b. 6 April 1924, Washington, DC, USA, d. 30 November 1988, Seattle, Washington, USA. After learning to play clarinet, Rouse took up the tenor saxophone; by the end of his teens he was proficient enough to be hired by Billy Eckstine for his bebop-orientated big band. Thereafter, Rouse played with Dizzy Gillespie, Tadd Dameron and Fats Navarro. At the end of the 40s he worked in an R&B band but also subbed with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. In the early 50s he played and recorded with a number of important small groups, including those led by Clifford Brown, Art Farmer, Paul Quinichette and Oscar Pettiford. In the second half of the decade he co-led Les Jazz Modes with Julius Watkins, was briefly with Buddy Rich and the Gerry Mulligan Concert Band and then, at the end of 1958, began a long and fruitful association with Thelonious Monk that lasted until 1970.

Listen to CHARLIE ROUSE at Finetune.

• (1961)  Unsung Hero

• Meci Bon Dieu
• Stella By Starlight
• I Should Care
• Billy's Blues
• (There Is) No Greater Love

• Thelonious Monk
• Kenny Barron
• Gene Ammons
• Donald Byrd
• Thievery Corporation
• Lee Morgan
• Miles Davis
• Bebel Gilberto
• Fila Brazillia
• Dexter Gordon
• James Moody And His Bop Men With Art Blakey
• Herbie Hancock
• Sonny Rollins
• Curtis Fuller
• Jazzanova
• Sonny Criss
• Art Pepper
• Clifford Brown
• Astrud Gilberto
• Blue Six

• eddielin11