frank wess
Frank Wellington Wess was born in 1922 in Kansas City, Missouri. Frank started out on alto saxophone, playing in bands in and around Washington, DC, where he was raised. Later, he switched to tenor saxophone and worked briefly in the band led by Blanche Calloway.
He developed his musical abilities while on military service and, following his discharge at the end of World War II, he played in the bands of artists such as Billy Eckstine and Lucky Millinder. During this period he began to play the flute.
In 1953 he joined the Count Basie Orchestra, mostly playing tenor and flute, and becoming a featured attraction with the band both as soloist and as duettist with fellow sideman Frank Foster. In the late 50s Wess reverted to alto saxophone but continued to feature his flute playing, becoming the first major jazz soloist to popularize this instrument and proving in the process that it could be used in a gimmick-free fashion.
He left Basie in 1964, thereafter working in studios, leading his own small groups, making records and working in groups such as the New York Jazz Quartet and Dameronia, the band led by Philly Joe Jones. Wess also wrote numerous arrangements, for his own groups and for other bands.
In the mid-80s he was briefly with Woody Herman and with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra, but he also continued to lead his own small group and to co-lead a quintet with Foster. In the late 80s and early 90s he was leading a splendid Basie-style big band, which included in its ranks Harry “Sweets” Edison, Joe Newman, Snooky Young, Al Grey, Benny Powell, Marshal Royal and Billy Mitchell, and which made highly successful appearances in Japan. Albums by this band, Dear Mr Basie and Entre Nous, showed that Wess had ably assumed the role of big band leader and arranger in the Basie tradition.
As a soloist (whichever instrument he uses), Wess plays with uncluttered swing, fashioning his phrases with care. His playing satisfactorily updates the stylistic traditions of the swing era and is always polished and highly sophisticated.
Selected Discography:
Frank Wess Quintet 10-inch album (Commodore 1952)
Frank Wess 10-inch album (Commodore 1952)
Wess Of The Moon (Commodore 1954)
Flutes And Reeds (Savoy 1955)
North, South, East…Wess (Savoy 1956)
In A Minor Groove (New Jazz 1958)
I Hear Ya Talkin’ (Savoy 1959)
Frank Wess Quartet (Moodsville 1960)
Southern Comfort (Prestige 1962)
Steamin’ (Prestige 1963)
Yo Ho! Poor You, Little Me (Prestige 1963)
Touche (Status 1965)
Commodore Years (Atlantic 1973)
Flute Juice (Progressive 1981)
Two At The Top (Uptown 1983)
Two For The Blues (Pablo Jazz 1983)
Frankly Speaking (Pablo Jazz 1984)
Dear Mr Basie (Concord Jazz 1989)
Entre Nous (Concord Jazz 1990)
Live At The 1990 Concord Jazz Festival(Concord Jazz 1991)
Trombones And Flute (1992)
Jazz For Playboys 1956-57 recordings (Savoy 1992)
Tryin’ To Make My Blues Turn Green (Concord Jazz 1993)
Going Wess (Town Crier 1993)
Basie (Reference 1996)
It’s The Real Soul (Concord Jazz 1996)
Surprise Surprise (Chiaroscuro 1998)
Without A Doubt (Koch 2000).