Oscar Pettiford was an American jazz double bassist, cellist, and composer born on September 30, 1922, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Of Choctaw, Cherokee, and African American heritage, he became one of the most important bassists in modern jazz, helping to establish the instrument as a solo voice in bebop alongside his contemporary Charles Mingus. Pettiford was among the first to use the cello as a jazz instrument, tuning it in fourths like a bass. As a composer, he wrote pieces that became enduring fixtures of the modern jazz repertoire, including Tricotism, Bohemia After Dark, Laverne Walk, and Blues in the Closet. His compositions Swingin' Till the Girls Come Home and Max Making Wax are both featured on AllSolos. Pettiford led his own groups and orchestras throughout the 1950s, producing recordings that incorporated advanced harmonic ideas and third-stream elements. He worked with Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, and Max Roach. In 1958 he relocated to Europe, settling in Copenhagen. He died on September 8, 1960, at the age of thirty-seven.
