Bobby Jaspar

Bobby Jaspar
Born (1926-02-20)20 February 1926
Liège, Belgium
Died 28 February 1963(1963-02-28) (aged 37)
New York City, United States
Nationality Belgium
Occupation Musician

Bobby Jaspar (20 February 1926 28 February 1963) was a Belgian cool jazz and hard bop saxophonist, flautist and composer.

Early life

Born in Liège, Belgium, Jaspar learned to play piano and clarinet at a very young age. Later, he took up the tenor saxophone and flute.

Career

With the "Bop Shots" band, he took his first steps in the jazz world. In 1950, Jaspar moved to Paris, playing and recording with the best musicians of the era. Here he met his future wife, Blossom Dearie.

In 1956, Jaspar was persuaded to try his luck in the United States, where his reputation in jazz circles had preceded him. He played and recorded with the quintet of J. J. Johnson, with Kenny Burrell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Donald Byrd and many others.

In 1961/1962, Jaspar returned to Europe for a year for a series of concerts and a number of recordings. With his colleague, Belgian guitarist René Thomas, he formed a successful quintet. In some sessions, this was expanded to a powerful sextet with American trumpeter Chet Baker. One of those sessions was immortalised on the record Chet Is Back, recorded in 1962.

Death

Bobby Jaspar died from a heart attack in New York City on 28 February 1963 at age 37.

Discography

With Kenny Burrell

With Milt Jackson

With Hank Jones

With Wynton Kelly

With The Prestige All Stars

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.