Don (Donald Matthew) Redman (1900-1964), a jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and arranger, was the first African American orchestra leader to have a sponsored radio series. He was a pioneer jazz arranger-composer and contributed significantly to the development of the big-band sound of the 1920s and 1930s. A child prodigy, Redman was born in Piedmont, West Virginia, and studied at music conservatories in Boston and Detroit.
