Royal G. "Rusty" Bryant (November 25, 1929, Huntington, West Virginia - March 25, 1991, Columbus, Ohio) was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist.
Bryant grew up in Columbus, Ohio and became a fixture of the local jazz scene. He worked with Tiny Grimes and Stomp Gordon before founding his own ensemble in 1951. He signed with Dot Records in 1955 and released several albums as a leader in the second half of the 1950s. In 1952, his live recording "All Night Long", a faster version of "Night Train", became a hit R&B single in the U.S..[1]
Bryant's contract with Dot ended in 1957, and he returned to Columbus to do mostly local engagements, playing often with pianist-organist Hank Marr. Nancy Wilson also sang in his group. It wasn't until his appearance on the 1968 Groove Holmes album That Healin' Feelin that he resurfaced beyond regional acclaim, and soon after he began leading dates for Prestige Records. He recorded extensively for the label from 1969 through the middle of the 1970s, being a sideman with Ivan "Boogaloo Joe" Jones, Johnny Hammond Smith, Sonny Phillips; his 1970 release Soul Liberation was his most commercially successful, reaching #35 on the U.S. Black Albums chart and #15 on the Top Jazz Albums chart.[2] Bryant continued to record into the early 1980s, then returned to mostly local dates in Columbus. He died there in 1991.
Rusty Bryant was the father of Eric Royal Bryant (b. July 7, 1950 in Washington, D.C.) and pop singer Stevie Woods (b. July 2, 1951 in Chatham, Virginia), who would enjoy a moderately successful recording career in the early '80s with the Top 40 hit songs "Steal the Night" and "Just Can't Win 'Em All."[3]
Though they resemble and share the same surname, Rusty Bryant and jazz pianist Ray Bryant are not related.
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