JRR sinking beneath the waves.

[Jazzrook]

Ron Carter was a school cello who switched to bass. But did record on cello with Eric Dolphy on those Prestige New Jazz dates. And again there's Oscar Petiford, and I think Red Mitchell made an album on cello. So cello fellows!

Joel Friedman also played cello with Albert Ayler. Here's 'Change Has Come' from 'Live At The Village Theatre' in 1967:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=PccA2tTS8qs

JR

[Alyn_Shipton]

Sam Jones played cello with Nat Adderley; Percy Heath with the Heath Bros band; Ray Brown played it for a while; Nat Gershman took over from Fred Katz with Chico; and then more recently there's Ivo Perelman. And I remember doing a Bath Festival R3 broadcast with Ernst Reijseger. More recently (and on R3's Jazz Voice) Ayanna Witter-Johnson.... Not so sure about Red Mitchell, BN, but when I met him in NY in the early 80s he had adopted cello tuning for his bass.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Alyn, Red Mitchell made a live album in 1961, "Rejoice", on Pacific Jazz, with himself on cello, Jim Hall, Frank Butler etc. I don't think it's particularly good and the whole thing sounds quite informal. Here's "Jim's Blues", Red's cello solo is at 4 minutes in.

http://youtu.be/iDcIESp8bfU

[Quarky]

In a Cello Mood::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc76tFhBxCw

[Serial_Apologist]

Abdul Wadud - great cellist of the Black Artists' Group/Chicago school, 1970s/80s, in association with Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Lester Bowie... that lot. I'm sure he's been mentioned here before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_ZVpCUULzg

[Ian Thumwood]

I have been reading the last few posts bout jazz cello with interest as there still seems to be a perception that it is something of a novelty instrument. Picking up from Alyn's post, Ernst Reijseger was my first real introduction to the cello in a jazz context when Radio 3 played a Steve Lacy concert which largely consisted of Monk compositions in a quintet that also included the great Han Bennink and trombonist George Lewis. For my money, only one other "Monk" tribute quite matche this and that also features a cello - this time Abdul Wadud on an excellent Arthur Blythe. Wadud was a mainstay with Blythe's bands in the early 1980s and this is quite an excpetional obdy of work. In fact, there seems to be an element of amnesia concerning jazz in the 1980s on this thread because no on seems to have mention Hank Roberts who also came to prominence in this period, both under his own name and in Bill Frisell's mid 1980's quartet. Another cellist who was also involved in the Downtown scene of that time was Erik Friedlander who has been involved in more "outside" work although I would recommend his more recent tribue to OScar Pettiford. Certainly, I would have chosen this more updated version of OP's work than the originals which I sometimes feel to be a bit twee.

For recently I think Tomeka Reid has proven herself to be one of the most formidable soloists in jazz and her quartet with Mary Halvorson has produced two stunningly brilliant recoprds. For my money, she has taken Billy Bang's influence and transferred this to the cello. One of the albums actually includes one of the DLophy compositions from the album with Ron Carter on cello. I think that Reid has cropped up in so many diverse contexts that I feel she is absolutely crucial to the appreciation of jazz in the 2020s.

[Jazzrook]

Julius Hemphill & Abdul Wadud live in New York, 1976:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=wmJKy2TVSCk

JR

[Alyn_Shipton]

Following Ian's post above, we did of course, include a concert by Tomeka Reid on Jazz Now (with Mary Halvorsen). https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xzlr7

[Tenor Freak]

I have the greatest respect for Alyn Shipton, but can't escape feeling that JRR is becoming increasingly unlistenable of late <SNIP>

Just wait until Alyn plays my Julius Hemphill request.