John Stubblefield (1945–2005)

John Stubblefield was one of the most highly respected jazz saxophonists of his generation. He played with legendary musicians across the jazz spectrum and left a legacy of quality studio work over more than three decades as a bandleader, studio musician, and go-to saxophonist for live performances and tours. He was inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998 and, posthumously, into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2007.

John Stubblefield was born on February 4, 1945, in Little Rock (Pulaski County), one of three children of John and Mable (Bember) Stubblefield. His father served in the U.S. Navy during World War II but was injured and honorably discharged; back in Little Rock, he worked as a diesel mechanic at Dewey Burk Machine Works.

Stubblefield began studying piano after becoming interested in music while attending his church with his mother. At the suggestion of his fourth-grade teacher, Stubblefield’s parents enrolled him in piano lessons with local teacher Edna Douglas, who had been trained at the Chicago Conservatory. Upon entering junior high school, Stubblefield changed his focus to the tenor saxophone but continued to be influenced by church music, as well as by jazz tenor saxophonist Don Byas, who was married to the aunt of a classmate. His mother initially discouraged his interest in secular music, or the “devil’s music,” as she called it, but he continue his studies in music at Dunbar Junior High School and Horace Mann Senior High School.

His first professional work came while still in high school, playing at clubs in the predominately black West Ninth Street area in Little Rock, often sitting in with blues, R&B, and jazz musicians passing through town. He later toured the South and Midwest with various R&B bands, performing alongside such artists as The Drifters, Little Junior Parker, Solomon Burke, O. V. Wright, and Jackie Wilson. In 1963, Stubblefield worked as a studio musician at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, earning his first recording credit at age seventeen with the R&B group York Wilburn & the Thrillers.

He next spent a year on the road with soul singer Solomon Burke before enrolling at what is now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) to study music on scholarship. While there, he led a jazz combo and established his pattern of playing with many musicians in a variety of styles, from gospel to modern jazz, in addition to picking up woodwind instruments. In 1967, he won the Outstanding Soloist Award at the Little Rock Intercollegiate Jazz Festival. That same year, he received his BS in music in 1967, after which Stubblefield relocated to Chicago, Illinois, and joined the avant-garde jazz collective the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

A year later, he played on Joseph Jarman’s album As If It Were the Seasons. Stubblefield studied with AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams and the accomplished be-bop and hard bop saxophonist George Coleman Jr. While in Chicago, Stubblefield taught music in public schools and at the AACM School of Music. He also recorded for Delmark Records with fellow AACM members Maurice McIntyre and Joseph Jarman while also leading his own assemblies. Stubblefield also continued his academic music training at Vandercook College in Chicago and at the University of Indiana in Bloomington. In 1969, a group Stubblefield had formed, The New Directions, was commissioned by the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) to tour England, Russia, and the Middle East.

Stubblefield moved to New York City in 1971, where he continued his work in the modern and avant-garde jazz scenes. That same year, he married Sharon Seabury, with whom he had one son, John Stubblefield V. They divorced in 1978.

He played with Charles Mingus soon after arriving in New York City, but after a falling out over personal matters, Mingus used his influence to make it difficult for Stubblefield to find work for a time. Over the next decade, Stubblefield played alongside such jazz giants as Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Mary Lou Williams, and fellow AACM alumnus Lester Bowie on international tours and at major festivals including the Montreux Jazz Festival. Stubblefield recorded at New York’s Town Hall with another former member of AACM, free jazz innovator Anthony Braxton. He also played with legendary Latin jazz performer and band leader Tito Puente, as well as Kenny Baron, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, and the World Saxophone Quartet. He also toured internationally, worked on Broadway productions, and collaborated with such artists as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, and Latin music icon Tito Puente. He won the Down Beat Critics’ Poll for “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” in 1973, 1976, and 1978.

Stubblefield’s first album as a band leader was Prelude, recorded in 1976. Before joining the Mingus Big Band, Stubblefield went on to record several other albums as a band leader, including Midnight over Memphis (1979), Midnight Sun (1980), Confessin’ (1985), Bushman Song (1986), Countin’ on the Blues (1987), Sophisticated Funk (1990), and Morning Song (1995). Stubblefield also taught music and participated as an instructor in the Jazzmobile program, a pioneering jazz education organization established in New York City in 1964.

Stubblefield was described by fellow musicians to be a “preacher” as a soloist because of his deeply emotional style. Although his main instrument was tenor saxophone, he was also a respected soprano saxophonist. Stubblefield was sought after by traditional jazz, avant-garde, and big band groups. He formed his own quartet in 1980, featuring a rotating lineup of top-tier musicians such as Albert Dailey, Cecil McBee, Victor Lewis, Mulgrew Miller, Marvin Smitty Smith, Mike Nock, George Cables, Keith Copeland, and Clint Houston. He also toured with George Russell, Louis Hates, Kenny Barron, and the World Saxophone Quartet. In 1983, Stubblefield served as the jazz ensemble director at Rutgers University, leading the ensemble to win, for the first time, the Notre Dame Intercollegiate Jazz Festival.

In 1989, Stubblefield’s college group, The New Directions, held a reunion concert at the University of Arkansas. On April 25, 1997, he returned as a guest artist for the annual Founder’s Day Celebration at UAPB. In March 2003, he paid tribute to music critic Robert Palmer at a public performance at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Stubblefield was instrumental in preserving the legacy of renowned bassist and composer Charles Mingus, despite their professional differences earlier in his career. After Mingus’s death, his widow, Sue Mingus, founded a big band in Mingus’s honor. Stubblefield led the Mingus Big Band for over thirteen years and was one of the only members who had actually played with Mingus. He proved to be a dedicated band leader and steward of the Mingus legacy, once leaving his hospital bed toward the end of his life to conduct the band from his wheelchair to record three of his arrangements for the album I Am Three in October 2004.

Stubblefield died of prostate cancer on July 4, 2005. President Bill Clinton was among the many friends, fellow musicians, and fans who visited him in the hospital before his death. A private burial took place in Little Rock for Stubblefield on July 14, 2005, followed by a memorial service at Greater Center Star Baptist Church the next day. In September 2005, another memorial service was held at St. Peter’s Church in New York, which was attended by scores of musicians and included three hours of musical tributes.

For additional information:
“John Stubblefield.” AllMusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-stubblefield-mn0000230136 (accessed June 24, 2022).

“John Stubblefield: Jazz Saxophonist Who Played with the Greats.” The Guardian, August 17, 2005.

John Stubblefield Papers (MC 1845). Special Collections. University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Finding aid online at https://uark.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/1246 (accessed September 10, 2024).

“John Stubblefield, 60, Saxophonist Who Worked with Jazz’s Best, Dies.” New York Times, July 11, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/arts/music/11stubblefield.html?_r=0 (accessed June 24, 2022).

John Stubblefield Papers. Special Collections. University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Finding aid online at https://uark.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/1246 (accessed June 24, 2022).

Lewis, George. A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Pattillo, Joyce S. Yours Truly, John: A Memoir. N.p.: Nandina Books, 2024.

Stokes, W. Royal. Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Joshua Cobbs Youngblood
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Joyce S. Pattillo
Little Rock, Arkansas