Skip to content
Lou Donaldson
artist

Lou Donaldson

Lou Donaldson is a jazz artist from United States. 97 releases are catalogued on Riffiter.

Jazz · United States · Best jazz albums

97
Releases
1957–2026
Active years

Discography

89Rank them 1 vs 1 →Two covers at a time. Pick the one you rate higher, we build the order.
Light-Foot cover

Most popular

Light-Foot

2014 · 7 tracks

Singles & EPs

1

Live & compilations

7

Collaborators

1

Community

More about Lou Donaldson

Lou Donaldson at a glance

Born in
Badin
From
United States
Active since
1952
Instruments
saxophone, alto saxophone, voice
Labels
Blue Note

Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Children listed are those with their own public record, so the list may be incomplete.

About

Lou Donaldson (born November 1, 1926) is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker. Donaldson attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro in the early 1940s. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was trained at the Great Lakes bases in Chicago, where he was introduced to bop music in the lively club scene there. At the war's conclusion, he returned to Greensboro, where he worked club dates with the Rhythm Vets, a combo composed of A and T students who had served in the U.S. Navy. The band recorded the soundtrack to a musical comedy featurette, "Pitch a Boogie Woogie," in Greenville, North Carolina, in the summer of 1947. The movie had a limited run at black audience theatres in 1948 but its production company, Lord-Warner Pictures, folded and never made another film.

Read more

"Pitch a Boogie Woogie" was subsequently restored by the American Film Institute in 1985 and re-premiered on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville the following year. Donaldson and the surviving members of the Vets performed a reunion concert after the film's showing. In the documentary made on "Pitch" by UNC-TV, "Boogie in Black and White", Donaldson and his musical cohorts recall the film's making—he originally believed that he had played clarinet on the soundtrack. A short piece of concert footage from a gig in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is included in the documentary. Donaldson's first jazz recordings were with the Charlie Singleton Orchestra in 1950 and then with bop emissaries Milt Jackson and Thelonious Monk in 1952, and he participated in several small groups with other jazz luminaries such as trumpeter Blue Mitchell, pianist Horace Silver, and drummer Art Blakey. In 1953, he also recorded sessions with the trumpet virtuoso Clifford Brown, and Philly Joe Jones. He was a member of Art Blakey's Quintet and appeared on some of their best regarded albums, including the two albums recorded at Birdland in February 1954 Night at Birdland. Donaldson has recorded in the bop, hard bop, and soul jazz genres. For many years his pianist was Herman Foster. He was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.

Lou Donaldson in brief

How many Lou Donaldson releases are on Riffiter?
97 releases are catalogued, spanning 1957 to 2026.
What genre is Lou Donaldson?
Lou Donaldson is catalogued under Jazz.
What is the most recent Lou Donaldson release on Riffiter?
Autumn Nocturne (Remastered), released in 2026.

Fans of Lou Donaldson also listen to

Name two more and find something you haven’t heard