Tommy Potter
American jazz double bassist (1918–1988)
Charles Thomas Potter (September 21, 1918 – March 1, 1988) was an American jazz double bass player, best known for having been a member of Charlie Parker's "classic quintet", with Miles Davis, between 1947 and 1950.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Potter had first played with Parker in 1944, in Billy Eckstine's band with Dizzy Gillespie, Lucky Thompson and Art Blakey.
Potter also performed and recorded with many other notable jazz musicians, including Count Basie, Buck Clayton, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Stan Getz, Tyree Glenn, Eddie Heywood, Earl Hines, Charles Lloyd, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, and Artie Shaw.
Discography
Tommy Potter's Hard Funk, (East-West, 1956)
As sideman
Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (Prestige, 1956) – with Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and Art Taylor
With Stan Getz
Stan Getz Quartets (Prestige, 1949–50 [1955])
The Complete Roost Recordings (Blue Note, 1950–54 [1997])
With Al Cohn
Al Cohn's Tones (Savoy, 1950 [1956])
With Sonny Stitt
Kaleidoscope (Prestige, 1950 [1957])
Stitt's Bits (Prestige, 1950 [1958])
Stitt in Orbit (Roost, 1962)
With Gene Ammons
All Star Sessions (Prestige, 1950–55 [1956])
With Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw & His Gramercy 5 (Clef, 1954) - including Tal Farlow, Hank Jones, Irv Kluger, Joe Roland
Artie Shaw – The Last Recordings Rare & Unreleased (1992 Re-issue)
With Cecil Payne
Patterns of Jazz (Savoy, 1956)
With Freddie Redd
Freddie Redd in Sweden (1956)
With Phil Woods
Four Altos (Prestige, 1957) – with Gene Quill, Sahib Shihab and Hal Stein
With Willis Jackson
Please Mr. Jackson (Prestige, 1959)
Cool "Gator" (Prestige, 1959)
Blue Gator (Prestige, 1959)
Together Again! (Prestige, 1959 [1965]) – with Jack McDuff
Together Again, Again (Prestige, 1959 [1966]) – with Jack McDuff
With Tommy Flanagan
The Tommy Flanagan Trio (Moodsville, 1960)
With Jo Jones
Vamp 'til Ready (Everest, 1960)
With Joe Williams
Together (Roulette, 1961) with Harry "Sweets" Edison
With Jimmy Forrest
Out of the Forrest (Prestige, 1961)
Sit Down and Relax with Jimmy Forrest (Prestige, 1961)
Most Much!
The public source identifies “Tommy Potter” as american jazz double bassist (1918–1988). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tommy, Potter and American.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1369941. VIAF identifies the subject as 27252849. The Library of Congress control number is n82003125. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 1988, 1947 and 1950.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tommy Potter” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.