Tyrone Hill

Trombonist Tyrone Hill earned lasting recognition through a thirty-year association with cosmic jazz pioneer Sun Ra’s Arkestra. He entered the world in north Philadelphia during 1949 and first handled the trombone while enrolled in his middle-school ensemble. Living near emerging jazz figures such as John Coltrane, Odean Pope, and Middie Middleton, he also sang harmony in a neighborhood doo-wop ensemble. Following four years of trombone instruction at the Combs School of Music, he joined the Uptown Theatre Orchestra, backing a range of visiting acts that stretched from Smokey Robinson & the Miracles to James Brown. An audition for Sun Ra took place in 1969, yet only a few performances with the Arkestra occurred before he signed on as musical director for Philly soul hitmaker Billy Paul in 1971. Eight years of touring and recording with Paul preceded Hill’s return to Philadelphia and a permanent reinstatement in the Arkestra. More than three dozen Sun Ra albums subsequently featured his playing, and he remained with the ensemble after the leader’s 1993 departure from the terrestrial plane. His debut solo recording, Out of the Box, appeared on the Creative Improvised Music Projects label in 1997, with the follow-up Soul-Etude issued two years afterward. Hill left the planet on March 11, 2007, aged 58.