Bross Elvie Townsend, Jr. (October 18, 1933 – May 12, 2003) was an American 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...

 and blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 pianist.

Townsend was born in Princeton, Kentucky

Princeton, Kentucky

Princeton is a city in Caldwell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 6,329 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Caldwell County.-History:...

. His father was also a pianist, who started his son on the instrument at age seven. He moved to Cleveland in 1933 and attended the Cleveland Institute of Music

Cleveland Institute of Music

The Cleveland Institute of Music is an independent music conservatory located in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio, United States and is overseen by president Joel Smirnoff and Adrian Daly, dean....

. He accompanied local singers such as Little Jimmy Scott and Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley...

 and played freelance from 1953 with Gene Ammons

Gene Ammons

Eugene "Jug" Ammons also known as "The Boss," was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons.-Biography:...

, John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

, Memphis Slim

Memphis Slim

Memphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other...

, and Jimmy Reed

Jimmy Reed

Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries...

. He made several tours of Europe as a solo performer.

Townsend was active in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 from 1959 almost up until his death there in 2003; he worked with Warren Smith

Warren Smith

Warren Smith may refer to:*Warren Smith , golf professional, Cherry Hills Country Club*Warren Smith , American Rockabilly artist*Warren Smith , American jazz drummer...

 (in the Composer's Workshop Ensemble), Carrie Smith

Carrie Smith

Carrie Smith is an American blues and jazz singer.Smith was a member of a church choir that performed at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival...

, Bubba Brooks

Bubba Brooks

David Kenneth Brooks, Jr., better known as Bubba Brooks or Bubber Brooks was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was the brother of Tina Brooks....

, Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

, Diana Ross

Diana Ross

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...

, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre

Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre is an American free jazz tenor saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist.McIntyre was born in Clarksville, Arkansas but his family moved to Chicago when he was a child. He began playing drums at seven, then switched to saxophone...

, Arvell Shaw

Arvell Shaw

Arvell Shaw was an American jazz double-bassist, best known for his work with Louis Armstrong....

, Bob Cunningham

Bob Cunningham

Bob Cunningham is a retired professional Canadian football fullback. Between 1948 and 1951, he played 29 games for the Montreal Alouettes, scoring a touchdown in their 1949 Grey Cup championship He played for the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1952 to 1955, winning the Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy in 1953...

, and Bernard Purdie

Bernard Purdie

Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie is an American session drummer, and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk...

, in addition to performing solo. Townsend went blind

Blindness

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

 in the middle of the 1990s but continued to perform.

His only album as a leader was 1995's I Love Jump, released on Claves Jazz.

Discography

• What A Body – Bross Townsend and his trio – GP label GBTB 5030
• I Love Jump Jazz (1995) – Claves Jazz