Rusty Bryant born 25 November 1929

Royal G. "Rusty" Bryant (November 25, 1929 – March 25, 1991) was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist. He rarely played outside of his Columbus, Ohio, home, travelling to New York only occasionally to record. That probably explains why he's not better known today.

Bryant was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and grew up in

Columbus, Ohio, becoming a fixture of the local jazz scene playing a robust, wailing tenor sax inspired by the likes of Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt.

 He worked with Tiny Grimes and Stomp Gordon before founding his own ensemble, the Carolyn Club Band, in 1951. He signed with Dot Records in 1954 and released several albums as a leader in the second half of the 1950s. In 1952, his live recording "All Nite Long" (a faster version of "Night Train") became a hit R&B single in the U.S.

                              

Bryant's contract with Dot ended in 1957, and he returned to Columbus to do mostly local engagements, playing often with pianist-organist Hank Marr. Nancy Wilson also sang in his group. It wasn't until his appearance on the 1968 Groove Holmes album That Healin' Feelin' that he resurfaced beyond regional acclaim.

Soon after he began leading dates for Prestige Records, beginning with 1969's Rusty Bryant Returns, an anomaly where he played a Lou Donaldson-inspired, sometimes-electrified alto. His next few albums -- including Night Train Now!, Soul Liberation, Fire Eater, and Wildfire -- successfully updated his sound for the times, and became cult classics among acid jazz aficionados for their strong, funky grooves.

He recorded extensively for the label from 1969 through the middle

of the 1970s, being a sideman with Ivan "Boogaloo Joe" Jones, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Charles Kynard, and Sonny Phillips; his 1970 release Soul Liberation was his most commercially successful, reaching No. 35 on the U.S. Black Albums chart and No. 15 on the Top Jazz Albums chart. Bryant continued to record into the early 1980s, then returned to mostly local dates in Columbus.

Toward the end of his life, Rusty founded a program bringing instruments into local prisons, teaching music to the inmates as well, and accomplishing his pivotal role in founding the Music in the Air series through the City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Division. Rusty was an active participant in the “Listen For The Jazz” project and its associated Jams and performances, and he continued to record and play with local and national artists until his death on March 25, 1991 due to complications of diabetes.

Rusty loved to tell stories and told of sneaking into the front seats

at the Palace Theatre and watching the orchestra; he said you could smell the polish and see the flash of the horns, he knew what he wanted to do. Appropriately, when Rusty passed a memorial Jam was held and artists from all over the world came. Included in those in attendance was Grover Washington, who as a youth had spent some time living in Columbus and who said he used to sneak into the alleys behind clubs where Rusty would play on the Near East Side and listen. He claimed Rusty to be one of his largest influences.

Rusty Bryant was the father of Eric Royal Bryant and pop singer Stevie Woods, the latter having a moderately successful recording career in the early 1980s with the top 40 hit songs "Steal the Night" and "Just Can't Win 'Em All." Rusty was the grandfather of Tiana Woods, an L.A. based singer/songwriter and front woman for the band "Living Eulogy."

Though they resemble and share the same surname, Rusty Bryant and jazz pianist Ray Bryant are not related.

(Edited from Wikipedia , AllMusic & Ragazine.cc)