Melba Liston

An excellent section trombonist, Melba Liston achieved her most significant popularity as an arranger, particularly on her behalf tasks with Randy Weston. She was raised in California and used Gerald Wilson’s Orchestra beginning in 1943. Her perhaps most obviously recording being a soloist was with Dexter Gordon in 1947. Liston caused Count number Basie (1948-1949), Dizzy Gillespie’s big music group (1949-1950), and supported Billie Holiday, but spent a couple of years beyond music. She toured with and composed for Dizzy Gillespie’s orchestra (1956-1957) and seen European countries with Quincy Jones’ big music group (1959), sticking to that orchestra into 1961. Liston after that became a freelance arranger, focusing on periods led by Weston, Johnny Griffin, and Milt Jackson, composing for the studios, teaching, and sometimes playing. A significant stroke restricted her to some wheelchair from 1985 onward, but Liston still composed for many latter-day Randy Weston tasks within the years ahead of her loss of life on Apr 23, 1999.