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Sam Most

Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Sam Most began his incredible musical journey at the age of 18 with the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Shep Fields, Boyd Raeburn, and Don Redman. His first recording at age 23, a single entitled "Undercurrent Blues", clearly established him as the “first bop flutist.” The very next year he was awarded Downbeat Magazine's "Critic's New Star Award". A true pioneer and innovator, Sam is credited as being the first flutist to “sing” or “hum” through the flute, as evidenced by his recordings during the ‘50s. Between the years of 1953-1958 Sam led and recorded sessions for Prestige, Debut, Vanguard, and Bethlehem, bringing the flute into the forefront of jazz improvisation. He also worked in different settings with Chris Connor, Paul Quinichette, and Teddy Wilson. After touring with Buddy Rich (1959-1961), Sam moved to Los Angeles and became a studio musician, also working in Las Vegas and Palm Springs with Red Norvo. Sam resurfaced on the international scene in the late '70s, recording six albums on the Xanadu label, including an album of original compositions, “From the Attic of My Mind.” Sam’s musical journey and contributions to the jazz world have far from ended. From 1987 to present Sam, along with producer Fernando Gelbard of LiquidJazz.com, has recorded four albums, including “Solo Flute,” an album featuring just Sam on alto flute….you’ve got to check it out!


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Album Review

The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet: The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet

Read "The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet" reviewed by Robert Spencer


There's no use denying it, so I'll confess: I am not a big jazz flute fan. The instrument has always seemed to me to be too slight to power a rhythm section and too breathy to maintain an individual attractiveness. But Herbie Mann and Sam Most have converted me on this unlikeliest of ensembles, a double flute quintet.The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet is a 1956 album of eleven genial, high-spirited tracks featuring Mann and Most trading bright, up-tempo, ...

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Recording

Backgrounder: Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet

Backgrounder: Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Two of the finest jazz flutists in New York in the mid-1950s were united by producer Creed Taylor when he was at Bethlehem Records. The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet was recorded in October 1955 and released in 1956. It featured Herbie Mann, Sam Most (fl), Joe Puma (g), Jimmy Gannon (b) and Lee Kleinman (d). Sam Most had more experience under his belt than Mann at the time, having played with Tommy Dorsey, Shep Fields, Boyd Raeburn and Don Redman ...

Recording

Sam Most on Bop Clarinet

Sam Most on Bop Clarinet

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

When Sam Most died in June, obituaries praised him for bringing the flute into the modern jazz age. Though Jerome Richardson predated Most on flute in a small group with Lionel Hampton in 1950, Most was first to pull the instrument out of its floral, bucolic role and give it a bop twist on Undercurrent Blues. The early 1953 track for Prestige was so radical at the time that Herbie Mann paid tribute in a later interview: “When I started ...

Obituary

Sam Most, Johnny Smith...Gone

Sam Most, Johnny Smith...Gone

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Risking the appearance of Rifftides becoming an obituary service, I must note the deaths in the past week of two supreme artists of the bebop era, flutist Sam Most and guitarist Johnny Smith. Each of them blazed trails on his instrument and was a major influence on generations of players who followed him. Sam Most From the notes I wrote for Most’s 1976 Xanadu album Mostly Flute (Out of print, sadly. Copies are being sold for exorbitant prices on the ...

Recording

Sam Most: "East Coast Jazz"

Sam Most: "East Coast Jazz"

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

A long-forgotten Sam Most album on the Bethlehem label has just been remastered and reissued. Recorded in 1955, I'm Nuts About Most...Sam That Is! was the ninth and final album in the series of “East Coast Jazz" LPs that Creed Taylor produced while at Bethlehem. Creed launched the “East Coast Jazz" series in 1954 to distinguish the new music emerging in New York from the new jazz in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In addition, with the rise of the ...

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Recording

Sam Most & Al Viola sparkle in this new, live! recording

Sam Most & Al Viola sparkle in this new, live! recording

Source: All About Jazz

Two vital but often overlooked virtuosi, in the relaxed atmosphere of a “lounge gig," put on a dazzling display of melodic and rhythmic brilliance in “Pacific Standard Time, the new CD from UFO-BASS records. In a program of nine standards, the pair, backed by bassist Richard Simon, deliver chorus after wonderful chorus of mature yet playful improvisations, relfecting their combined experience of over a century of sophisticated music-making. Long acknowledged as one of the pioneers of jazz flute (along with ...

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