central Avenue had all been shuttered by a police force openly hostile to clubs that catered to black and white patrons ...
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Obituary

Buddy Collette dies at 89; L.A. jazz saxophone player, bandleader

Source: Michael Ricci
September 21, 2010

Collette helped merge the black and white musicians' unions in L.A. and mentored many African American musicians. He was active in preserving and promoting L.A. jazz history. Buddy Collette, a Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist, flautist, bandleader and educator who played important roles in Los Angeles jazz as a musician and an advocate for the rights of African American musicians, has died. He was 89. Collette died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after suffering shortness of breath a day ...
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108

Interview

Interview: Buddy Collette (Part 4)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 24, 2010

In 1953, a full year before the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, Buddy Collette and other California musicians helped end the “separate but equal" practices of the American Federation of Musicians in Los Angeles. For decades, there were two union locals in the city--one for whites and another for blacks. Buddy, like many musicians at the time, viewed the split structure as unfair. Respected for his musicianship and his engaging, relaxed personality, Buddy was instrumental in helping ...
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Interview

Interview: Buddy Collette (Part 5)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 24, 2010

Few events epitomize the disarray jazz was beginning to experience at the start of the 1960s than Charles Mingus' Town Hall concert of October 12, 1962. During this period, musicians increasingly were wresting control of their recordings away from producers who for years had imposed rigid structure on sessions. Mingus, for all of his creative vision and genius, could be volatile, mercurial and a royal pain in the neck. But he was widely regarded by most musicians of the period, ...
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Interview

Interview: Buddy Collette (Part 3)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 23, 2010

Between 1945 and 1972, only about a dozen groups changed the sound of jazz. In almost all cases, these highly influential ensembles introduced a completely new jazz style through innovative composition and instrument configuration. One of those groups was the Chico Hamilton Quintet, which in 1955 brought a new level of sophistication to jazz. Chico's vision was a group of enormously skilled players who also were highly sensitive and intuitive. Front and center was Buddy Collette, often on flute.

In ...
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118

Interview

Interview: Buddy Collette (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 23, 2010

Like many aspiring musicians in Los Angeles in the 1930s, Buddy Collette picked up the clarinet and never looked back. During the Depression and into the 1940s, music was the only way out of the city's dense-packed black neighborhoods. But in the very late 1940s, with the rapid rise of television and expansion of the movie and record studios, music offered opportunities and possibilities that exceeded just a job. If you were disciplined, highly proficient and easygoing, a remarkably good ...
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