Video: Teddy Edwards, 1962

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

In the tenor sax pantheon, there's Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Then there are dozens of slightly smaller giants who didn't change the direction of the instrument but were solid, fluid, soulful players, including Wardell Gray, Zoot Sims, Harold Land, Hank Mobley, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Frank Wess and Sonny Stitt. Often forgotten today is Teddy Edwards, who was born in Mississippi, moved to Detroit and wound up in Los Angeles in the mid-1940s and remained there for much of his career. Edwards died in 2003.

In 1947, Edwards recorded The Duel with Dexter Gordon, a bebop tenor battle that established him as a West Coast tiger. He also was on the scene in L.A. in 1954 when Clifford Brown and Max Roach arrived and joined them at the California Club, crystalizing hard bop's sound. During the concert, Edwards first recorded his best-known composition,Sunset Eyes. Edwards recorded sparingly in the mid-1950s but became a busy sideman on the Contemporary and Pacific Jazz labels in the years that followed.

In 1962, Edwards formed a terrific working hard-bop sextet, which never recorded bu appeared on Oscar Brown Jr.'s TV show, Jazz Scene USA. Here's a rare Edwards video with his knockout group. A special thanks to Jimi Mentis in Athens...

Used with permission by Marc Myers