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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZNEIDLINGER, Buell(b 2 March 1936, Westport CN; d 16 March 2018, Whidbey Island WA) Bassist, composer, teacher, one of the most versatile musicians in American history. He was turned on to jazz by Louis Armstrong records and studied piano, trumpet, cello as a child; his first teacher on bass was Walter Page. He served an apprenticeship in NYC playing dixieland and mainstream jazz with Rex Stewart, Vic Dickenson, Eddie Condon and others; he first played contemporary music '55-60 with Cecil Taylor: New York City R&B '61, not released until eleven years later on Candid and listed under Taylor's name, was a Neidlinger date. He also made Soprano Today '57 with Steve Lacy on Prestige; played Fender bass on R&B sessions; played in the Houston Symphony '60-2 (and with Arnett Cobb in local clubs), with Taylor for the last time at a concert in '62. Neidlinger left New York in 1967, moving first to Boston, where he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf, and became a founding instructor in the jazz department at the New England Conservatory. Four years later he was offered a position at California Institute of the Arts and relocating to Los Angeles where he was asked by Sir Neville Marriner tro become the principal bassist of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, also taking the same position in the Warner Brothers Studio Orchestra in 1973 (his first film credit was that year’s Soylent Green). He continued doing session work with Frank Zappa and Jean-Luc Ponty, Van Dyke Parks, Andrew White, Robert Ceely on the Beep label, and formed his own K2B2 label (pronounced 'K squared B squared') with tenor saxophonist/bass clarinettist Marty Krystall in Los Angeles. Ready For The 90's '80 was a quartet LP, Our Night Together '81 a quintet, Gene Cipriano added on reeds, both by Krystall Klear and the Buells: these two were among Neidlinger's personal favourites, probably because of having control on one's own label. Swingrass on Antilles and Buellgrass on K2B2 also had Peter Ivers on harmonica, since murdered. Marty's Garage on K2B2 had quartet tracks from '71-3 with Krystall and two tracks from '60-1, one with Taylor, one with Archie Shepp; Buellgrass has mostly standards (by Ellington, Monk) with a few originals. With everything else he was doing on the west coast he albums kept coming: Thelonious '88 with Krystall; Locomotive '89 (on Soul Note, by Buell Neidlinger's String Jazz) included Monk and Ellington tunes; Aurora '88 (on Denon) with Krystall, Peter Erskine on percussion, Don Preston on synths on three tracks; Blue Chopsticks '94 is subtitled A Portrait Of Herbie Nichols, arranged for one reed (Krystall) and one brass (Hugh Schick) and string trio with Neidlinger on cello. Rear View Mirror '91 was a compilation; Big Drum '93 a set of originals recorded '90 with Krystall, Schick and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums. Neidlinger was a true original; everything he did was of interest. Basso Profundo, released 2009 on Vivace, collected modern classical recordings Neidlinger made between '64 and '75 in Buffalo and New York City. Composers included Bussotti, Xenakis, Kagel, and film composer Leonard Rosenman; eight sidemen on various tracks included Peter Serkin and Fred Sherry. |