John Lee (bassist) explained

John Lee (born June 28, 1952, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States) is an American bassist, Grammy winning record producer and audio engineer. As a bassist, Lee's career, starting in 1970, includes work with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Joe Henderson, Larry Coryell, Paquito D'Rivera, Gregory Hines, Aretha Franklin, Claudio Roditi, Joachim Kühn and Philip Catherine.

As a producer Lee has produced over 60 albums and CDs, and as a recording engineer he has recorded and mixed over 100 albums and CDs.

Life and career

John Gregory Lee is the son of an African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) minister, Rev. John W. Lee, and Harriet Holland Lee, who was a career social worker. He grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, Amityville, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John began String Bass lessons in 1962 with Carolyn Lush. At Philadelphia's Overbrook High School, John met drummer Gerry Brown, with whom he also studied with at the Philadelphia Musical Academy (which is now the University of the Arts) from 1970 to 1972. In 1971 Lee also began performing with Carlos Garnett and Joe Henderson, and toured with Max Roach[1] thru the spring of 1972 while still a student in Philadelphia. In August 1972 he and Brown relocated to Europe, with Den Haag, Holland as their base. Together they toured Europe and recorded in bands led by Chris Hinze, Charlie Mariano, Philip Catherine, Joachim Kühn, and Jasper Van't Hof. Lee moved to New York City in October 1974 and worked with Joe Henderson, Lonnie Liston Smith, and Norman Connors until joining The Eleventh House with Larry Coryell in December 1974. In 1975 John Lee and Gerry Brown signed a recording contract with Blue Note Records and formed a working band of their own. In 1977 they moved over to Columbia Records. Lee also began producing records in 1977. From 1982 to 1984, Lee worked with McCoy Tyner. In July 1984 Lee became Dizzy Gillespie’s bassist, touring and recording with Dizzy's Quintet, his Big Band, his Grammy winning “United Nation Orchestra”, and the “Back to the Future Band” that Dizzy co-lead with Miriam Makeba until January 1993 when Makeba died.

Lee has performed at concert halls and jazz clubs in over 100 countries around the world.He has also toured in the bands of Sonny Rollins, James Moody, Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Heath, Pharoah Sanders, Jackie McLean, Gary Bartz, Gregory Hines, Hank Jones, Walter Davis Jr., Wolfgang Lackerschmid, Alphonse Mouzon, Claudio Roditi, Jon Faddis, Slide Hampton, Roy Hargrove, and Roberta Gambarini. Lee was also a founding member of “The Fantasy Band”’(1993-1996) with Chuck Loeb, Marion Meadows, and Dave Samuels.In 1996, at the bequest of Dizzy's wife Lorraine Gillespie and the Dizzy Gillespie Estate, Lee became the director and bassist of the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars as well as the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, and the Dizzy Gillespie Afro-Cuban Experience. They have recorded five albums and toured extensively around the world.

In 2009 John Lee co-founded the jazz recording label JLP (Jazz Legacy Productions), with partner Lisa Broderick.[2]

Discography

Albums as a leader

Selected albums as a bassist

'With Chris Hinze

With James Moody, Sahib Shihab, Jeremy Steig, Chris Hinze

With Wim Stolwijk

With Charlie Mariano

With Toots Thielemans

With Philip Catherine

With Jasper Van't Hof

With Joachim Kuhn

With Toto Blanke

With Piano Conclave w/Gruntz, Dauner, Van't Hof, Kühn & Solal

With Larry Coryell & The 11th House

With Larry Coryell

With Luther Allison

With Kalyan

With Art Webb

With Bruce Fisher

With Tony Silvester & The New Ingredient

With Mike Mandel

With The Visitors, Earl & Carl Grubbs

With Eddie Henderson

With Blue Note All-Stars

With Alphonse Mouzon

With CBS All-Stars

With Ellen McIlwaine

With Danny Toan

With Stu Goldberg

With Bob Malach

With George Acogny

With Hubert Eaves

With McCoy Tyner

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Dizzy Gillespie's Big Band

With Dizzy Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra

With Claudio Roditi

With Fantasy Band

With Bass Talk

With Young MC

With Mike Longo

With Slide Hampton

With LLL Mental (Wolfgang Lackerschmid, Chuck Loeb, Marilyn Mazur)

With Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars

With Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band

With Nancy Wilson

With Roy Hargrove and the RH Factor

With Karl Latham

With Wolfgang Lackerschmid

With Michael Urbaniak & Wolfgang Lackerschmid

With Stephanie Slesinger

With Johannes Mössinger

With Yotam Silberstein

Albums as a producer

Notes and References

  1. Leonard Feather & Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, Oxford University Press. 2007,
  2. Web site: Artist: John Lee - (Bass). German. Konzerte im Fronhof. https://web.archive.org/web/20050116053316/http://www.konzerte-im-fronhof.de/seiten/kuenstler/johnlee.htm. 16 January 2005. dead.
  3. Web site: LP JOHN LEE & GERRY BROWN, MANGO SUNRISE. Philipcatherine.com. 25 January 2021.

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