Sam Rivers (born September 25, 1923, El Reno, Oklahoma) is a jazz musician and composer best known for his contributions to free jazz and experimentaljazz music.
Rivers has contributed to over 50 years of accomplishments in jazz; he discovered a 13-year-old drummer named Tony Williams in 1959; he led a Boston-based quartet featuring Williams, Henry Grimes , and Hal Galper in the early ’60s; he toured Japan with Miles Davis in 1964; he recorded five landmarkalbums for Blue Note between 1964 and 1967; he toured with the Cecil Taylor Unit in 1969; he recorded five albums for Impulse between 1971 and 1975;and he pioneered the New York loft scene of the late ’70s.
