From 1957 to 1967, Pine Bluff native and jazz musician Les Spann appeared on over 78 top jazz sessions, recorded with jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Nat Adderley, Abbey Lincoln, and Charles Mingus.
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Leslie Lavell Spann Jr was born on March 23, 1932, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Clara Black Spann and Leslie Lavell Spann Sr. During his childhood, Spann was attracted to the guitar because he enjoyed its melody. While attending high school in New York City he taught himself to play the guitar. In 1950, Spann graduated high school, attending a historically black university, Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School (now known as Tennessee State University) in Nashville, Tennessee.
From 1950 to 1957, Spann attended Tennessee A & I as a music major. When required to learn a second instrument in his degree program, he selected the flute.
In 1957, Spann returned to New York City after his friend guitarist Calvin Newborn was drafted into the Army when the U.S. entered the Vietnam War. Before leaving for war, Newborn recommended Spann take his place in his brother Phineas Newborn Jr.’s jazz group. In 1958, Spann worked with jazz pianist Ronnell Bright, who later appeared on The Jeffersons, Sanford and Sons, and The Carol Burnett Show.
In August 1958, he joined Dizzy Gillespie's quintet, working alongside jazz double bassist, cellist, and composer, Sam Jones. Spann performed solos on flute and guitar and appeared on two of Gillespie's albums with Verve Records, The Ebullient Mr. Gillespie and Have Trumpet, Will Excite! After a year with Gillespie, he toured Europe with Quincy Jones’ famed big band, Birth of a Big Band Orchestra. Spann later joined a sextet that included Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, and Harry "Sweets" Edison.
In 1961, Spann released Gemini, his only studio album as a leader with Jazzland Records, a subsidiary of Riverside Records. He led the quintet with French horn player Julius Watkins, pianist Tommy Flanagan, double bassist Sam Jones, and drummers, Albert "Tootie" Heath and Louis Haye, who shared the two recording dates. The eight-track album was taped in two recording sessions in which Spann demonstrated his musical skills on both instruments, playing the flute on December 8, and the guitar on December 16.
Though Spann’s album was not a musical success, according to historian and contributing journalist of The Wall Street Journal, Marc Myers, "Listening to it today, the entire album is superbly constructed by Spann, and the merged sound of guitar, flute, and horn is rich, thoughtful and mellifluous.”
In 1962, Spann played on Red Garland's album Solar and appeared in Charles Mingus' Town Hall concert orchestra. In 1963, he traveled to London, England as part of Ella Fitzgerald’s backing band, playing both the guitar and the flute. According to London’s Evening Standard, “Like the French horn…the flute nearly always seems out of place in jazz. But if it is to be played at all then Les Spann comes nearer than most in getting jazz feeling out of it.” In a 2011 interview, when asked why Spann only led on one studio album, jazz writer and record producer Orrin Keepsnews, who produced Spann’s Gemini album, said, "Les was a very quiet guy and sort of dignified—a funny word for a musician. He never got in the groove of pushing his greatness on people, which to some extent was necessary to stand out as a leader.”
In 1965, Spann recorded with Duke Pearson. In 1966, he recorded with Sonny Stitt and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. In 1967, Spann recorded his last known jazz recording with Johnny Hodges. Around 1970, he played flute in a quartet led by guitarist Kenny Burrell. From 1957 to 1967, he appeared in over 78 top jazz sessions. He recorded with jazz greats like Nat Adderley, Benny Bailey, Bill Coleman, Curtis Fuller, Red Garland, Benny Goodman, Abbey Lincoln, Charles Mingus, Duke Pearson, Jerome Richardson, Charlie Shavers, Sonny Stitt, Billy Taylor, Randy Weston, and Ben Webster.
Unfortunately, Spann died in 1989 on the Bowery, New York City’s Skid Row.
Sources:
Shipton, A. (1999). Groovin’ high : the life of Dizzy Gillespie. Oxford University Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10329664
Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard