Internationally renowned jazz saxophonist and longtime Cornish faculty member.
Cornish College of the Arts notes with sadness the passing of retired Cornish faculty member and noted jazz saxophonist Hadley Caliman. Caliman passed away September 8, 2010, in Seattle after succumbing to liver cancer. He was 78 years old.
Caliman joined the Cornish jazz faculty in 1984 and taught continuously at Cornish for almost twenty years. “Hadley was a much beloved and respected member of our music faculty,” said Cornish president Sergei Tschernisch. “He was a warm, sweet, man with a great heart, who was intensely passionate about his music. He lived to play jazz. He will be missed.”
Known for his searing tenor saxophone sound that earned him a favored place as the sideman of choice for numerous jazz, rock, and R&B artists in the 1960s and 70s, Caliman recently reignited his recording career after retiring from teaching at Cornish in 2003. His most recent recordings, Gratitude and Straight Ahead garnered superlative reviews from jazz critics in the U.S. and abroad. “Caliman’s playing is at times subtly forceful… and sublimely lyrical… a stunning return to the jazz limelight for this superb musician,” wrote Alan Chase in the British jazz magazine The Wire, while Bill Milkowski of JazzTimes wrote: “Flaunting a beautiful, burnished tone and remarkable fluidity on his horn, Caliman sails… with confidence and old-school swagger.”
About Hadley Caliman
Internationally acclaimed tenor saxophonist, flutist, and composer Hadley Caliman was born in Idabel, Oklahoma on January 12, 1932.
He moved to Los Angeles with his family at age 8 and soon after began to play saxophone. While still attending Jefferson High School, Caliman played in Roy Porter’s Big Band, which included Eric Dolphy, and Art and Addison Farmer. After graduating from high school in 1950, Caliman toured briefly throughout the American south with rhythm and blues musicians Charles Brown and Amos Millburn. He then returned to California to attend Pomona State College and study music and clarinet. He also studied saxophone privately with Dexter Gordon while performing and recording with Della Reese, Gerald Wilson’s Big Band, Mongo Santamaria, Willy Bobo, Don Ellis, and Hampton Hawes.
In the 1960s Caliman moved to San Francisco to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and study flute. He also performed with various rock bands including Santana, Malo, and the Grateful Dead. Caliman also recorded, performed, and toured with Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Julian Priester, Eddie Henderson, Nancy Wilson, John Hendrix, Joe Henderson, and John Hammond.
While in the San Francisco Bay Area, Caliman became very involved in coordinating high school jazz band competitions and festivals including the Monterey Jazz Festival. He also worked on the staff of Jamey Abersold’s Jazz Clinics and was involved with Young Audiences of America.
After touring with Earl “Fatha” Hines on his farewell U.S. tour, Caliman relocated to Washington, first to the small town of Cathlamet near the mouth of the Columbia River, then later to Seattle, where he began teaching as part of the jazz faculty at Cornish College of the Arts in 1984, eventually becoming an Associate Professor. Caliman retired after nearly twenty years of teaching in the spring of 2003, at age 70.
Caliman recorded four albums as a bandleader before joining the Cornish faculty: Hadley Caliman (Mainstream) in 1971, Iapetus (Mainstream) in 1972, Projections (Catalyst) in 1976, and Celebration (Catalyst) in 1977, the latter with drummer Elvin Jones. In recent years Caliman released two critically lauded recordings as a bandleader, both on the Origin label: Gratitude in 2008 and Straight Ahead in 2010.
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