Wilbur Little was an African American jazz bassist known for Hard bop

Hard bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...

 and Post-bop

Post-bop

Post-bop is a term for a form of small-combo jazz music that evolved in the early-to-mid sixties. The genre's origins lie in seminal work by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...

. He originally played piano, but switched to bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 after serving in the military. In 1949 he moved to Washington, DC where he worked with "Sir" Charles Thompson

Charles Thompson (jazz)

Charles Phillip Thompson , is an American swing and bebop pianist, organist and arranger.He was a professional pianist from the age of 10. By the age of twelve Thompson was playing private parties with Bennie Moten and his band in Colorado Springs...

 among others. After that he was in J. J. Johnson's trio from 1955–1958 and was also the bassist for the Tommy Flanagan

Tommy Flanagan

Thomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald...

 Trio. He moved to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 in 1977 and lived there for the rest of his life.

As Sideman

With Elvin Jones

Elvin Jones

Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....

• Poly-Currents
  Poly-Currents
  Poly-Currents is an album by American jazz drummer Elvin Jones recorded in 1969 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars calling it "Advanced modal hard bop with all of the musicians playing in top form".-Track listing:# "Agenda" -...
  
  (Blue Note, 1969)
• Coalition
  Coalition (album)
  Coalition is an album by American jazz drummer Elvin Jones recorded in 1970 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating "This was a particularly creative and often intense ensemble, attached to the hard bop tradition but always...
  
  (Blue Note, 1970)

With Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...

• Little Red Moon
  Little Red Moon
  Little Red Moon is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp recorded in 1985 and released on the Italian Soul Note label.-Reception:...
  
  (Soul Note, 1985)

External links

• Biography at Allmusic