George Howard

About

Prolific jazz and funk saxophonist George Howard began his career in the late 1970s, when he began touring with his long time idol Grover Washington, Jr. He released his first studio album Asphalt Gardens in 1982, but experienced his first taste of success with his 1984 album Steppin' Out, which peaked at number nine on the Billboard jazz album charts. Howard continued to build his reputation a premiere jazz-funk fusion saxophonist, and his next four consecutive albums starting with his 1985 effort Dancing in the Sun, reached the number one sport on the Billboard jazz charts. After releasing a total of 13 albums, Howard passed away from lymphoma cancer in 1998, one month before Blue Note Records released his fourteenth and final album, There's a Riot Goin' On.