Willie Dennis (née William DeBerardinis, January 10, 1926 – July 8, 1965) was an American jazz trombonist[1][2][3][4] known as a big band musician but who was also an excellent bebop soloist.
The fullest recorded example of Dennis's solo work is on a little-known 1956 Savoy disc by English pianist Ronnie Ball (also a student of Tristano),[6] All About Ronnie, in the company of Ted Brown and Kenny Clarke.
[6] In the late 1950s Dennis returned to his big band roots, joining Buddy Rich in 1959 after stints with Benny Goodman (with whom he travelled to the Soviet Union in 1962) and Woody Herman.
Dennis was known for his extremely fast articulation on the trombone, obtained by means of varying the natural harmonics of the instrument with minimal recourse to the slide (a technique known as "crossing the grain"),[6] for instance, during his improvised solo on a performance of "Chuggin'" with the Gerry Mulligan Concert Band.
[8][9] With Cannonball Adderley With Manny Albam With Al Cohn With Mundell Lowe With Gary McFarland With Charles Mingus With Gerry Mulligan With Oliver Nelson With Anita O'Day With Buddy Rich With Shirley Scott With Zoot Sims With Lennie Tristano With Phil Woods