John Gilmore
b. 28 September 1931, Summit, Mississippi, USA. Gilmore moved to Chicago at the age of three, and later studied clarinet at Du Sable High School. Between 1948 and 1952 he was in the air force, and played clarinet and started on tenor saxophone while stationed in San Antonio, Texas. When the Harlem Globetrotters toured America in 1952, music was supplied by pianist Earl Hines with John Gilmore in the band, playing tenor saxophone. In 1953 he joined Sun Ra, then leading a trio, an association that was to last many decades, interrupted only by a short spell in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1964-65), when he replaced Wayne Shorter. Outside of his work with Sun Ra, Gilmore has recorded with McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Reece, Pete LaRoca, Elmo Hope, Paul Bley (on TURNS) and with his old chicago school-friend, pianist Andrew Hill, on two superb mid-'60s Blue Note sessions, ANDREW and COMPULSION. Nevertheless the vast bulk of his music over the last 35 years has been with Sun Ra. When asked by Graham Lock in THE WIRE what he liked about Sun Ra's music he replied: ‘the music is hard. He's got some stuff so hard it's unbelievable, it'll blow your mind!’. Gilmore's big-sounding tenor is unique in sounding like John Coltrane before Coltrane had established his style (Coltrane is said to have begged him for lessons). If Gilmore had not devoted his playing career to Sun Ra's music he would probably be listed as one of four or five most important tenor players in jazz. His solo on Neverness from 1989's PURPLE NIGHT shows his uncanny ability to combine freeform sonic experimentation with an emotive grandeur, though it is perhaps on Sun Ra's rare small group recordings, such as NEW STEPS, that Gilmore is given the space he needs to really stretch out. In addition to tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, he sometimes plays percussion with the Arkestra (and is featured as a percussionist on MY BROTHER THE WIND ) and also sings in an enthusiastic, gravelly voice—his speciality being East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon.