Marvin Hannibal Peterson

An exciting, serpentine solo maker in the mold of <a href="spotify:artist:3uPWecBPNXAChysw1uOJwI">Don Cherry</a> -- Peterson has chops but leaves precision to the wind in favor of spontaneous eruptions of melody. Peterson has a more well-rounded technique than <a href="spotify:artist:3Wt78tag4Ha2FU5UnKo3mB">Cherry</a>, however, and plays with greater force. Unlike many contemporary free jazz players, Peterson is adept at older styles; he's played under such adventurous yet tradition-bound bandleaders as <a href="spotify:artist:7De2eIqeHTw091YeAkkYXV">Rahsaan Roland Kirk</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7g9DeYASD3RzlT4kDchsQZ">Gil Evans</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4dUMhhUjQ2YcNTvab29hYF">Elvin Jones</a>, and with such dyed-in-the-wool avant-gardists as <a href="spotify:artist:6nCAbymHv2MRYV1sluCDr9">Roswell Rudd</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1CPqEJipSI122vwxIsP59E">Ken McIntyre</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4wcOQTNjIWbEykjfysBzs8">Deidre Murray</a>.

As a youth, Peterson learned drums and cornet. He attended North Texas State University from 1967-1969 before moving to New York in 1970. That year, he toured the East Coast with <a href="spotify:artist:6lDzuLTyt5ewY3FLfX1smg">Kirk</a>; the next, he joined <a href="spotify:artist:4jXfFzeP66Zy67HM2mvIIF">Evans</a>' orchestra, with which he would continue to play into the '80s. In the early '70s he performed and recorded with a variety of big-name leaders, including <a href="spotify:artist:3JLUCojZaHrX2LaUkSj7Ud">Pharoah Sanders</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1tGINpEJVUsQXssRC28ugo">Roy Haynes</a>, and the aforementioned <a href="spotify:artist:4dUMhhUjQ2YcNTvab29hYF">Jones</a>. He also led and played trumpet and koto with the Sunrise Orchestra, a group that included the cellist <a href="spotify:artist:7d7q5Y1p2QWS4QRAhTQR5E">Murray</a>. Tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:4KH14ROZ1HNvhTS7L6LxGj">George Adams</a> was a frequent collaborator. Peterson has led recording sessions infrequently; his first album was called Children of the Fire, for the defunct Sunrise label (1974). He recorded subsequently for Enja, MPS, and Inner City. Though as a performer he's kept something of a low profile over the years, Peterson -- now known simply as Hannibal -- emerged in the mid-'90s having composed the monumental African Portraits, an orchestral piece that incorporated a jazz quartet, <a href="spotify:artist:6TD08jYeuN128P2MZTbc8E">the Chicago Symphony Orchestra</a> (conducted by the eminent composer/conductor <a href="spotify:artist:78sEozQOEJxzXegUuqRSgH">Daniel Barenboim</a>), the Morgan State University Choir, the Kennedy-King College Community Chorus, the Doris Ward Workshop Chorale, four operatic singers, various traditional African musicians, and a handful of African-American vocalists. The meticulously composed (and critically hailed) piece differed greatly form the small jazz ensemble contexts with which he had made his professional name. A recorded version was issued by the Teldec label. ~ Chris Kelsey, Rovi