Cal Massey

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American jazz musician

title: "Cal Massey" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1927-births", "1972-deaths", "american-jazz-trumpeters", "american-male-trumpeters", "candid-records-artists", "american-male-jazz-composers", "jazz-musicians-from-philadelphia", "big-band-trumpet-players", "20th-century-american-trumpeters", "progressive-big-band-musicians", "20th-century-american-jazz-composers", "20th-century-american-male-composers"] description: "American jazz musician" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Massey" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American jazz musician ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Cal_Massey.jpg" caption="Cal Massey"] ::

Calvin "Cal" Massey (January 11, 1928 – October 25, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer.

Early life

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, Massey studied trumpet under Freddie Webster, and following this played in the big bands of Jay McShann, Jimmy Heath, and Billie Holiday. After that he mainly worked as a composer.

Career

In the mid-1950s, Massey led an ensemble in Philadelphia with Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, and Tootie Heath. On occasion, guests including John Coltrane and Donald Byrd played with Massey's group. According to jazz researcher Fred Ho, after his move to Brooklyn, Massey put together a new group. Tenor saxophonist Roland Alexander told Ho that the group included Alexander and Massey on saxophone and trumpet, with Sadik Hakim on piano, Roy Standard on bass, and Scoby Stroman on drums. "The band worked such Brooklyn clubs as the Moulin Rouge, The Turbo Village, and The Coronet. The band never worked outside of Brooklyn, according to Alexander. Massey in this period would occasionally do concerts with Sonny Stitt and Coltrane in Philadelphia. Alexander believed that the Brooklyn quartet worked for two or three years." However, Ho writes that according to Massey's wife Charlotte, "they often lived at the edge of poverty. Massey earned most of his money not from performing but from the many arrangements he wrote for local bands and singers."

In the 1950s, he gradually receded from active performance and concentrated on composition; his works were recorded by Coltrane, Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, Philly Joe Jones, Horace Tapscott and Archie Shepp. Massey played and toured with Shepp from 1969 until 1972. He also performed in The Romas Orchestra with Romulus Franceschini.

Massey died from a heart attack at the age of 44 in New York City, New York. His son, Zane Massey (born 1957), is also a jazz musician.

Political life

Massey's political standpoint was radical and his work is strongly connected with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and '70s. The Black Panther Party were an inspiration for The Black Liberation Movement Suite which he created with Franceschini. The Suite was performed three times at Black Panther benefit concerts. Massey's ideology resulted in him getting blacklisted (or "whitelisted" according to Fred Ho) from major recording companies and only one album was recorded under his name.

Compositions recorded by other artists

The following is a partial list of Massey compositions recorded by jazz musicians during Massey's lifetime. It is not a comprehensive list of recordings of Massey's works.

Recorded by John Coltrane

Recorded by Freddie Hubbard

Recorded by Lee Morgan

Recorded by Cedar Walton

Recorded by Jackie McLean

Recorded by Archie Shepp

Others

Music written for theatrical productions

  • Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy, a musical play, several songs (Massey's last work)

Tribute album

  • The Music of Cal Massey: A Tribute, recorded by Fred Ho, Quincy Saul and the Green Monster Band

Recordings by Cal Massey

  • Blues to Coltrane, recorded by the Candid label on January 13, 1961 at Nola Penthouse Sound Studio in New York City. First released in 1987, and again in 2006, features Massey on trumpet. All the compositions on the album are by Massey; it was the only album recorded under Massey's name.

Other musicians on the album are:

References

References

  1. (1992). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
  2. "Cal Massey".
  3. Russ, Valerie. (June 18, 2019). "Cal Massey, prolific artist, sculptor, designer of Valley Forge monument and comic book illustrator, dies at 93". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
  4. Porter, Lewis. (2009). "John Coltrane: His Life and Music". University Of Michigan Press.
  5. Ho, Fred. (2009). "Wicked Theory, Naked Practice: A Fred Ho Reader". University Of Minnesota Press.
  6. "Cal Massey".
  7. "Fred Ho, Quincy Saul – The Music Of Cal Massey: A Tribute".
  8. (January 16, 2008). "Cal Massey: Blues to Coltrane (2006)".
  9. (2010). "Brooklyn Rediscovers Cal Massey".

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1927-births1972-deathsamerican-jazz-trumpetersamerican-male-trumpeterscandid-records-artistsamerican-male-jazz-composersjazz-musicians-from-philadelphiabig-band-trumpet-players20th-century-american-trumpetersprogressive-big-band-musicians20th-century-american-jazz-composers20th-century-american-male-composers