Booker Little

Booker Little's contributions to jazz fall far short of what they might have been if he had lived past the age of 23. However, his recordings present a deeply talented trumpet player, possessing a warm, bell-like tone and a highly developed melodic sense. His work, especially that done in close collaboration with Eric Dolphy, displays an astute and well-controlled sense of experimentation. The listener is left with a strong sense that Booker was soon to be a major talent in the profound extension of the jazz language that took place in the years following his death in 1961.