Herbie Mann was born Herbert Jay Solomon on April 16, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York and while attending Lincoln High School in Brighton Beach, failed a music class. Be that as it may his first professional gig was in the Catskills at age 15. During the 1950s was primarily a bop flutist, playing in combos with artists such as Phil Woods, with occasional forays into bass clarinet, tenor sax and solo flute.

An early pioneer in the fusing of jazz and world music, he has incorporated elements of African, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Reggae, Middle-Eastern and Eastern…