Charles Greenlee (musician)

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Charles "Majeed" or "Majid" Greenlee (April or May 24, 1927 – January 23, 1993) was an American jazz trombonist.

Greenlee played mellophone, drums, and baritone horn in his youth, and got his early experience playing locally in Detroit. He played with Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter in the early 1940s, then with Dizzy Gillespie (1946, 1949-51). He also led his own bands around this time, working with Frank Foster and Tommy Flanagan. Late in the 1940s he converted to Islam, changing his name to Harneefan Majeed; he continued to use Charles Greenlee for professional purposes, though he is sometimes credited with his Muslim last name as a sort of nickname.

After spending some time on the hard bop scene in the early 1950s, with Gene Ammons among otheres, Greenlee essentially quit music from 1951 to 1957. He returned to play with Yusef Lateef (1957) and Maynard Ferguson (1959), and in the 1960s worked with Archie Shepp and Roland Kirk and in big bands with John Coltrane and Sam Rivers.

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