He was born Leonard Graham in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States,^[3] later changing his name to Idrees Sulieman, after converting to Islam.^[4] He studied at the Boston Conservatory, and gained early experience playing with the Carolina Cotton Pickers and the wartime Earl Hines Orchestra (1943–1944).^[3]

On October 15, 1947, he played on Thelonious Monk's first recording for Blue Note Records. Sulieman was closely associated with Mary Lou Williams and for a time and had stints with Cab Calloway, John Coltrane, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton.^[3] Sulieman recorded with Coleman Hawkins (1957) and gigged with Randy Weston (1958–1959), in addition to appearing in many other situations.^[3]

He toured Europe in 1961 with Oscar Dennard, and stayed, settling in Stockholm at first, and then moved to Copenhagen in 1964. A soloist with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band from the mid-1960s through 1973, Sulieman frequently worked with radio orchestras.^[3] His recordings as a leader were for Swedish Columbia (1964) and SteepleChase (1976 and 1985). In 1985, he was among the performers on Miles Davis' album, Aura, which was not released until 1989.^[5] Sulieman's career slowed down considerably in the 1990s.^[1]

He died of bladder cancer on July 23, 2002, at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 78.^[1]

As leader edit

• Three Trumpets (Prestige, 1957) with Donald Byrd and Art Farmer
• Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors (Prestige, 1957) with John Coltrane, Bobby Jaspar and Webster Young
• Roots (New Jazz, 1957) with the Prestige All Stars
• Americans in Europe (Impulse!, 1963) with Various Artists
• The Camel (Columbia, 1964) with Jamila Sulieman
• Now Is the Time (SteepleChase, 1976) with Cedar Walton, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins
• Bird's Grass (SteepleChase, 1976 [1985]) with Horace Parlan, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Kenny Clarke
• Groovin' (SteepleChase, 1985) with Horace Parlan

As sideman edit

With Gene Ammons

• Jammin' in Hi Fi with Gene Ammons (Prestige, 1957)
• Blue Gene (Prestige, 1958)

With Art Blakey

• Art Blakey Big Band (Bethlehem, 1957)

With Clifford Brown

• Memorial (Prestige, 1953)

With Teddy Charles

• Coolin' (New Jazz, 1957)

With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band

• Handle with Care (Atlantic, 1963)
• Now Hear Our Meanin' (Columbia, 1963 [1965])
• Sax No End (SABA, 1967)
• Out of the Folk Bag (Columbia, 1967)
• 17 Men and Their Music (Campi, 1967)
• All Smiles (MPS, 1968)
• Faces (MPS, 1968)
• Latin Kaleidoscope (MPS, 1968)
• Fellini 712 (MPS, 1969)
• All Blues (MPS, 1969)
• More Smiles (MPS, 1969)
• Clarke Boland Big Band en Concert avec Europe 1 (Tréma, 1969 [1992])

With Don Byas / Bud Powell

• A Tribute To Cannonball (Columbia 1962)

With Miles Davis

• Aura (Columbia, 1985)

With Eric Dolphy

• Stockholm Sessions (Enja, 1961)

With Tommy Flanagan

• The Cats (New Jazz, 1957)

With Dexter Gordon

• More Than You Know (SteepleChase, 1975)

With Friedrich Gulda

• Friedrich Gulda at Birdland (RCA Victor, 1957)
• A Man of Letters (Decca, 1957)

With Coleman Hawkins

• The Hawk Flies High (Riverside, 1957)

With Joe Henderson

• Big Band (Verve, 1992–96)

With Bobby Jaspar

• Bobby Jaspar (Riverside, 1957)

With Thad Jones

• Live at the Montmartre: A Good Time Was Had by All (Storyville, 1978)

With Carmen McRae

• November Girl (Black Lion, 1970)

With Thelonious Monk

• Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1947)

With Horace Parlan

• Arrival (SteepleChase, 1973)

With Max Roach

• The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley (Debut, 1953)

With Sahib Shihab

• Companionship (Vogue Schallplatten, 1964-70 [1971])

With Mal Waldron

• Mal-1 (Prestige, 1956)
• Mal-2 (Prestige, 1957)

With Randy Weston

• Little Niles (United Artists, 1958)
• Spirits of Our Ancestors (Verve, 1991)

With Ernie Wilkins

• Top Brass (Savoy, 1955)

With Lester Young

• Masters of Jazz (Storyville, 1951–56)

• Idrees Sulieman at AllMusic
• Curt's Jazz Café: Obscure Trumpet Masters #9 -- Idrees Sulieman