Abdul Wadud

An outstanding cellist, Abdul Wadud concentrated solely on the instrument from the age of nine, and never decided to double on bass. His plucking and bowed solos were featured in jazz and symphonic/classical settings, and he was easily the finest cellist to emerge from the 1960s and '70s generation. Wadud studied at Youngstown State and Oberlin in the late '60s and early '70s. He played in the Black Unity Trio at Oberlin and met Julius Hemphill; the two subsequently worked together well through the '80s. Wadud played in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in the '70s, and earned...