Ed Cherry

Ed Cherry is a jazz guitarist best known for his long association with Dizzy Gillespie, in whose quartet, big band, and United Nation Orchestra he played from 1978 until shortly before the trumpeter's death in 1993. Born in 1954 in New Haven, Connecticut, he moved to New York in 1978 and built a career rooted in bebop and the soul-jazz organ tradition. He has worked extensively in organ-trio settings, including recordings with John Patton and Dr. Lonnie Smith, and has led his own dates for labels such as Posi-Tone. His warm, blues-inflected sound remains a fixture of the New York club scene.