Lonnie Plaxico

Lonnie Plaxico (born 4 September 1960) is an African-American jazz bassist.

Biography

Plaxico was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen (playing both double bass and bass guitar). His first recording was with his family's band, and by the time he was twenty he had moved to New York City, where he had stints playing with Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Junior Cook, and Hank Jones. He won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award in 1978.

Plaxico first came to public attention through his work with the Wynton Marsalis group in 1982, though his first regular attachment was with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1983–86), with whom he recorded twelve albums.

In the mid-1980s Plaxico joined the M-Base collective and played on the debut-releases of Steve Coleman (Motherland Pulse, 1985), Cassandra Wilson (Point of View, 1986) and Greg Osby (Sound Theatre, 1987). On Wilson's recordings he appeared regularly ever since and is the musical director and first bassist of her tour band for more than 15 years.

In 1986 Jack DeJohnette reformed his Special Edition and engaged beside guitarist Mick Goodrick the M-Base saxophonists Greg Osby and Gary Thomas and Plaxico on bass. The band existed until 1993, after three albums with pianist Michael Cain replacing Goodrick on the last.

Plaxico has also performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, David Murray, Alice Coltrane, Stanley Turrentine, Andrew Hill, Joe Sample, Abbey Lincoln, Bill Cosby, Lonnie Liston Smith, Ravi Coltrane, Scott Tixier, Barbara Dennerlein, Helen Sung and Nina Vidal.

Discography

As leader

• 1989: Plaxico (Muse)
• 1990: Iridescence (Muse)
• 1992: Short Takes (Muse)
• 1993: With All Your Heart (Muse)
• 2000: Emergence (Savant)
• 2001: Mélange (Blue Note)
• 2002: Live at the 5:01 Jazz Bar (Orchard, Plaxmusic)
• 2003: Rhythm and Soul (Sirocco Jazz Ltd)
• 2004: Live at Jazz Standard (Village, Japan)
• 2006: So Alive (Eighty-Eight's)
• 2006: West Side Stories (Plaxmusic)
• 2007: Live at the Zinc Bar NYC (Plaxmusic)
• 2009: Ancestral Devotion (Plaxmusic)

As sideman

With Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

• Aurex Jazz Festival (Eastworld, 1983)
• New York Scene (Concord, 1984)
• Blue Night (Timeless, 1985)
• Live at Sweet Basil (Paddle Wheel, 1985)
• Live at Kimball's (Concord, 1985)
• Live at Ronnie Scott's (Wadham, 1985)
• Hard Champion (Paddle Wheel, 1985)
• Farewell (Paddle Wheel, 1985)
• New Year's Eve at Sweet Basil (King (Japan)/ProJazz, 1985)
• Dr. Jeckyle - Live at Sweet Basil Vol. 2 (ProJazz, 1985)

With Steve Coleman

• Motherland Pulse (JMT, 1985)
• Five Elements - Sine Die (Pangaea, 1988)

With Robin Eubanks

• Karma (JMT, 1991)

With Dizzy Gillespie

• New Faces (GRP, 1985)

With Cassandra Wilson

• Point of View (JMT, 1986)
• Blue Skies (JMT, 1988)
• Jumpworld (JMT, 1990)
• Blue Light 'til Dawn (Blue Note, 1993), only on „Tupelo Honey“
• New Moon Daughter (Blue Note, 1995)
• Rendezvous (Blue Note, 1997), with Jacky Terrasson
• Traveling Miles (Blue Note, 1999)
• Loverly (Blue Note, 2008)

With Greg Osby

• Greg Osby and Sound Theatre (JMT, 1987)
• Mindgames (JMT, 1988)
• Season of Renewal (JMT, 1990)
• Zero (Blue Note, 1998)

With Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition

• Irresistible Forces (Impulse!/MCA, 1987)
• Audio-Visualscapes (Impulse!/MCA, 1988)
• Earthwalk (Blue Note, 1991)

With Cindy Blackman

• Code Red (Muse, 1990)

With Ron Jackson

• A Guitar Thing You (Muse, 1991)
• Thinking of You (Muse, 1993)

With Cecil Brooks III

• The Collective (Muse, 1992)
• Smokin' Jazz (Muse, 1996)

With Don Byron

• Tuskegee Experiments (Nonesuch, 1992)
• Ivey-Divey (Blue Note, 2004)

With Bud Shank

• I Told You So (Candid, 1992)

With Carola Grey

• Noisy Mama (Jazzline, 1992)

With Lafayette Harris

• Lafayette Is Here (Muse, 1993)

With Hannibal Marvin Peterson

• One with the Wind (Muse, 1993)

With Gust Tsilis

• Wood Music (Enja, 1993)

With Regina Carter

• Regina Carter (Atlantic, 1995)

With Talib Kibwe

• Introducing Talib Kibwe (Evidence, 1996)

With Barbara Dennerlein

• Take Off! (Verve, 1995)

With Jean-Paul Bourelly, Harry Sokal und Ronnie Burrage

• Mag Five (PAO, 1998)

With LaMont Johnson

• 241 East 3rd St. (Orchard, 1998)

With Ray Anderson

• Lapis Lazuli Band - Funkorific (Enja, 1998)

With Mark Ledford

• Miles to Go (Verve Forecast, 1998)

With Ravi Coltrane

• Moving Pictures (RCA, 1998)

With Teri Thornton

• I'll Be Easy to Find (Verve, 1999)

With Bunky Green

• Another Place (Label Bleu, 2006)

With Brian Landrus

• Traverse (BlueLand Records, 2012)

External links

• Carr, Ian, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
• Plaxico's Web site
• Lonnie Plaxico on Allmusic
• Brief bio by Chris Parker for the Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club pages
• Interview with Plaxico for 441 Records