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Artist
Henry Franklin
12+ albums
jazzbebopHard Bop70sFrom: USA
about
Born October 1st, 1940, Henry Franklin is a native of Los Angeles whose earliest memories of jazz were through his father, Sammy Franklin, a renowned trumpeter and bandleader. As a child, Henry was encouraged to take music seriously and with that he understood its emotional power. Though he would take to the clarinet, piano and tap dancing early, it wasn't until the day he picked up the bass that music began to define him. So began Henry's life-long love affair with music. "It just felt natural," he said. Soon there were lessons - arranged by Sammy - with some of the classical bass players that helped establish his foundational knowledge of the instrument. Later Henry studied with Al McKibbon and George Morrow and spent many hours pouring over the offerings of such bassist greats as Paul Chambers and Doug Watkins. Henry was still attending the Manual Arts High School when he played with his first professional band - the Roy Ayers Latin Jazz Quintet. "Roy went to a different high school from me", he said, "but we played together along with Bill Henderson, Carl Burnett and Elmo Jones." Around that same time, Henry met and worked with Harold Land and Hampton Hawes. Years later he would tour Europe with Hawes and record five albums with him. "I was influenced very much by Hawes and Land - I still am," Henry said. "Those guys are great heroes to me." Jazz continued to heat up the scene in Los Angeles, with scores of clubs packing the houses from Adams Boulevard to Sunset an
