Houston Person, internationally acclaimed tenor saxophonist, grew in Florence, South Carolina. He studied at South Carolina State College and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1999. Person also pursued advanced studies at Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Conn. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, he played with Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton, leo Wright, Don Ellis and Don Menza. After spending two years with Johnny “Hammond” Smith’s band, he launched his solo career in 1961. Person has recorded over 75 albums on the Prestige, Westbound, Mercury, Savoy, and Muse labels, and currently releases under HighNote Records.

He has appeared as a guest artist on the recordings of Etta Jones, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Dakota Staton, Horace Silver, Charles Earland, Johnny Adams, Charles Brown, and many others. In addition, he is much in demand as a record producer, and has produced records by Etta Jones, Freddy Cole, Charles, Brown, Buck Hill, Dakota Staton, and Ernie Andrews, among others.

His 1990 recording, “Something in Common,” with Ron Carter, won the Independent Jazz Record of the Year Award. He received an INDIE Award for his recording, “Why Not?”

After more than two decades of steady performances both in the U.S. and abroad, recording albums and singles, making a large number of concert and dance appearances, radio and TV interviews, he has become firmly established on the contemporary jazz scene.  He was the recipient of the prestigious Eubie Blake Jazz Award on Oct. 7, 1982, and was honoed with “Houston Person/Etta Jones Day” in Hartford County, Maryland, on Sept. 25, 1982 and in Washington, D.C., on Apr. 2, 1983.

In 1993, Person received the Fred Hampton Scholarship Fund Image Award. In March 2003, Person was the honoree for the Paradise Valley Jazz Festival in Scottsdale, Ariz. Together with Etta Jones, Person was awarded the “Jazzy” award from KCSM Radio in San Mateo, Calif.

His “My Romance,” “Soft Lights,” “In A Sentimental Mood,” “Blue Velvet,” and “Sentimental Journey,” all released by HighNote between 1999 and 2001, reached #1 on the GAVIN Jazz Chart and its successor, the Jazzweek Chart, the only national listings for jazz radio airplay.

The recordings “My Buddy: Etta Jones Sings the Songs of Buddy Johnston” and “Etta Jones Sings Lady Day,” both produced by Person himself and featuring his tenor sax performances, were Grammy finalists in the Best Jazz Vocal category in 1999 and 2002 respectively.

Also featured in Person’s HighNote discography is the recording “Dialogues,” with bassist Ron Carter, and “Social Call” and “To Etta with Love,” fitting tributes to his musical partner for the last 35 years. Person’s latest recording for HighNote, “All Soul,” finds his returning to his Boss Tenor roots and the soulful tenor sound he helped define.