Compiled by Michael Weil
First published – May 2021
Pages in this Discography:
Photo by Michael Weil
Norwood “Pony” Poindexter is another case of a talented musician who left for Europe after too many frustrations caused by the American music business. He was born in New Orleans on February 8, 1926, where he studied clarinet in elementary school. He made his debut as a professional musician in 1940 with Sidney Desvigne at the Cave Club in New Orleans. When he was 15 years old his family moved to Oakland where he attended the Candell Conservatory of Music. Things looked bright for him California, where he was a well established, if underrecorded figure, working with local groups, and touring with Billy Eckstine 1947/48 and again in 1950. He joined the Vernon Alley quartet in 1950; it was with this group that Neal Hefti heard him play a phrase Poindexter had picked up from Charlie Parker; Hefti used it as the basis of a composition (Little Pony) for the Count Basie Orchestra, that immortalized the young saxophonist, although today only few remember the story behind Little Pony. Poindexter then toured with Lionel Hampton 1951/52, returned to San Francisco in late 1952 and led his own group at Bop City; Charlie Parker fronted that band for two weeks in 1953. Several years on the West Coast followed, interrupted by military service and and a stay in prison (after a vague drug charge), culminating in a long stay at the Jazz Cellar in San Francisco through most of 1959 and 1960, where he was heard by singer Jon Hendricks. Recording as a sideman with Hendricks and guitarist Wes Montgomery for Pacific Jazz Records in 1959 was his first step to national fame. Joining the accompanying band of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross in the summer of 1961 brought him into contact with Columbia Records, for which the vocal group as well as Hendricks as a solo artist recorded. Producer Teo Macero seemed interested in the soprano saxophone, on which Pony was one of the pioneer players in modern jazz with an individual style before John Coltrane, along with Steve Lacy, Barney Wilen, and Lucky Thompson. He even stayed behind in New York to finish his LP for the label when Lambert, Hendricks & Ross left for a tour of Europe, but had to wait almost two years until the fine all-star sax meeting “Pony’s Express” was finally issued, if only on Columbia’s sublabel Epic. Poindexter suspected the label preferred to promote white soprano sax player Paul Winter, who had just performed at the White House and seemed to promise higher sales figures. After mixed reviews for his subsequent two Prestige LPs – his use of non-jazz material on “Pony Poindexter Plays the Big Ones” was criticized, and only his fellow musicians understood his references to the New Orleans tradition on “Gumbo!” – he moved to Europe where he was well received but often dissatisfied with the level of musicianship. The center of his activities in Europe was Spain (he resided in Ibiza for a while) and Germany (Mannheim, from 1977), where he published his memoirs in 1985.
Unfortunately poor health after suffering a stroke in October 1979 forced him to quit saxophone playing during the last years of his life, he worked as a singer whenever he could, but was hardly able to sustain himself and died in a state of poverty in Oakland, California on April 14, 1988.
His three Epic and Prestige LPs and his recordings with Bev Kelly, Wes Montgomery and Jon Hendricks et al. are still worth hearing, giving evidence of a personal and fluid modern style on alto and soprano saxophone, and he will be remembered as an inspirational figure in European jazz circles – he gave private lessons to a number of saxophonists still on the scene. His memoirs paint a vivid picture of the scene he was part of and tell of his ambitions and frustrations, his many experiences with racial discrimination, as well his abuse of drugs and alcohol, but as far as dates are concerned it seems his recollections are not always accurate. Some of them are astoundingly precise, others contradict other discographical info by a year or two.
Sources for this discography:
- My own record collection
- Norwood ‘Pony’ Poindexter: The Pony Express – Memoirs of a Jazz Musician. Frankfurt, Germany: JAS Publikationen, 1985
- John Broven: Saunders King Discography (Booklet of ace CD 865, 2002)
- Michel Ruppli: The Prestige Label. A Discography. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1980
- Walter Bruyninckx: 60 Years Of Recorded Jazz. Mechelen, Belgium 1980
- Tom Lord: The Jazz Discography Online
- All Music
- Discogs
- Pony Poindexter’s Soprano Summit – facebook page of Poindexter’s son
- André Condouant’s website on Poindexter
While Poindexter’s memoirs are an indispensable source for his biography and discography, the dates he reports have to be taken with some care. Sometimes he remembers exact dates (like the tv show with Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan in California or his departure for Europe), sometimes his memory seems to fail him and he is off by months or even a year. I have tried to verify the chronology of things as good as possible. I have included some unissued sessions, some of which probably never took place but were nevertheless scheduled, and a few links to performances available as video files, to give a complete overview of Poindexter’s musical activities, which are underrepresented on disc.
Any additions and corrections are welcome, send to: mikeweildiscographer@gmx.de