David “Fathead” Newman was born in Corsicana, Texas on February 24, 1933. Soon after his birth his family moved to Dallas. Once he graduated from high school, he started playing with local bands. He attended Jarvis Christian College where he studied music and theology.

After two years in college, Newman started touring with Buster Smith. They toured Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and sometimes California playing dance halls. It was on one of those tours that he met Ray Charles. They hit it off immediately and Newman started playing in Charles’ band in 1954. He played with Charles for 12 years.

Newman recorded his first solo album with Atlantic Records in 1959. It was called Fathead: Ray Charles Presents. After recording that album, he moved to New York were his career took off. He recorded many other albums with Atlantic Records. He also recorded with Prestige and Warner Brothers. He gigged with Lee Morgan, Billy Higgins, and Kenny Drew, Sr. Soon he was touring the East coat, Europe and Japan with his own band.

He played as a studio musician for a while and in the 80’s recorded several mainstream jazz albums. Newman had a successful and active career throughout his life. He died on January 20, 2009 from complications of pancreatic cancer. When I heard this news I was quite sad. I met him a couple years ago and he was a really nice man.

Here is a performance with The David Leonhardt Jazz Group playing Goldfinger.