  julian priester (born 29 june 1935 in chicago) is an american jazz trombone player and composer.[ allmusic] he has played with many artists including sun ra, max roach, duke ellington, john coltrane and herbie hancock. ==biography== priester attended chicago's dusable high school, where he studied under walter dyett. in his teens he played with blues and r&b artists such as muddy waters, and bo diddley, and had the opportunity to jam with jazz players like saxophonist sonny stitt. in the early 1950s priester was a member of sun ra's big band, recording several albums with the group before leaving chicago in 1956 to tour with lionel hampton. in 1958 he joined dianah washington. in 1959 he settled in new york and joined the band of drummer max roach who heard him playing on the philly joe jones album, "blues for dracula". while playing in roach's group priester also recorded two albums as a leader, keep swingin'  and spiritsville for riverside, both of which came out in 1960. in 1961 priester left the max roach band, and between 1961 and 1969 appeared as a sideman on albums by freddie hubbard, stanley turrentine, blue mitchell, art blakey, joe henderson, mccoy tyner, johnny griffin, and sam rivers. during that period he also took part in john coltrane's africa/brass ensemble, which played with coltrane's quartet on the album by the same name recorded in 1961. in 1969 he accepted an offer to play with duke ellington's big band, and he stayed with that ensemble for six months before leaving in 1970 to join pianist herbie hancock's fusion sextet. after leaving the hancock group in 1973, priester moved to san francisco, where he recorded two more albums as a leader: love, love in 1974 and 1977's polarization. in 1979 he joined the faculty of cornish college of the arts in seattle, where he teaches jazz composition, performance, and history. in the 1980s he became a member of the dave holland quintet and also returned to sun ra's band; the 1990s saw the addition of [[charlie haden|charlie hade
1935_births American_jazz_composers American_jazz_trombonists Avant-garde_jazz_musicians Cornish_College_of_the_Arts_faculty ECM_Records_artists Free_jazz_trombonists Living_people Milestone_Records_artists Postcards_Records_artists Riverside_Records_artists Sun_Ra_Arkestra_members