Music
Phil Ranelin
born 1939 · jazz trombonist, composer, label founder
Indianapolis-born trombonist who moved to Detroit, played Motown sessions, and co-founded the Tribe collective and label, whose 1970s records later became prized by collectors.
- Born
Indianapolis, Indiana
age 87- Detroit years
- 1960s–1970s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ranelin grew up in Indianapolis and spent time in New York before settling in Detroit in the 1960s, where he found work as a session trombonist on Motown recordings, including dates with Stevie Wonder. In the early 1970s he met saxophonist Wendell Harrison at the Metro Arts youth center, and together they formed the Tribe, an avant-garde jazz ensemble devoted to Black consciousness, along with its own record label and magazine. Ranelin's Tribe albums of the mid-1970s, such as The Time Is Now! and Vibes from the Tribe, mixed hard bop, funk and spiritual jazz and were sold largely around the city. The Tribe project ran until 1978, after which he joined Freddie Hubbard's band and moved west. For years his work was little known outside Detroit, but rare-groove collectors revived it: Tortoise drummer John McEntire remastered his records for Hefty Records, which reissued them from 2001 and followed with a remix album.
Highlights
- Motown session trombonist in the 1960s
- Co-founded the Tribe ensemble and label with Wendell Harrison
- Tribe albums The Time Is Now! and Vibes from the Tribe
- Played and recorded with Freddie Hubbard from 1978
- Rediscovered through Hefty Records reissues in the 2000s