James Spaulding

A superior alto saxophonist and flutist who can shift from bop and hard bop to very adventurous flights, James Spaulding gained his greatest recognition while a member of <a href="spotify:artist:0fTHKjepK5HWOrb2rkS5Em">Freddie Hubbard</a>'s quintet in the mid-'60s. He studied at the Chicago Cosmopolitan School of Music and then gigged and recorded regularly with <a href="spotify:artist:0tIODqvzGUoEaK26rK4pvX">Sun Ra</a> during 1957-1961. During the 1960s, Spaulding (who worked with <a href="spotify:artist:6jrlNnS5B830kpi40j3S6g">Max Roach</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6Cx6WhEWHJWPeiFspDCwDR">Randy Weston</a>) was in demand not only by <a href="spotify:artist:0fTHKjepK5HWOrb2rkS5Em">Hubbard</a>, but for Blue Note recordings by <a href="spotify:artist:3BG0nwVh3Gc7cuT4XdsLtt">Joe Henderson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0ZqhrTXYPA9DZR527ZnFdO">Wayne Shorter</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2dRsXWVnkku2cMDtV1h6NP">Stanley Turrentine</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6Y6kAZs0W9NNsxNbpImPvq">Larry Young</a>, among others. He had stints during the next couple of decades with a wide variety of top artists, including <a href="spotify:artist:0z1dQNcFhJxJjJPg9TQH3t">Charles Tolliver</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3uO6HG2JwyP744sg4PMmg5">Bobby Hutcherson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:00SOiqZ0YGY2JhjSPxZMZg">David Murray</a>, and (for a brief period) <a href="spotify:artist:2NI7w3QS6IRP4P5GCP3vPQ">the World Saxophone Quartet</a>, but is still vastly underrated. James Spaulding has recorded as a leader for Storyville (a <a href="spotify:artist:4F7Q5NV6h5TSwCainz8S5A">Duke Ellington</a> tribute set in 1976) and several dates for Muse (1988-1993). ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi