Larry Ridley

Larry Ridley (born September 3, 1937) is an American jazz bassist and music educator.

Biography

Ridley was born and reared in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began performing professionally while still in high school in the 1950s. He studied at the Indiana University School of Music and later at the Lenox School of Jazz. Ridley has been involved in jazz education, heading the jazz program at Rutgers University.

David Baker, another Indianapolis native and notable jazz musician, was one of his prime mentors. Ridley was bassist for David Baker's Big band during his studies at Indiana University.

Ridley served as chairman of the Jazz Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and was the organization's National Coordinator of the "Jazz Artists in Schools" Program for five years (1978–1982). Ridley is a recipient of the MidAtlantic Arts Foundation's "Living Legacy Jazz Award", a 1998 inductee the International Association for Jazz Education Hall of Fame (IAJE), an inductee of the Downbeat Magazine Jazz Education Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Benny Golson Jazz Award from Howard University, and was honored by a Juneteenth 2006 Proclamation Award from the New York City Council. Ridley is currently the executive director of the African American Jazz Caucus, Inc., an affiliate of IAJE. He is also the IAJE Northeast Regional Coordinator. He continues to actively teach as Professor of Jazz Bass at the Manhattan School of Music. Ridley is currently serving as Jazz Artist in Residence at the Harlem based New York Public Library/Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He established an annual series there dedicated to presenting the compositions of jazz masters that are performed by Ridley and his Jazz Legacy Ensemble.

Discography

As leader

• 1975: Sum of the Parts (Strata-East)
• 1989: Live at Rutgers University (Strata-East)

As sideman

With Chet Baker

• Chet Baker Quartet/Live in France 1978, one track only, (Gambit Records, 2005)

With Bill Barron

• Hot Line (Savoy, 1962 [1964])

With Kenny Burrell

• Groovin' High (Muse, 1981 [1984])

With Al Cohn

• Play It Now (Xanadu, 1975)

With Dameronia

• To Tadd with Love (Uptown, 1982)
• Look Stop Listen (Uptown, 1983)
• Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt Paris (Soul Note, 1989 [1994])

With Teddy Edwards

• The Inimitable Teddy Edwards (Xanadu, 1976)

With Red Garland

• The Nearness of You (Jazzland, 1961)

With Dexter Gordon

• The Panther! (Prestige, 1970)

With Stéphane Grappelli and Joe Venuti

• Venupelli Blues (Affinity, 1969)

'With Bunky Green

• My Babe (Vee-Jay, 1960 [1965])

With Slide Hampton

• Somethin' Sanctified (Atlantic, 1960)

With Roy Haynes

• Cracklin' (New Jazz, 1963)
• Cymbalism (New Jazz, 1963)

With Freddie Hubbard

• Hub Cap (Blue Note, 1961)
• Blue Spirits (Blue Note, 1965)
• The Night of the Cookers (Blue Note, 1965)

With Jackie McLean

• Destination... Out! (Blue Note, 1963)
• Jacknife (Blue Note, 1965)

With Hank Mobley

• Dippin' (Blue Note, 1965)
• Straight No Filter (Blue Note, 1989)

With James Moody

• Feelin' It Together (Muse, 1973)

With Wes Montgomery and Wynton Kelly

• Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings (Resonance, 1965)

With Lee Morgan

• Cornbread (Blue Note, 1965)

With Horace Silver

• The Jody Grind (Blue Note, 1966)

With Lucky Thompson

• Goodbye Yesterday (Groove Merchant, 1973)

With Gerald Wilson

• New York, New Sound (Mack Avenue, 2003)

External links

• http://www.larryridley.com
• http://www.juneteenth.com