Doyle, Arthur

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Doyle, Arthur

Doyle, Arthur, free-jazz tenor saxophonist, bassclarinetist, flutist; b. Birmingham, Ala., June 26, 1944. He began playing music at the age of 13. After attending Parker H.S., in Birmingham, he went to Term. State Univ. in Nashville, where he studied composition with Dr. T. J. Anderson. He played local engagements with former Sun Ra trumpeter Walter Miller, and with trumpeter Louis Smith in Nashville. In 1967 he moved to N.Y and worked with N. Howard, B. Dixon, D. Burrell, andM. Graves. He continued to play and record sporadically until the early 1990s when Thurston Moore, guitarist with the rock band Sonic Youth, befriended him. This led to several albums on Moore’s label and new attention directed to Doyle. He currently lives and teaches in Binghamton, N.Y. Most of his playing is in a free-jazz style, emphasizing offbeat instrumental sounds (often combined with vocalizations) and unplanned improvisations.

Discography

Plays More Alabama Feeling (1990); The Songwriter (1994); Plays and Sings from the Songbook, Vol. I (1995); Live at the Cooler (1995).

—Lewis Porter