Idrees Sulieman

Idrees Sulieman (August 7, 1923 – July 23, 2002) was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter.

He was born Leonard Graham in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, later changing his name to Idrees Sulieman, after converting to Islam.

He studied at the Boston Conservatory, and gained early experience playing with the Carolina Cotton Pickers and the wartime Earl Hines Orchestra (1943–1944).

On October 15, 1947, he played on Thelonious Monk's first recording for Blue Note Records.

Sulieman was closely associated with Mary Lou Williams and for a time and had stints with Cab Calloway, John Coltrane, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton.

Sulieman recorded with Coleman Hawkins (1957) and gigged with Randy Weston (1958–1959), in addition to appearing in many other situations.

A soloist with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band from the mid-1960s through 1973, Sulieman frequently worked with radio orchestras.

He toured Europe in 1961 with Oscar Dennard, and stayed, settling in Stockholm at first, and then moved to Copenhagen in 1964.

His recordings as a leader were for Swedish Columbia (1964) and SteepleChase (1976 and 1985).

In 1985, he was among the performers on Miles Davis' album, Aura, which was not released until 1989.

Sulieman's career slowed down considerably in the 1990s.

He died of bladder cancer on July 23, 2002, at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 78.

With Gene Ammons

With Art Blakey

With Clifford Brown

With Teddy Charles

With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band

With Don Byas / Bud Powell

With Miles Davis

With Eric Dolphy

With Tommy Flanagan

With Dexter Gordon

With Friedrich Gulda

With Coleman Hawkins

With Joe Henderson

With Bobby Jaspar

With Thad Jones

With Carmen McRae

With Thelonious Monk

With Horace Parlan

With Max Roach

With Sahib Shihab

With Mal Waldron

With Randy Weston

With Ernie Wilkins

With Lester Young