Bob Cranshaw

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Bob Cranshaw
Bob Cranshaw.jpg
Bob Cranshaw in 1976
Background information
Birth name Melbourne R. Cranshaw
Born (1932-12-10) December 10, 1932 (age 91)
Origin Evanston, Illinois, US
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Double bass, electric bass
Associated acts Sonny Rollins, many others

Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw (born December 10, 1932, in Evanston, Illinois) is an American jazz bassist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long association with Sonny Rollins. Cranshaw has been in Rollins's working band on and off for over five decades, starting with the 1962 album The Bridge.[1]

Biography

Some of Cranshaw's best-known performances include on Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder and Grant Green's Idle Moments. Cranshaw also served as the sole session bassist to Sesame Street and The Electric Company songwriter and composer Joe Raposo, and played bass guitar on all songs, tracks, buttons and cues recorded by the Children's Television Workshop during Raposo's tenure.

Although he lacks the name recognition of other bassists, Cranshaw has performed and recorded with a wide range of leading jazz artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Dexter Gordon, Grant Green, Coleman Hawkins, Jimmy Heath, Joe Henderson, Johnny Hodges, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, J. J. Johnson, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, James Moody, Lee Morgan, Wes Montgomery, Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich, George Shearing, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Shirley Scott, Stanley Turrentine, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, George Benson, and Joe Williams.

Along with Wes Montgomery's brother Monk, Cranshaw was among the early jazz bassists to trade his upright bass for an electric bass. He was criticized for this by jazz purists, although he was forced to switch by a back injury incurred in a serious auto accident.

Throughout his long and distinguished career he has also performed on hundreds of television shows and film and television scores. He appears on The Blue Note Story, a 90-minute documentary of the jazz label.

Cranshaw was also a founding member of the short-lived MJT + 3 (Modern Jazz Two) that included Frank Strozier on alto saxophone, Harold Mabern on piano, Willie Thomas on trumpet, and Walter Perkins on drums. The Chicago-based group produced several albums, a number for Vee-Jay Records. Another vintage Cranshaw jam, 1964's Blue Flames, featuring Shirley Scott, Stanley Turrentine and Otis Finch, was recorded for Prestige Records. Cranshaw also played live shows for tap dancer Maurice Hines, along with friend and drummer Paul Goldberg.

Discography

As sideman

With Pepper Adams

  • Plays the Compositions of Charlie Mingus (Workshop, 1964)

With Nat Adderley

With Mose Allison

With Gene Ammons

With George Benson

With Paul Bley

With Jaki Byard

With Donald Byrd

With Johnny Coles

With Hank Crawford

With Sonny Criss

With Frank Foster

With Dexter Gordon

With Grant Green

With Friedrich Gulda

  • Ineffable (Columbia, 1965)

With Slide Hampton

With Barry Harris

With Eddie Harris

With Hampton Hawes

With Jimmy Heath

With Joe Henderson

With Maurice Hines

  • To Nat "King" Cole with Love (Arbors, 2005)

With Bobby Hutcherson

With Milt Jackson

With Willis Jackson

With Clifford Jordan

With Eric Kloss

With Yusef Lateef

With Johnny Lytle

With Junior Mance

With Jack McDuff

With Jackie McLean

With Carmen McRae

With MJT + 3

  • Walter Perkins' MJT + 3 (Vee-Jay, 1959)
  • Make Everybody Happy (Vee-Jay, 1960)
  • MJT + 3 (Vee-Jay, 1960)
  • Message from Walton Steet (Rec. 1960; Koch Jazz, 2000)

With Hank Mobley

With Grachan Moncur III

With Wes Montgomery

With James Moody

With Lee Morgan

With Oliver Nelson

With Duke Pearson

With Houston Person

With Dave Pike

With Sonny Red

With Max Roach

With Sonny Rollins

With Lalo Schifrin

With Shirley Scott

With Wayne Shorter

With Horace Silver

With Paul Simon

With Billy Taylor

With Clark Terry and Bob Brookmeyer

With Bobby Timmons

With Stanley Turrentine

With McCoy Tyner

With Harold Vick

  • Watch What Happens (RCA Victor, 1968)

With Cedar Walton

With Joe Williams

With Jack Wilson

With Kai Winding

With The Young Lions

With Joe Zawinul

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic
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