Cecil Bridgewater

Cecil Bridgewater (b. Oct. 10, 1942) is an American hard bop jazz trumpeter.

Bridgewater was born in Urbana, Illinois and studied at the University of Illinois. He and brother Ron Bridgewater formed the Bridgewater Brothers Band in 1969, and in the 1970s he was married to Dee Dee Bridgewater. In 1970 he played with Horace Silver, and following this with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis from 1970 to 1976. Also in the 1970s he played with Max Roach, starting a decades-long association. Elsewhere he has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Randy Weston, Charles McPherson, Joe Henderson, Roy Brooks, Abdullah Ibrahim and Sam Rivers. Bridgewater's first disc as a leader appeared in 1993.

Bridgewater has also composed works premiered by the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and Meet the Composers.

He is currently teaches as adjunct faculty at Manhattan School of Music, New School, William Paterson University, and The Juilliard School.

References

*Scott Yanow, [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difrxqu5ldhe~T1 Cecil Bridgewater] at Allmusic