# Terry Pollard: Detroit Legend – there are unreleased tapes: Videos, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2018/03/16/terry-pollard-detroit-legend-there-are-unreleased-tapes-videos-photos/
- Published: 2018-03-16T10:35:49+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Somewhere out there in the Detroit region there are unreleased tapes of Terry 
Pollard. The accomplished female pianist and vibraphonist recorded only one studio
album as a leader.**

Terry Pollard was recorded for Bethlehem in Los Angeles in January 1955. She began
her recording career in the early 1950s in Billy Mitchell’s Detroit quintet. Then
thanks to the keen eyes and ears of vibraphonist and bandleader Terry Gibbs, she
joined his band and recorded seven albums with him from 1953 to 1956. She also appeared
on TV with him that year. In 1958, Pollard retired from her music career to raise
a family but in the years that followed she led a trio at Detroit’s Hobby Bar and
performed with touring artists.

**Album-cover photo above by Herman Leonard Photography**

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 9.29.15 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 9.29.15 PM⌉[
 Someone must
have tapes of her playing at the Hobby Bar. Hopefully label gumshoes who specialize
in unearthing such unreleased gems will find recordings by Pollard, who is woefully
undocumented. For now, Fresh Sound has just remastered in mono (24 bit) Pollard’s
Bethlehem leadership album as well as select recordings as a sidewoman.

[⌊CS679066-01A-BIG⌉⌊CS679066-01A-BIG⌉[
 Chronologically, this Fresh Sound album 
begins with _Blue Room_, which Pollard recorded with Billy Mitchell (ts), Thad Jones(
tp), Pollard (p,vib), Alvin Jackson (b) and Elvin Jones (d). Then comes _It Could
Happen to You_ and _Stompin’ at the Savoy_ from Dick Garcia’s _A Message From Garcia,_
featuring Gene Quill (as), Pollard (p), Garcia (g), Bill Anthony (b) and Frank Isola(
d).

[⌊Terrypollardcd2⌉⌊Terrypollardcd2⌉[
 The next eight tracks are from _Terry Pollard_
on Bethlehem from January 1955, featuring Don Fagerquist (tp), Pollard (p), Howard
Roberts (g), Herman Wright (b) and Frank DeVito (d). The cover, above, featured 
only a series of blurry lights, which I suppose allowed buyers to think Pollard 
was a white male, which was more marketable than an African-American woman. The 
back did not include a photo either.

[⌊R-3364106-1327601638.jpeg⌉⌊R-3364106-1327601638.jpeg⌉[
 There are four tracks 
by Pollard from _Terry Gibbs_ for EmArcy in September 1955, featuring Gibbs (vib,
p), Pollard (p), Herman Wright (b) and Bert Dahlander (d) playing _Pretty Face, 
Nutty Notes, Lonely Dreams_ and _Dicky’s Dream_.

[⌊Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 9.35.38 PM⌉⌊Screen Shot 2018-03-13 at 9.35.38 PM⌉[
 And finally,
three from Gibbs’s _Mallets-a-Plenty_ recorded in June 1956, with Gibbs (vib), Pollard(
p), Herman Wright (b) and Jerry Segal (d). The tracks are _Then It Happens, I’ll
Remember April_and _Mean to Me_.

Every track on this Fresh Sound release is a joy, and the remastering makes the 
album a must own. Pollard, Hazel Scott and Marian McPartland were queens of the 
jazz piano in the 1950s. Pollard also was vibes royalty. As for Mary Lou Williams,
she was in a league of her own.

Terry Pollard died in 2009.

![A-detroit-jazz-legend](http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b7c95813f8970b-
500wi)

How remarkable was Terry Pollard? She is with monster vibist Terry Gibbs, Herman
Wright (b) and Jerry Segal (d) playing two songs on the _Tonight Show with Steve
Allen_in 1956…

Pollard with lyrical trumpeter Don Fagerquist playing Pollard’s own great _Fedj._..

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