Med Flory
b. Meredith I. Flory, 27 August 1926, Logansport, Indiana, USA. Flory's early experience on alto saxophone was gained with the bands of Claude Thornhill and Woody Herman. In New York he worked mostly in small groups, some of which he led. After relocating to the west coast in 1954, he continued to play jazz in small and big bands (again sometimes as leader) but he also worked extensively in several fields other than jazz, notably as a screenwriter and an actor in films and television. While arranging for his big band in the late '50s, encouraged by Art Pepper and Joe Maini, Flory conceived the idea of arranging some of Charlie Parker's solos for a complete saxophone section. The idea was not fully developed, however, until some years later when Buddy Clark revived the concept and out of this shared interest Clark and Flory formed Supersax in 1972. Subsequently, Flory continued to lead Supersax and also played regularly with various west coast big bands.