Sorry to learn of the passing this week of trombonist Roswell Rudd (1935-2017). From his days in the 1950s as a Yale University student, Rudd showed flexibility, a penchant for harmonic subtlety, a big sound and an endearing rough humor. Through the years, he comfortably collaborated with musicians as stylistically varied as the traditionalists Wild Bill Davison, Bud Freeman and Eddie Condon, and modern adventurers like Archie Shepp, Lee Konitz, Albert Ayler and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. Rudd and the singer Sheila Jordan had a particularly fruitful musical relationship. For a comprehensive obituary, see Giovanni Russonello’s article in The New York Times.
Go here for a brief Rifftides notice of one of Rudd’s last albums