Birth name Ernest Harold Bailey Name Benny Bailey Years active 1940s–? | Genres Jazz, bebop, hard bop | |
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Born August 13, 1925Cleveland, Ohio, United States ( 1925-08-13 ) Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, record producer Labels Argo, Candid, Concord, MPS, Freedom, Enja, Ego Records, Gemini Records, Jazzcraft Records, TCB Records, Laika Records Movies Duke Ellington: Berlin Concert: 1969 Albums The Satchmo Legacy, Grand Salm Similar People Sahib Shihab, Francy Boland, Kenny Clarke, Quincy Jones, Julius Watkins | ||
Instruments Trumpet, piano, flute |
Benny bailey domagoy ralasic quintet blues for lady j
Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey (13 August 1925 – 14 April 2005) was an American bebop and hard-bop jazz trumpeter.
Contents
- Benny bailey domagoy ralasic quintet blues for lady j
- Count basie meet benny bailey
- Biography
- Discography
- References

Count basie meet benny bailey
Biography

Bailey was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He had some training in piano and flute in his youth, but switched to trumpet, and concentrated on the instrument while at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He was influenced by his hometown colleague, Tadd Dameron, seven years his elder, and subsequently had a significant influence on other prominent Cleveland musicians including Bill Hardman, Bobby Few, Albert Ayler, Frank Wright and Bob Cunningham. Bailey also played with "Big T" Tony Lovano - Joe Lovano's father.

In the early 1940s he worked with Bull Moose Jackson and Scatman Crothers. He later worked with Dizzy Gillespie and toured with Lionel Hampton. During a European tour with Hampton he decided to stay in Europe and spend time in Sweden. This Swedish period saw him working with Harry Arnold's big band. He tended to prefer big bands over small groups and became associated with several big bands in Europe including the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band. Later he began to work with Quincy Jones and that led to a brief return to the United States in 1960. During this time, he was invited to the studio as part of Freddie Redd's sextet to record the Blue Note Records album Redd's Blues after meeting the pianist during a tour in Sweden, where Bailey had been residing at the time. Shortly thereafter, he returned to Europe first to Germany, and later to the Netherlands, where he would settle permanently.

In 1969 he played on Eddie Harris and Les McCann's album Swiss Movement, recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, even though it was not his usual style of music, and including a memorable unrehearsed solo on the Gene McDaniels' song "Compared to What". Then in 1988 he worked with British clarinetist Tony Coe and kept producing albums until 2000 when he was in his mid-70s.

Bailey died at home in Amsterdam on April 14, 2005.
Discography
With Count Basie
With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band
With Eric Dolphy
With Stan Getz
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Benny Golson
With Dexter Gordon
With Quincy Jones
With Billy Mitchell
With Freddie Redd
With Sahib Shihab
With Randy Weston
With Jimmy Witherspoon
With Phil Woods