Julian Priester (born June 29, 1935 in Chicago) is an American jazz trombone player and composer. He is sometimes credited as Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto.
He has played with many artists including Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.
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 and he joined Dinah Washington in 1958. The following year he settled in New York and joined the group led by drummer Max Roach who heard him playing on the Philly Joe Jones album, "Blues for Dracula" (1958). While playing in Roach's group, Priester also recorded two albums as a leader, Keep Swingin' and Spiritsville, both of which were recorded and released by Riverside (the latter by their Jazzland subsidiary) in 1960.
Priester recorded two albums with trumpeter Booker Little in 1961, Out Front and Booker Little and Friend (also known as Victory and Sorrow), the first also features Roach, and Priester took part in the sessions for John Coltrane's Africa/Brass album, which was recorded in the same year. He left Roach's band during 1961, and between then and 1969 appeared as a sideman on albums led by Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Blue Mitchell, Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Johnny Griffin, and Sam Rivers. 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 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 taught jazz composition, performance, and history until retiring in 2011.
In the 1980s, he became a member of the Dave Holland's quintet and also returned to Sun Ra's band for a few recordings. The 1990s saw the addition of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra to his schedule. Priester was co-leader with drummer Jimmy Bennington on 'Portraits and Silhouettes' which received an Honorable Mention in All About Jazz New York's 'Best Recordings of 2007', which culminated with the two musicians appearing at the 30th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival. Priester also performs on the album Monoliths & Dimensions by the drone metal band Sunn 0))), released in May 2009. His major contributions were to the final track of the album, "Alice," a tribute to Alice Coltrane.
In addition to teaching and touring, Priester continues to record albums under his own name. He released Hints on Light and Shadow(with Sam Rivers and Tucker Martine) in 1997 and followed it in 2003 with In Deep End Dance.
With Jane Ira Bloom
With Anthony Braxton
With Donald Byrd
With Jay Clayton
With John Coltrane
With Duke Ellington
With David Friesen, Eddie Moore, Jim Pepper, and Mal Waldron
With Red Garland
With Johnny Griffin
With George Gruntz
With Herbie Hancock
With Billy Harper
With Eddie Henderson
With Andrew Hill
With Dave Holland
With Wayne Horvitz
With Freddie Hubbard
With Bobbi Humphrey
With Philly Joe Jones
With Clifford Jordan
With Azar Lawrence
With Abbey Lincoln
With Booker Little
With Herbie Mann
With Blue Mitchell
With Lee Morgan
With Duke Pearson
With Sam Rivers
With Max Roach
With Lonnie Smith
With Sunn O)))
With Sun Ra
With Cal Tjader
With Stanley Turrentine
With McCoy Tyner
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