Lou Donaldson

Lou Donaldson (born November 1, 1926) is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.

Donaldson attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro in the early 1940s. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was trained at the Great Lakes bases in Chicago, where he was introduced to bop music in the lively club scene there. At the war's conclusion, he returned to Greensboro, where he worked club dates with the Rhythm Vets, a combo composed of A and T students who had served in the U.S. Navy. The band recorded the soundtrack to a musical comedy featurette, "Pitch a Boogie Woogie," in Greenville, N.C., in the summer of 1947. The movie had a limited run at black audience theatres in 1948 but its production company, Lord-Warner Pictures, folded and never made another film. "Pitch a Boogie Woogie" was subsequently restored by the American Film Institute in 1985 and re-premiered on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, NC the following year. Donaldson and the surviving members of the Vets performed a reunion concert after the film's showing. In the documentary made on "Pitch" by UNC-TV, "Boogie in Black and White," Donaldson and his musical cohorts recall the film's making--Donaldson originally believed that he had played clarinet on the soundtrack. A short piece of concert footage from a gig in Fayetteville, NC is included in the documentary.

Donaldson's first jazz recordings were with the Charlie Singleton Orchestra in 1950 and then with bop emissaries Milt Jackson and Thelonious Monk in 1952, and he participated in several small groups with other jazz luminaries such as trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Horace Silver, and drummer Art Blakey.

In 1953, he also recorded sessions with the trumpet virtuoso Clifford Brown, and Philly Joe Jones. He was a member of Art Blakey's Quintet and appeared on some of their best regarded albums, including the two albums recorded at Birdland in February 1954 Night at Birdland.

Donaldson has recorded in the bop, hard bop, and soul jazz genres. For many years his pianist was Herman Foster. He will be inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.

As leader

 * 1952: Quartet/Quintet/Sextet
 * 1957: Wailing with Lou
 * 1957: Swing and Soul
 * 1957: Jimmy Smith Trio + LD
 * 1957: Lou Takes Off
 * 1958: Blues Walk
 * 1958: Light-Foot
 * 1959: LD + 3
 * 1959: The Time is Right
 * 1960: Sunny Side Up
 * 1960: Midnight Sun
 * 1961: Here 'Tis
 * 1961: Gravy Train
 * 1961: A Man with a Horn
 * 1962: The Natural Soul
 * 1963: Good Gracious!
 * 1963: Signifyin'
 * 1964: Possum Head
 * 1964: ''Cole Slaw
 * 1964: Rough House Blues
 * 1965: Musty Rusty
 * 1965: Fried Buzzard
 * 1966: Blowing in the Wind
 * 1966: Lou Donaldson At His Best
 * 1967: Lush Life
 * 1967: Alligator Bogaloo
 * 1967: Mr. Shing-A-Ling
 * 1968: Midnight Creeper
 * 1968: Say It Loud!
 * 1969: Hot Dog
 * 1970: Everything I Play is Funky
 * 1970: Pretty Things
 * 1970: The Scorpion
 * 1971: Cosmos
 * 1972: Sophisticated Lou
 * 1973: Sassy Soul Strut
 * 1974: Sweet Lou
 * 1976: A Different Scene
 * 1976: Color as a Way of Life
 * 1981: Sweet Poppa Lou
 * 1981: Forgotten Man
 * 1982: Back Street
 * 1984: Live in Bologna
 * 1990: Play the Right Thing
 * 1992: Birdseed
 * 1993: Caracas
 * 1995: Sentimental Journey
 * 2000: Relaxing at Sea: Live on the QE2

Compilations

 * 1994: The Righteous Reed! The Best of Poppa Lou
 * 1996: The Best of Lou Donaldson, Vol. 2 The Blue Note Years.
 * 1998: Blue Breakbeats

As sideman
With Gene Ammons With Clifford Brown With Milt Jackson With Thelonious Monk With Miles Davis With Art Blakey With Jimmy Smith
 * All Star Sessions (Prestige, 1950-55 [1956])
 * Memorial Album (Blue Note, 1953)
 * All Star Bags (Prestige, 1953)
 * Genius of Modern Music (Blue Note, 1952)
 * Bags' Groove (Prestige, 1954)
 * A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1954)
 * A Night at Birdland Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1954)
 * A Night at Birdland Vol. 3 (Blue Note, 1954)
 * A Date with Jimmy Smith Volume One (Blue Note, 1957)
 * A Date with Jimmy Smith Volume Two (Blue Note, 1957)
 * Jimmy Smith Trio + LD (Blue Note, 1957)
 * House Party (Blue Note, 1958)
 * The Sermon! (Blue Note, 1958)
 * Cool Blues (Blue Note, 1958)
 * Rockin' the Boat (Blue Note, 1963)