further sam rivers

i saw sam rivers open for mingus at stony brook in '76 or '77, leading a trio with bob stewart on tuba and bobby battle on drums. rivers started out the set on piano before moving to flute, then soprano sax, finishing up on tenor. he played all four instruments on the two albs of duets he recorded for improvising artists with dave holland. i also had an album on black saint where the trio with stewart and battle was joined by mingus' ex-pianist don pullen.

rivers was born in oklahoma, 1923; his parents were both musicians. he played in herb pomeroy's boston big band in the '50s and by the '60s was part of a circle of beantown musos that included jaki byard and tony williams. tony got him in miles davis' band for one tour of japan, then he played with andrew hill and cecil taylor and recorded for blue note before settling in new york and opening studio rivbea on bond street with his wife, beatrice. the place became a nexus for the "loft jazz" scene, when the outcats couldn't get booked to play in clubs. made more recs for impulse, including crystals with a big band and sizzle with an electric combo, a direction he'd pursue until he went with dizzy gillespie for four years in the '80s.

these days he lives in orlando and leads two bands: a big band staffed with teachers and cats who make their living playing in the bands at disney and universal, and a trio of multi-instrumentalists -- bassplayer doubles on bass clarinet and drums, while the drummer also plays tenor, bass, and piano. he's still performing and recording forward-looking music. not bad for a gentleman 85 years of age.