Teddy Edwards

Saxophonist Teddy Edwards was born in Jackson, Mississippi on April 26, 1924. His grandfather and other family members were leading local musicians, and Teddy began playing the alto sax as a youth. By age 12 he had played in some professional settings himself. As a teenager he went to Detroit to live with an uncle and began participating in the vital Motor City scene. In his development, he forged connections with many young jazz artists, among others notably Wardell Gray with whom he became a close friend.

Edwards toured with R&B and jazz bands and ended up in Los Angeles in 1945. There he teamed up with Howard McGhee and switched to tenor sax. With his sophisticated harmonic sense and free flowing sound, Edwards became a leading figure in the early bebop days on the West Coast. He was a key member of the Central Avenue scene, participating in duels with Dexter Gordon and Wardell and making notable records such as “Blues In Teddy’s Flat”.

Prominent on the West Coast, Edwards was one of the original Lighthouse All Stars and an early choice to be in the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. By the late fifties and sixties, he recorded notable LPs with compatriots such as McGhee, Leroy Vinnegar and Gerald Wilson for the World Pacific, Contemporary, and Prestige labels (“It’s All Right”).

An accomplished arranger, Edwards wrote for brass and string ensembles and contributed to many projects. Additionally, he was an important accompanist for vocalists such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Helen Humes, King Pleasure and numerous others.

Edwards never ventured to the major New York limelight, but he was an important and influential figure in Los Angeles. In later years he spent time in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, where he enjoyed admiration and popularity. Edwards gained some publicity in the popular field when he toured regularly with Tom Waits for a time in the 1980s..

Edwards had a powerful and pulsating sound on the sax, always tinged with emotional warmth and insight.

I always liked this encomium to Edwards from Tom Waits: “He can sound like a train, or he can sound like he's drinking champagne on that same train."

Edwards had various health problems in later life, and he died of cancer at the age of 78 in 2003.

originally broadcast April 19, 2026