Curtis Peagler & the Jazz Disciples - Low Life (single)

Alto saxophonist Curtis Peagler (1929-1992) and a group billed as the Jazz Disciples recorded this one-off single for Columbia in 1961 after he had recorded two well-regarded LPs for the New Jazz label. The group was known as the Modern Jazz Disciples for those albums.

For background on Peagler and to hear the flip side of this 45, It's a Blue World, go to this previous post. There's no indication whether the personnel on the single is the same as it was on the LPs.

Low Life



The quality of this recording is not the greatest. The speed sounds a bit wonky and it's possible this side of the single was pressed a bit off-center. I don't have it handy to check. Unfortunately neither side of the 45 has received a digital release.

Peagler played with Ray Charles's orchestra in the mid- to late '60s and followed that with a seven-year gig with Count Basie. In later years he performed as a solo act, mainly in southern California, and played with the San Diego-based Sweet Baby Blues Band.

The first of the two Modern Jazz Disciples LPs for New Jazz was a self-tiled effort released in 1959. At the time Peagler did not receive a separate billing from the group. Disciples Blues was written by Peagler and another group member, William Kelley.

Curtis Peagler and the Jazz Disciples - It's a Blue World (45 single)

Alto saxophonist Curtis Peagler (1929-1992) fronted a group known as the Modern Jazz Disciples, which recorded two well-regarded LPs for New Jazz (an offshoot of Prestige) in 1959 and 1960.

The group had a rather unique easy swinging sound, due in large part to the use of a normaphone, played by William Kelley. This instrument is a valve trombone in the shape of an alto sax.

The Modern Jazz Disciples disbanded after the two New Jazz LPs and Peagler moved over to Columbia where he recorded a one-off single, It's a Blue World/Low Life, in 1961. This 45 did not lead to an album, a rather rare occurrence when you're talking about a jazz artist, and is now a collector's item.

Peagler is top billed (he wasn't on the LPs) and the "modern" has been dropped from the Jazz Disciples' name.

It's a Blue World



There is no indication of the personnel on this single and I'm not sure if the trombone sound is that of a normaphone. The two sides have not been released digitally.

Peagler went on to spend three years with the Ray Charles orchestra and seven years with Count Basie. He also worked in the recording studios and put out a couple of albums under his own name.

Here's Curtis Peagler with the Modern Jazz Disciples from one of their LPs recorded for Prestige.