Bond, Jimmy [James Edward, Jr.] (Philadelphia, 27 Jan 1933)

Double bass player and composer

He studied double bass and tuba, and took private lessons in composition and orchestration. From 1950 to 1955 he attended the Juilliard School while living and working in Philadelphia, where, as the resident double bass player at the Blue Note club, he played with Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. After graduating from Juilliard he played with Chet Baker (1955-6) Ella Fitzgerald (1956-7) Sonny Rollins and Buddy DeFranco (both 1957), Don Shirley (1957-8) and Carmen McRae (1958). He toured with George Shearing from 1958 to 1959, then settled in Los Angeles, where he played with Ben Webster, Art Pepper, Jim Hall, and Jimmy Giuffre while in residence at the Renaissance club (1959-63) and performed and recorded with Paul Horn's quintet (1960-61). He worked in studios in Los Angeles frequently from 1962 to 1970, then occasionally into the 1980s. Bond's style as a double bass player is inspired by that of Oscar Pettiford; he plays economically constructed bass lines with a rich, deep, percussive tone and displays a strong sense of rhythm. As a composer he is best known for his film score Persia 2500 (1971).

 John Voigt

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, © Macmillan Reference Ltd 1988