Biography
Born in the South Bronx, Reid picked up drumming at 16 and in the same period his family moved to Queens, New York, three blocks away from John Coltrane. Before attending Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, he worked as part of the Apollo Theatre House Band, where his first recorded work (aged 16) was with Martha and the Vandellas, under the direction of Quincy Jones.
Reid played with some of the biggest names in jazz and black music, including James Brown, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, and Miles Davis (on the album Tutu).
In 1969, Reid refused to register for the draft of troops for the Vietnam War. His decision resulted in his arrest as a conscientious objector, and he was sentenced to a four-year prison sentence at Pennsylvania’s Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, where he served alongside Jimmy Hoffa. Upon his release on parole in 1971, Reid found work as a session player with the likes of Dionne Warwick, Horace Silver, Charles Tyler, Sun Ra and Freddie Hubbard, alongside some Broadway stage production work. In 1974, Reid formed the Legendary Master Brotherhood and his own Mustevic Sound Inc label.
He lived in Europe for several years (Lugano, Switzerland) in later life and released several recordings for labels such as Soul Jazz in London, UK, and German jazz label CPR. For his final releases, his ensemble was based around Reid himself, Chuck Henderson (soprano saxophone; previous saxophonist Lena Bloch, tenor sax, left to play with the UMass Amherst jazz ensemble), Boris Netsvetaev (piano; living in Hamburg, Germany) and Chris Lachotta (double-bass; living in Munich, Germany).
In 2006, Reid teamed up with electronic musician Kieran Hebden, to release the experimental The Exchange Session Vol. 1. The duo enjoyed this initial collaboration so much that they went on to release three further albums: The Exchange Session Vol. 2 (2006), Tongues (2007), and NYC (2008). In an interview discussing the collaborations, Reid referred to Hebden as his new-found "musical soul mate".
On April 13, 2010, Reid died in New York of throat cancer.
Read more about this topic: Steve Reid
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