lew soloff
Born New York in 1944, Lewis Soloff grew up in Lakewood, New Jersey, and took up the trumpet when he was ten. His conscious reason was “… because it was shiny… “. Later in college, however, he realized that the real reason was his very fortunate exposure, by his grandparents and uncle, to Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge recordings from the age of five. By the time he was fifteen he knew he wanted to be a professional musician. As a teen he worked in the Catskills in the summer and graduated to the New York scene during the sixties, playing club dates and concerts at Radio City Music Hall.
Soloff performed with such Latin jazz players as Machito and Tito Puente, and joined up with Maynard Ferguson’s band. Then, in 1966 scored a slot in the Gil Evans Big Band – a gig he today considers to be the greatest of his life. While he continued to perform with Evans until the bandleader died, Soloff also took on other work in the sixties, most noticeably with the popular group Blood, Sweat & Tears , joining in 1968 in time to contribute those sizzling trumpet lines on the band’s 1969 hit Spinning Wheel . In addition, he established a lengthy association with Carla Bley: he still plays in her 4+ 4 group. In 1975 he co-led a group with Jon Faddis, and during the seventies recorded with Sony Stitt, Stanley Turrentine and George Russell. The eighties saw him recording with Spyrogira, Teo Macero, Franco Ambrosetti and Bill Evans.
These days Soloff is busy with a number of other projects, including the Manhattan Jazz Quintet (he’s a charter member of the group formed in 1984), US’N (featuring George Young, Will Lee, Steve Gadd, Rob Mounsey, and Sammy Figueroa), Pocket Brass Band (led by trombonist Ray Anderson), and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra . He recently finished recording a new album with his regular working Jazz-rock ensemble The Food Group , comprised of Lou Marini, Joe Beck, Mark Egan and Danny Gottlieb.