Bennie Maupin
Encyclopedia
Bennie Maupin is a Detroit
Michigan
jazz
multireedist
. He performs on various saxophone
s, flute
and bass clarinet
.
He is probably best known for his participation in Herbie Hancock
's Mwandishi
sextet and Headhunters
band, and for performing on Miles Davis
's seminal fusion
record, Bitches Brew
. Maupin has collaborated with Horace Silver
, Roy Haynes
and many others. He has also performed on several Meat Beat Manifesto
albums. He is noted for having a harmonically-advanced, "out" improvisation style, while having a different sense of melodic direction than other "out" jazz musicians such as Eric Dolphy
. As a composer, he has an ability to create brief melodies and song forms that create vast landscapes for improvisation.
Maupin was also a member of Almanac
, a group with Cecil McBee
(bass
), Mike Nock
(piano
) and Eddie Marshall
(drums
).
With Marion Brown
With Mike Clark
With Miles Davis
With Jack DeJohnette
With Herbie Hancock
With Eddie Henderson
With Lee Morgan
With Darek Oles
With Horace Silver
With Lonnie Smith
With McCoy Tyner
With Lenny White
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
multireedist
Multireedist
Multireedist is a term sometimes used to describe a musician who is a capable performer on more than one reed instrument. Many reed instruments are similar enough that if a musician plays one, they are expected to be able to play the other. Examples of this are the oboe and English horn or the...
. He performs on various saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
s, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
.
He is probably best known for his participation in Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
's Mwandishi
Mwandishi
Mwandishi is the ninth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1971. It is one of Hancock's first departures from the traditional idioms of jazz as well as the onset of a new, creative and original style which produced an appeal to a wider audience, before his 1973 album, Head Hunters...
sextet and Headhunters
The Headhunters
The Headhunters are an American jazz-funk fusion band, best known for their albums they recorded as a backing band of jazz keyboard player Herbie Hancock during the 1970s. Hancock's debut album with the group, Head Hunters, is one of the best-selling jazz/fusion records of all time.-History:Herbie...
band, and for performing on Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
's seminal fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
record, Bitches Brew
Bitches Brew
Bitches Brew is a studio double album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in April 1970 on Columbia Records. The album continued his experimentation with electric instruments previously featured on his critically acclaimed In a Silent Way album...
. Maupin has collaborated with Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes is an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Haynes is among the most recorded drummers in jazz, and in a career lasting more than 60 years has played in a wide range of styles ranging from swing and bebop to jazz fusion and avant-garde jazz...
and many others. He has also performed on several Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened to Meat Beat or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens formed in 1987 in Swindon, UK...
albums. He is noted for having a harmonically-advanced, "out" improvisation style, while having a different sense of melodic direction than other "out" jazz musicians such as Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy
Eric Allan Dolphy was an American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist, and bass clarinetist. On a few occasions he also played the clarinet and baritone saxophone. Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence in the 1960s...
. As a composer, he has an ability to create brief melodies and song forms that create vast landscapes for improvisation.
Maupin was also a member of Almanac
Almanac (Jazz)
Almanac was a free jazz project whose members were Bennie Maupin , Cecil McBee , Mike Nock and Eddie Marshall ....
, a group with Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee is an American post bop jazz bassist, described by the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz as "a full-toned bassist who creates rich, singing phrases in a wide range of contemporary jazz contexts." Allmusic called him "One of post-bop's most advanced and versatile bassists".-Biography:McBee...
(bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), Mike Nock
Mike Nock
Mike Nock is a jazz pianist, currently based in Australia. He began studying piano at 11 and by 18 was performing in Australia. He headed a trio that toured England in 1961 and then attended Berklee College of Music...
(piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
) and Eddie Marshall
Eddie Marshall
Edwin "Eddie" Marshall was an American jazz drummer.-Biography:Marshall was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He played in his father's swing group and in R&B bands while in high school. He moved to New York City in 1956, developing his percussion style under the influence of Max Roach and Art...
(drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
).
As leader
- 1974: The Jewel in the LotusThe Jewel in the LotusThe Jewel in the Lotus is debut album by jazz woodwind player Bennie Maupin, recorded and released in 1974.-Track listing:#"Ensenada" – 8:15#"Mappo" – 8:30#"Excursion – 4:52#"Past + Present = Future" - 1:52#"The Jewel in the Lotus" - 10:02...
- 1977: Slow Traffic to the RightSlow Traffic to the RightSlow Traffic to the Right is the second album by jazz woodwind player Bennie Maupin, released in 1977.-Track listing:#"It Remains to Be Seen" – 8:01#"Eternal Flame" – 4:34#"Water Torture" – 4:52...
- 1978: Moonscapes
- 1998: Driving While Black on Intuition with Patrick GleesonPatrick GleesonPatrick Gleeson is a musician, synthesizer pioneer, composer and producer, from California, USA.Gleeson began experimenting with electronic music in the mid-'60s at the San Francisco Tape Music Center using a Buchla synth and other devices....
- 2006: Penumbra
- 2008: Early Reflections
As sideman
With John BeasleyJohn Beasley (musician)
John Beasley is an American composer, pianist, producer, and arranger who has recorded and performed with musicians such as Miles Davis, Steely Dan, Chaka Kahn, James Brown, Spice Girls, Dianne Reeves, Ry Cooder, Chick Corea and Sérgio Mendes, Freddie Hubbard, John Patitucci, Queen Latifah, and...
- Positootly!Positootly!Positootly! is an album by pianist John Beasley. The album was Beasley's second for Resonance Records, and featured an eclectic combination of styles, including straight ahead jazz, soul jazz, bossa nova and nuevo tango. In 2010, Positootly! was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz...
With Marion Brown
Marion Brown
Marion Brown was a jazz alto saxophonist and ethnomusicologist. He is most well known as a member of the 1960s avant-garde jazz scene in New York City, playing alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai...
- Afternoon of a Georgia FaunAfternoon of a Georgia FaunAfternoon of a Georgia Faun is an album by American jazz saxophonist Marion Brown recorded in 1970 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1970) - Juba Lee
With Mike Clark
- Actual Proof
With Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- Bitches BrewBitches BrewBitches Brew is a studio double album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in April 1970 on Columbia Records. The album continued his experimentation with electric instruments previously featured on his critically acclaimed In a Silent Way album...
(1970) - A Tribute to Jack JohnsonA Tribute to Jack JohnsonA Tribute to Jack Johnson is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released February 24, 1971 on Columbia Records. It also serves as the soundtrack for a documentary by Bill Cayton about the heavyweight world champion boxer Jack Johnson....
(1971) - On The CornerOn the CornerOn the Corner is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded in June and July 1972 and released later that year on Columbia Records. It was scorned by critics at the time of its release and was one of Davis's worst-selling recordings...
(1972) - Big Fun (1974)
With Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette
Jack DeJohnette is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. He is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett and Sonny...
- Have You Heard?
With Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
- MwandishiMwandishiMwandishi is the ninth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1971. It is one of Hancock's first departures from the traditional idioms of jazz as well as the onset of a new, creative and original style which produced an appeal to a wider audience, before his 1973 album, Head Hunters...
(1971) - Crossings (1972)
- SextantSextant (album)Sextant is the eleventh album by Herbie Hancock, and the last album with his Mwandishi Band.-About the Album:Released in 1973 but recorded in 1972, Sextant was Herbie Hancock's first album on Columbia Records. It was a complex, harmonically and rhythmically challenging musical statement...
(1972) - Head HuntersHead HuntersHead Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released October 13, 1973, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place during September 1973 at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California...
(1973) - ThrustThrust (album)Thrust is a jazz fusion album by Herbie Hancock, released in 1974 on Columbia Records. It served as a follow-up to Hancock's album, Head Hunters , and achieved similar commercial success, as the album reached as high as number 13 on the Billboard Hot 200 listing...
(1974) - FloodFlood (Herbie Hancock album)Flood is the eighteenth album by Herbie Hancock. It was released only in Japan in 1975. It features the Headhunters Band, performing their hits from the Head Hunters, Thrust and Man-Child albums...
(1975) - Man-ChildMan-ChildMan-Child is the seventeenth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The album is arguably one of his most funk influenced albums and it represents his further departure from the "spacey, higher atmosphere jazz," as he referred to it, of his earlier career. Hancock uses more funk based rhythms around...
(1975) - Secrets (1976)
- VSOPVSOP (album)V.S.O.P. is a 1976 jazz-funk fusion live album by keyboard player Herbie Hancock featuring performances by the V.S.O.P. Quintet , the Mwandishi band with Eddie Henderson on two tracks, and The Headhunters featuring Bennie Maupin and Paul Jackson.Although this album was half-fusion, half-acoustic,...
(1976) - Dis Is Da Drum (1994)
With Eddie Henderson
Eddie Henderson (musician)
Eddie Henderson is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. Henderson's influences include Booker Little, Clifford Brown, Woody Shaw and Miles Davis.-Family influence and early music history:...
- Inside Out
- Equinox
- SunburstSunburst (album)Sunburst is an album by American jazz trumpeter Eddie Henderson recorded in 1975 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Richard S...
(Blue Note, 1975)
With Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
- Live at the Lighthouse
- Caramba!Caramba!¡Caramba! is an album recorded by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and released on the Blue Note label. The album features performances by Morgan, Bennie Maupin, Cedar Walton, Reggie Workman and Billy Higgins with arrangements by Cal Massey.-Reception:...
With Darek Oles
- Like a Dream
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- Serenade to a Soul SisterSerenade to a Soul SisterSerenade to a Soul Sister is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1968, featuring performances by Silver with Charles Tolliver, Stanley Turrentine, Bennie Maupin, Bob Cranshaw, John Williams, Mickey Roker and Billy Cobham...
(Blue Note, 1968) - You Gotta Take a Little LoveYou Gotta Take a Little LoveYou Gotta Take a Little Love is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Blue Note label in 1969 featuring performances by Silver with Randy Brecker, Bennie Maupin, John Williams, and Billy Cobham...
(Blue Note, 1969)
With Lonnie Smith
Lonnie Smith (jazz musician)
Dr. Lonnie Smith is a jazz Hammond B3 organist and pianist.-Biography:He was born in Lackawanna, New York, into a family with a vocal group and radio program. Smith says that his mother was a major influence on him musically, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz music...
- Turning PointTurning Point (Lonnie Smith album)Turning Point is the second album by American organist Lonnie Smith recorded in 1969 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 3 stars and stated "While the more adventurous elements of Turning Point make for an intriguing...
(Blue Note, 1969)
With McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
- Tender MomentsTender MomentsTender Moments is the eighth album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and his second released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded in December 1967 and features performances by Tyner with Lee Morgan, Julian Priester, Bob Northern, Howard Johnson, James Spaulding, Bennie Maupin, Herbie Lewis, and Joe...
(Blue Note, 1968) - TogetherTogether (McCoy Tyner album)Together is a 1978 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in August and September 1978 and features performances by Tyner with Freddie Hubbard, Hubert Laws, Bennie Maupin, Bobby Hutcherson, Stanley Clarke, Jack DeJohnette and Bill Summers...
(Milestone, 1978)
With Lenny White
Lenny White
Leonard White III, better known as Lenny White is an American jazz fusion drummer, who is best known for playing in Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:...
- Big City