Biography

Handy first came to prominence while working for Charles Mingus in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Handy led several groups, among them a quintet with Michael White, violin, Jerry Hahn, guitar, Don Thompson, bass, and Terry Clarke, drums. This group's performance at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival was recorded and released as an album; Handy received Grammy nominations for "Spanish Lady" (jazz performance) and "If Only We Knew" (jazz composition).

Handy has also taught music history and performance at San Francisco State University, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and other schools.

In the 1980s he worked in the project Bebop & Beyond, who recorded tribute albums to Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk.

Handy's son, John Richard Handy IV, is a drummer who has played with Handy on occasion.

Discography

As leader

• In the Vernacular (Roulette, 1959)
• No Coast Jazz (Roulette, 1960)
• Jazz (Roulette, 1962)
• Recorded Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival (Columbia, 1966)
• The 2nd John Handy Album (Columbia, 1966)
• New View! (Columbia, 1967)
• Projections (Columbia, 1968)
• Karuna Supreme (MPS, 1975) with Ali Akbar Khan
• Hard Work (Impulse!, 1976)
• Carnival (Impulse! 1977)
• Where Go the Boats (Warner Bros., 1978)
• Handy Dandy Man (Warner Bros., 1978)
• Rainbow (MPS, 1980) with Ali Akbar Khan and Dr. L. Subramaniam
• Excursion in Blue (Quartet, 1988)
• Centerpiece (Milestone, 1989) with CLASS
• Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival (Koch International Records, 1996)
• Live at Yoshi's Nightspot (Boulevard Records, 1996)
• John Handy's Musical Dreamland (Boulevard, 1996)

Compilations

• Quote Unquote (Roulette, 1967) contains selections from In the Vernacular and No Coast Jazz

As sideman

With Brass Fever

• Brass Fever (Impulse!, 1975)
• Time Is Running Out (Impulse!, 1976)

With Charles Mingus

• Jazz Portraits: Mingus in Wonderland (United Artists, 1959)
• Mingus Ah Um (Columbia, 1959)
• Mingus Dynasty (Columbia, 1959)
• Blues & Roots (Atlantic, 1960)
• Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop (Fantasy, 1964)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]