Houston Person
*Houston Person was born on this date in 1934. He is a Black jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Person grew up in Florence, South Carolina, and first played piano before switching to tenor saxophone.
He studied at South Carolina State College before joining the military. In the United States Air Force, he joined a service band stationed in West Germany and played with Don Ellis, Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton, and Leo Wright. He later continued his studies at Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. He first became known for a series of albums for Prestige in the 1960s. Contrary to popular belief, he was never married to the vocalist Etta Jones but did spend many years as her musical partner, recording, performing, and touring. For much of his career, this association was what he was best known for. They first met, playing in organist Johnny Hammond's band.
Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. Houston Person records more than 75 albums as a bandleader on Prestige, Westbound, Mercury, Savoy, and Muse, and he has most recently been recording on HighNote. He has recorded with Charles Brown, Ron Carter, Bill Charlap, Charles Earland, Lena Horne, Etta Jones, Lou Rawls, Janis Siegel, Horace Silver, Dakota Staton, Cedar Walton, plus Billy Butler, Don Patterson, Grant Green, Sonny Phillips, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Richard "Groove" Holmes and others.
He received the Eubie Blake Jazz Award in 1982 and was inducted into the South Carolina State College Hall of Fame in 1999. Person has been a resident of Newark, New Jersey.
