Willie Dennis

Willie Dennis (né William DeBerardinis, January 10, 1926, Philadelphia – July 8, 1965, New York City) was an American jazz trombonist known as a big band musician but who was also an influential bebop soloist.

After working with Elliot Lawrence, Claude Thornhill, and Sam Donahue, Dennis also performed with Charles Mingus, appearing on two of Mingus's more successful albums in 1959, Blues & Roots and Mingus Ah Um. In 1953, Dennis recorded Four Trombones (released in 1957) for Mingus's Debut Records. The other three trombones were J. J. Johnson, Kai Winding and Bennie Green.

The fullest recorded example of Dennis's solo work, however, is on a little-known 1956 Savoy disc by English pianist Ronnie Ball (like Dennis, a student of Lennie Tristano), All About Ronnie, in the company of Ted Brown, Wendell Marshall and Kenny Clarke.

In the late 1950s Dennis returned to his big band roots, joining Buddy Rich in 1959 after stints with Benny Goodman, (with whom he travelled to the Soviet Union in 1962) and Woody Herman.

In the 1960s, Dennis also performed often with Gerry Mulligan.

Relationships and family

He married singer Morgana King in 1961. They had no children.

They had only been married for a few years when he died in 1965 in an automobile accident in Central Park, New York City.

Style and influence

Dennis was renowned for his extremely fast articulation on the trombone, obtained by means of varying the natural harmonics of the instrument with minimal recourse to the slide (a technique known as "against the grain").

• Four Trombones (Debut, 1957) - with J. J. Johnson, Kai Winding and Bennie Green

With Cannonball Adderley

• Domination (Capitol, 1965)

With Manny Albam

• Jazz Goes to the Movies (Impulse!, 1962)

With Mundell Lowe

• Themes from Mr. Lucky, the Untouchables and Other TV Action Jazz (RCA Camden, 1960)

With Gary McFarland

• The Jazz Version of "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying" (Verve, 1962)
• Point of Departure (Impulse!, 1963)

With Charles Mingus

• Blues & Roots (Atlantic, 1959)
• Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959)
• The Complete Town Hall Concert (Blue Note, 1962 [1994])

With Gerry Mulligan

• Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band on Tour (Verve, 1960 [1962])
• Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band at the Village Vanguard (Verve, 1960 [1961])
• Gerry Mulligan Presents a Concert in Jazz (Verve, 1961)
• Gerry Mulligan '63 (Verve, 1963)

With Oliver Nelson

• Full Nelson (Verve, 1963)

With Anita O'Day

• All the Sad Young Men (Verve, 1962)

With Buddy Rich

• Richcraft (Mercury, 1959)
• Rich Versus Roach (Mercury, 1959)
• The Driver (EmArcy, 1960)

With Shirley Scott

• Great Scott!! (Impulse!, 1964)

With Zoot Sims

• Lost Tapes-Baden Baden 1958 (SWR, 2014)

With Phil Woods

• Rights of Swing (Candid, 1961)