Clifford Thornton

One of the most underrated and criminally overlooked free jazz trumpet/trombone players remains to be Clifford Thornton. Born in Philadelphia sometime in 1936, Thornton studied with hard bop trumpeter Donald Byrd during the mid-'50s and played with numerous other jazz musicians, including the great tuba player Ray Draper. After joining the army, Thornton settled down in New York City -- appearing on albums by other artists (Sun Ra's Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow, Sunny Murray's Homage to Africa, etc.

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