Lee recorded three critically acclaimed albums at the Black independent label
Strata-East Records: (1) The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe: A Spirit Speaks; (2) The Brass Company: Colors, in collaboration with his two sisters; and (3) The New York Bass Violin Choir, a collaboration of seven basses, which JazzdaGama described as "a true Holy Grail for all musicians," and which Lee classified as one of his "narrative folk, jazz operas" along with "One Mile East," both of which were inspired by memories of the former slave quarters near his childhood home.[1][2][4][5][6] Stagings at New York City's
Central Park,
Lincoln Center and
Newport Jazz Festival followed all of these recordings.[7]
Trumpeter
Theo Croker called Lee "... [O]ne of the great American composers of our time. His harmonic beauty was unique and his choice of melody always struck a chord inside of the listener. He was a masterful orchestrator of imagery."[4] In 2008, The New York Times noted that "His music has the complex harmonies of
bebop and hard bop, but it also has a sincere, down-home, churchy feel. His passages move to interesting and unexpected places, but they resolve before long in a way that is simple and sincere, earthy and somehow very satisfying."[8]
Lee's childhood was described by Strata-East co-founder Charles Tolliver as "the personification of the Black musicians' experience after Reconstruction."[4] One of seven musical siblings born in
Snow Hill, Alabama, in 1928, Lee was the son of Arnold Wadsworth Lee, a
cornet player and band director at Florida A&M University, and Alberta Grace (née Edwards), a concert pianist. "My learning in music started with my mother and father," Lee said.[2][6][7]
A 1951 graduate of the historically Black
Morehouse College in Atlanta, Lee "discovered the bebop recordings of Charlie Parker," which led to him "master[ing] the double bass, the largest and lowest-pitched stringed instrument, and performing with small jazz groups in Atlanta and Chicago before migrating to New York City in 1959".[2][9]
A sideman for some of the most famous names in music, Lee was also often the only other musician performing, including on the original release of Dylan's 1965 classic "
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and on
Gordon Lightfoot's "
Oh, Linda" from the prize-winning 1964 eponymous album.[10][11] Other musical collaborators included:[3]
The New York Bass Violin Choir - The New York Bass Violin Choir (Strata-East)
Mike Bloomfield: From His Head to His Heart to His Hands (Sony Legacy, 2014) Bill plays on "I'm a County Boy", "Judge, Judge", and "Hammond's Rag" from a 1964 audition for John Hammond at Columbia Records.
Personal life
In 1954, Lee married Jacqueline ("Jackie") Shelton, an art teacher, the same year she graduated from Atlanta's historically Black
Spelman College.[18][19] Together, they had five children: film director
Spike Lee (b. 1957), Christopher (b. 1959, d. 2014),[20] still photographer
David Lee (b. 1961), screenwriter and actress
Joie Lee (b. 1962), and filmmaker
Cinqué Lee (b. 1966). In 1959, the family moved to
Fort Greene, Brooklyn.[2]
In 1976, Jackie died of cancer, and Susan Kaplan, whom Lee later married, moved in.[2] They are the parents of alto saxophone player Arnold ("T@NE") Lee (b. 1985).[21][22] Spike Lee had a negative public reaction to his father's new relationship, and has been quoted as saying, "My mother wasn't even cold in her grave." Hard feelings between the two intensified after Spike Lee released Jungle Fever, a film about the beginning and end of an extramarital
interracial relationship, which was interpreted as a judgment on Lee and Kaplan's relationship, given the latter's race.[23]
On October 25, 1991, Lee was arrested for carrying a small bag of heroin during a police drug sweep of a park near his home.[24] Although the case was dismissed, Lee would later say of his arrest, "'I'm glad I was arrested. It woke me up.... Dope was not part of my life until I was 40 years old,' which means he started getting involved with heroin ... around the time his wife was dying of cancer."[7][23][25] Soon after, however, Lee and Spike Lee had a falling out.[7] In 1994, the elder Lee said they had not spoken in two years.[25]
On May 24, 2023, Lee died at his home in Fort Greene. He was 94.[2]