John Gilmore (28 September or 29 October 1931 in Summit, Mississippi-19 August or 20 August 1995 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player best-known for his long tenure as a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra. Aside from his primary instrument of tenor sax, Gilmore occasionally played bass clarinet and percussion. Gilmore grew up in Chicago and played clarinet from the age of 14. He took up the tenor saxophone while serving in the United States Air Force from 1948-1952, then pursued a musical career, playing briefly with pianist Earl Hines before encountering Sun Ra in 1953. ...show more

John Gilmore (28 September or 29 October 1931 in Summit, Mississippi-19 August or 20 August 1995 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player best-known for his long tenure as a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra. Aside from his primary instrument of tenor sax, Gilmore occasionally played bass clarinet and percussion. Gilmore grew up in Chicago and played clarinet from the age of 14. He took up the tenor saxophone while serving in the United States Air Force from 1948-1952, then pursued a musical career, playing briefly with pianist Earl Hines before encountering Sun Ra in 1953.

For the next four decades, Gilmore recorded and performed almost exclusively with Sun Ra. This was puzzling to some, who noted Gilmore's talent, and thought he could be a major star like John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins. Coltrane, in fact, was impressed with Gilmore's playing, and took informal lessons from him in the late 1950's. Coltrane's epochal, proto-free jazz "Chasin' the Trane" was inspired partly by Gilmore's sound.

In 1957 he co-led with Clifford Jordan a Blue Note date that is regarded as a hard bop classic: Blowing In from Chicago. Horace Silver, Curly Russell, and Art Blakey provided the rhythm section. In the mid-1960s Gilmore toured with the Jazz Messengers and he participated in recording sessions with Paul Bley, Andrew Hill (Andrew! and Compulsion), Pete La Roca (Turkish Women at the Bath), McCoy Tyner (Today and Tomorrow) and a handful of others. In 1970 he co-led a recording with Jamaican trumpeter Dizzy Reece. ...show less