{{Short description|American jazz bassist (1939–2013)}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Butch Warren | image = Butch Warren (cropped).jpg | caption = Butch Warren in 2009 | birth_name = Edward Rudolph Warren Jr. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|8|9}} | birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2013|10|5 |1939|9|8 |mf=yes}} | death_place = Silver Spring, Maryland | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician | instrument = Double bass | years_active = 1953–2013 | label = Blue Note }}

'''Edward Rudolph''' "'''Butch'''" '''Warren Jr.''' (August 9, 1939 &ndash; October 5, 2013) was an American jazz bassist who was active during the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name="Fisher">{{cite news |last1=Fisher |first1=Marc |title=Edward 'Butch' Warren, Washington-born bassist, dies at 74 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/edward-butch-warren-washington-born-bassist-dies-at-74/2013/10/06/89a11a2e-2eb0-11e3-bbed-a8a60c601153_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |accessdate=6 June 2018 |date=6 October 2013}}</ref>

==Biography== Warren's mother was a typist at the CIA. His father, Edward Sr., was an electronics technician who played piano and organ part-time in clubs in Washington, D.C; his uncle, Quentin &mdash; actually the same age as Butch &mdash; played guitar. The Warren home was often visited by jazz musicians Billy Hart, Jimmy Smith, and Stuff Smith. The first time Butch Warren played bass was at home on an instrument left by Billy Taylor, who had played bass for Duke Ellington. Warren cited Jimmy Blanton, the innovative and virtuoso bassist with Ellington from 1939 to 1941, as his biggest inspiration.<ref name="Russonello">{{cite web |last1=Russonello |first1=Giovanni |title=Butch Warren: To Hell & Back - JazzTimes |url=https://jazztimes.com/departments/overdue-ovation/butch-warren-to-hell-back/ |website=JazzTimes |accessdate=6 June 2018 |date=17 April 2012}}</ref>

Warren began playing professionally at age 14 in a Washington, D.C. band led by his father. He later worked with other local groups, including that of Stuff Smith, as well as with altoist and bandleader Rick Henderson at the Howard Theatre.<ref name="Quick">{{cite web |last1=Quick |first1=Erik R. |title=Butch Warren |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/butch-warren-butch-warren-by-erik-r-quick |website=All About Jazz |access-date=6 June 2018 |date=21 July 2006}}</ref><ref name="Decades">{{cite news |last1=Fisher |first1=Marc |title=Decades of Discord Lie Between a Man and His Music |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/20/AR2006052001226.html |newspaper=Washington Post |accessdate=6 June 2018 |date=21 May 2006}}</ref>

When he was 19, he sat in with Kenny Dorham to substitute for an absent bassist. A few days later, Dorham invited him to New York City, where he spent the next six months as a sideman at a club in Brooklyn.<ref name="Russonello" /> He appeared on his first recording in January 1960 with Dorham, saxophonist Charles Davis, pianist Tommy Flanagan, and drummer Buddy Enlow.<ref name="Quick"/> Through his friendship with Sonny Clark, he recorded for Blue Note Records in 1961 on Clark's album ''Leapin' and Lopin{{'}}''. Alfred Lion, producer at Blue Note, hired Warren to fill the vacancy of staff bassist. During this job he played on "Watermelon Man" with Herbie Hancock.<ref name="Russonello" /> As sideman, he also recorded with Miles Davis, Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Jackie McLean, and Stanley Turrentine.<ref name="Decades" />

Mental illness and heroin addiction created problems for Warren. In 1963, his friend Sonny Clark died of an overdose. Months later, Thelonious Monk hired the 23-year-old Warren. Monk's band was surrounded by drugs and Warren quit after a yearlong tour. Moving back to D.C., he admitted himself to St. Elizabeths Hospital.<ref name="Russonello" /> He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.<ref name="Keepnews">{{cite web |last1=Keepnews |first1=Peter |title=Butch Warren, 74, Prominent Jazz Bassist, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/arts/music/butch-warren-74-prominent-jazz-bassist-dies.html |website=The New York Times |accessdate=6 June 2018 |date=23 October 2013}}</ref>

Following the onset of his illness he played professionally only occasionally, including a regular gig at the jazz club Columbia Station in Washington D.C.<ref name="Back">{{cite news |last1=Fisher |first1=Marc |title=Butch is Back: A Jazz Legend Resurfaces - Raw Fisher |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/07/butch_is_back_a_jazz_legend_re.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112123203/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/07/butch_is_back_a_jazz_legend_re.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=6 June 2018 |date=26 July 2007}}</ref>

His only solo effort was captured on "Butch's Blues" but he was better known as a sideman on many albums, including Dexter Gordon's ''Go''.<ref name="Yanow">{{cite web |last1=Yanow |first1=Scott |title=Butch Warren|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/butch-warren-mn0000939322/biography |website=AllMusic |accessdate=6 June 2018}}</ref>

He died of lung cancer in Silver Spring, Maryland at the age of 74.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/edward-butch-warren-washington-born-bassist-dies-at-74/2013/10/06/89a11a2e-2eb0-11e3-bbed-a8a60c601153_story.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008071311/http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/edward-butch-warren-washington-born-bassist-dies-at-74/2013/10/06/89a11a2e-2eb0-11e3-bbed-a8a60c601153_story.html |archive-date=2013-10-08 |title=Edward 'Butch' Warren, Washington-born bassist, dies at 74 - The Washington Post|newspaper=The Washington Post }}</ref>

==Discography== ===As leader=== *2011: ''Butch Warren French Quintet'' - with Pierrick Menuau (saxophone), Pierre Christophe (piano), Mourad Benhammou (drums) and Jean Philippe Bordier (guitar)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amja-productions.fr|title=Amja - Chanson et Jazz|first=Erwin Aligam -|last=styleshout.com|website=www.amja-productions.fr}}</ref> *2021: ''Butch Warren & Freddie Redd: Baltimore Jazz Loft''- with Matt Wilson (drums) and Brad Linde (tenor saxophone) Bleebop Records (recorded 2013)

===As sideman=== '''With Donald Byrd''' *1961: ''Royal Flush'' *1961: ''Free Form'' *1963: ''A New Perspective''

'''With Kenny Dorham''' *1960: ''The Kenny Dorham Memorial Album'' *1960: ''Jazz Contemporary'' *1963: ''Una Mas''

'''With Dexter Gordon''' *1962: ''Go'' *1962: ''A Swingin' Affair''

'''With Jackie McLean''' *1959: ''Vertigo'' *1961: ''A Fickle Sonance'' *1962: ''Tippin' the Scales'' *1967: ''Hipnosis''

'''With Hank Mobley''' *1963: ''No Room for Squares'' *1963: ''The Turnaround'' *1963: ''Straight No Filter''

'''With Thelonious Monk''' *1963: ''Miles & Monk at Newport'' *1963: ''Big Band and Quartet in Concert'' *1963: ''Monk in Tokyo'' *1964: ''It's Monk's Time''

'''With others''' * 1961: ''Leapin' and Lopin''' – Sonny Clark * 1961: ''High Hope!'' – Elmo Hope * 1962: ''Takin' Off'' – Herbie Hancock * 1962: ''Preach Brother!'' – Don Wilkerson * 1962: ''Jubilee Shout!!!'' – Stanley Turrentine * 1962: ''Feelin' the Spirit'' – Grant Green * 1962: ''Exodus'' – Slide Hampton * 1963: ''Happy Frame of Mind'' – Horace Parlan * 1963: ''Exultation!'' – Booker Ervin * 1963: ''Page One'' – Joe Henderson * 1964: ''Holiday Soul'' – Bobby Timmons * 1965: ''The Walter Bishop Jr. Trio / 1965'' – Walter Bishop, Jr.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120128132110/http://butchwarren.com/ Official site archived] *{{IMDb name|0912754}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Butch}} Category:1939 births Category:2013 deaths Category:American jazz double-bassists Category:American male double-bassists Category:Bebop double-bassists Category:Musicians from Washington, D.C. Category:People with schizophrenia Category:American male jazz musicians Category:20th-century American double-bassists Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:21st-century American double-bassists Category:21st-century American male musicians Category:Deaths from lung cancer in Maryland