Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr., born November 17, 1935 and died December 21, 2017, was an American jazz trombonist. While he was skilled in many genres of jazz, including Dixieland which he performed in college, and other music genres, his main focus was on free and avant-garde Jazz. Rudd has been a frequent collaborator with Archie Shepp since 1962. Rudd was born in Sharon (Connecticut). Rudd was educated at the Hotchkiss School. He also graduated from Yale University. Rudd played with Eli’s Chosen Six in dixieland, which Rudd joined in mid-1950s. The sextet performed the boisterous trad-jazz style of the time and recorded two albums, one for Columbia Records. He formed his collaborations with Cecil Taylor, John Tchicai and Steve Lacy from the lessons he learned playing rags and stomps in college for drunken students in Connecticut. Rudd taught ethnomusicology at Bard College, and the University of Maine. Rudd worked intermittently for three decades with Alan Lomax on his global music song style (Cantometrics), and Global Jukebox projects. Rudd was a member of the New York Art Quartet, which recorded free jazz recordings in the 1960s. He also contributed to the soundtrack for the 1964 film New York Eye Control. Rudd also produced the album Communications by the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra. Rudd also collaborated with Larry Coryell and Pharoah Bernie. Rudd was close to saxophonists Shepp, Lacy and recorded Thelonious Monk’s music with Lacy. Rudd, his producer Verna Gillis and his partner went to Mali 2000 and 2001. MALIcool (2001), Rudd’s cross-cultural collaboration album with Toumani Diabate[8], and other Malian musicians, was the first recording of Malian traditional music featuring the trombone. Rudd and his Trombone Shout Band performed at the 2004 Festival au Desert in Essakane (Tombouctou Region), Mali. He recorded Blue Mongol with the Mongolian Buryat Band in 2005. This is a traditional music group from Mongolia and Buryatia. He also taught master classes and workshops in the United States as well as around the globe. From Wikipedia
