Preston Love

From Zappa Wiki Jawaka
Revision as of 13:29, 11 June 2005 by Emdebe (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Preston Love (April 26, 1921, in Omaha, NE - February 12, 2004) is name-checked on the cover of "Freak Out!" (1966) under the heading "These People Have Contributed Materially In Many Ways To Make Our Music What It Is. Please Do Not Hold It Against Them".

Started playing the saxophone at 15. He was just 22 when he got his big break with the Count Basie Orchestra. In the years to come, the musicians he performed with read like a who's who of jazz and rhythm-and-blues: Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin — and that is only a partial list. Formed Otis-Love band with the rhythm-and-blues drummer Johnny Otis (also name-checked on the cover of "Freak Out!") in 1943. In the early '60s he formed a recording company with Otis, who also played on some of Love's recordings; the two musicians performed together at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1970. Love later returned to Omaha, where he was active as a journalist, teacher, and broadcaster.

PrestonLove.jpg