Adolphus J. Alsbrook Jr. (February 21, 1912 – June 2, 1988) was an American jazz and R&B musician, arranger and composer. He played the double bass, bass guitar, and harp.
Life and work Alsbrook attended Sumner High School and studied classical double bass and harp at the University of Kansas, University of Minnesota and the Chicago Conservatory of Music. From 1933 to 1954 he lived intermittently in Minneapolis, where he taught and worked as an arranger. In the early 1930s he played with Boyd AtkinsJay Goetting: Joined at the Hip: A History of Jazz in the Twin Cities. Minnesota Historical Society 2011. and at the Cotton Club with Jo Jones in Rook Ganz's band.Hillard "Rook" Ganz, born in 1906 in Kansas; cf. 1940 US censusFrank Büchmann-Møller:. You Just Fight for Your Life: The Story of Lester Young. 1990, p 57 During this time he also played with Lester YoungDouglas Henry Daniels: Northside Jazz: Lester "Pres" Young in Minneapolis (pdf) and Count Basie Alsbrook played his main instrument, the double bass, but also harp, accordion and guitar. He also wrote several novelty songs. As an arranger, he worked in Minneapolis for the Orchestra of Red Nichols and Paul Pendarvis. He also taught judo at a Police Department.
For a short time in 1939 Alsbrook belonged to the Duke Ellington Orchestra alongside Billy Taylor,Robert George Reisner: The Jazz Titans, Including „The Parlance of Hip“. Da Capo Press, 1960 before Jimmy Blanton joined the band.Robin Kelley. Thelonious Monk: the Life and times of an American original. However, no recordings emerged from his time with the orchestra.
In the 1940s Alsbrook worked in the Seattle music scene,Before Seattle Rocked: A City and Its Music of Kurt E. Armbruster where he played with Ernestine Anderson From the mid-1950s, he starred in the R&B band of Earl Bostic,Roy Porter. There And Back, 1995, p 198 as well as Fats Domino ("Country Boy", Imperial 1960) and Amos Milburn. More recordings were made in Los Angeles with Jesse Belvin ("Where's My Girl", with Bumps Blackwell), Sam Cooke (1957),Radio Recorders – Santa Monica CAPeter Guralnick: Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke 2015 Ernie Freeman, and Sugarcane Harris. Tom Lord lists his participation in eight recording sessions 1956–57.Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed September 25, 2015)
In 1972 Alsbrook made a guest appearance with Thelonious Monk's band when they played at Seattle's Fresh Air club.Chris Sheridan:. Brilliant Corners: A Bio-Discography of Thelonious Monk . P.215
His son is the musician Darryl Alsbrook.
Recognition The young Oscar Pettiford was impressed by Alsbrooks bass playing,International Society of Bassists −1985, Volumes 12–13 – Page lxxxviii as was Milt Hinton, who mentions Alsbrook in his memoirs.Quote: And there was another unbelievable bass player from Minneapolis, Adolphus Alsbrook, who I'd met in Chicago before I went with Cab. I first got to know him in the early '30s when I was working at the Savoy Ballroom with Erskine Tate. Milt Hinton, David Garett Berger, Holly Maxson: Playing the Changes: Milt Hinton's Life in Stories. 2008, p 144Down Beat, 1966, Volume 33, p 26 Charles Mingus and Gene Ramey have also praised Alsbrooks talent as a musician and arranger.
References
External links Another little known Ellingtonian : Portrait fragments of Duke Ellington Music Society