Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known professionally by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flautist and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (including bass clarinet), but Mann was among the first jazz musicians to specialize on the flute.
Herbie Mann was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents who were of Russian and Romanian descent. Both of his parents were dancers and singers, as well as dance instructors later in life. Mann's childhood passion for rhythm found noisy expression on sundry household utensils. This interest would later resurface in his explorations of African and Latin music but, when Mann was nine, his mother redirected his nascent talent by taking him to a Benny Goodman concert near their home.. That experience turned Mann on to playing the clarinet though by the age of 14, when he began his first professional engagements, he had switched to tenor saxophone.
A four-year stint with the US Army in Trieste, Italy, saw him honing his musical skills with the 98th Army Band. When he left the military, he struggled to find his own voice and felt thwarted by a surfeit of similar-sounding competitors. Prompted by an offer of session work as a flautist with a then unknown Carmen McRae, he took up the flute, eventually becoming the first jazz musician to establish his career performing almost exclusively on this perennially unfashionable instrument.
His first album, Herbie Mann Plays (1954), was conventional bebop, but he soon developed a tougher sound which would suit his growing interest in other areas such as Afro-Cuban music. By 1957, he had his first hit with "The Evolution of Mann". Two years later he formed the ground-breaking Afro-Jazz Sextet, which toured 15 African countries in 1960 on a quest for connections with the roots of the music they were exploring. Soon after, Mann initiated an enduring on-off love affair with Brazil and its music. He first toured there in 1961 and became enchanted by the bossa nova movement, later describing this period as the seminal musical experience of his life.
The following year yielded the best-selling album Herbie Mann at the Village Gate and his biggest hit, "Comin' Home Baby". Still hooked on bossa, he returned to Brazil, recording with the likes of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sergio Mendes and Baden Powell. By the mid 60’s the bossa craze had subsided in the face of world domination by the Beatles. Mann then turned his attention to Middle Eastern music, and the end of that decade found him toying with rock and even R&B flavours.
His 1969 album Memphis Underground captures him at the peak of his popularity and is considered a landmark in soul-jazz fusion. It featured such talents as Roy Ayers, Larry Coryell, Sonny Sharrock and the Weather Report bassist Miroslav Vitous and set the tone for his 1970s experiments in rock and funk with his band the Family of Mann.
Mann's penchant for rock first surfaced on the controversial album Push Push (1971), which included a guest appearance by the Southern rock luminary Duane Allman. In 1974, he called on the services of Stéphane Grappelli and Mick Taylor to play on London Underground, a covers album of songs by the likes of Eric Clapton, Traffic and the Rolling Stones. Mann's mid- and late-Seventies albums showcased subsequent forays into disco and reggae, only reaffirming the populist nature of his work, which often reflected contemporary musical fashions. He recorded three disco albums which brought him the Top Ten hit "High Jack", but further alienated what was left of his jazz following.
In 1989, Mann had relocated from his native New York to Pecos, near Santa Fe, and he would spend the autumn of his life in New Mexico.In 1992 he formed his own label Kokopelli Music as an outlet for himself and other disenfranchised jazz artists. In a significant return to form during 1995, Mann recorded the entirely jazz-based Peace Pieces in tribute to the music of Bill Evans, and celebrated his 65th birthday in grand style with a residency at the infamous Blue Note club in New York.
Mann was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer in 1997 and began the long battle that would eventually claim his life. He nevertheless continued writing music for his new group, Sona Terra, which finally reflected his Jewish roots and featured his younger son Geoff on drums. Possessed of a legendary energy, he concluded his working days with them. In a career spanning half a century he had recorded over 100 albums as leader.
(Edited mainly from a Jon Lusk article @The Independent)