Jazz Articles about Ralph Lalama

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The Lalama Brothers: Erie Avenue

by Dan Bilawsky
March 23, 2014

The Lalama brothers have logged plenty of miles in the jazz world, but Erie Avenue, so named for the street where the brothers grew up in West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, is the first record they've ever put out together. Pianist Dave Lalama has worked with everybody from drum titan Buddy Rich to vocal icon Anita O'Day, and he currently helms Hofstra University's jazz program. Saxophonist Ralph Lalama is a talented leader, sought after sideman, and mainstay in the ...

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Ralph Lalama: Steppin' Out, Steppin' Forward

by R.J. DeLuke
April 13, 2010

Ralph Lalama's rich tenor saxophone voice has been heard for years on the New York City scene, perhaps most notably with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and its predecessors, first led by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, and later by just Lewis. He's a guy who grew up when rock music was fully bursting on the American scene, but maintains that not much of that music touched him. He came from a family that listened to jazz and the American Popular ...

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Ralph Lalama Quartet: The Audience

by Woodrow Wilkins
March 25, 2010

Covers can become trite very quickly, but when arrangements are fresh and performance is equal to the task, they can become as endearing as new masterpieces. The Audience, by Ralpha Lalama Quartet, has that quality with its mix of lesser-known jazz songs, a little pop and some original interludes. Lalama, a tenor saxophonist, has been a fixture on the New York jazz scene for 30 years, many of them spent with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He was also ...

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Ralph Lalama Quartet: The Audience

by C. Michael Bailey
March 14, 2010

Dexter Gordon achieved a post-bebop tenor saxophone sound that was Somewhere between the sleepy, vibrato-less tone of Lester Young and the falling-off- the-edge wail of John Coltrane. Yonkers native Ralph Lalama comes It is out of this tradition. On his fifth recording as a leader and his first release since 2008's successful Energy Fields (Mighty Quinn), Lalama elbows his way to the center with his virile, muscular tenor tone.

Lalama has been an important sideman in several seminal bands, including ...

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Ralph Lalama: The Audience

by David A. Orthmann
March 8, 2010

A few choice items from the American Popular Songbook, tunes by Wayne Shorter, Duke Pearson, and Stevie Wonder, plus three brief duo improvisations, all rendered in a recognizable mainstream style by a band that includes two primary soloists and a bass and drums team. On the face of it, Ralph Lalama's second Mighty Quinn release appears rather modest relative to the ever expanding, unceasing advance of jazz and improvised music in the 21st Century. Nevertheless, throughout the ten tracks of ...

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Ralph Lalama: The Audience

by Joel Roberts
March 7, 2010

Tenor saxophonist Ralph Lalama is a respected jazz journeyman probably best known for his more than 25-year tenure with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He's also played and recorded with the Joe Lovano Nonet, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and drummer Joe Morello's group, among others. But he's had relatively few opportunities to record as a leader. His 2008 release, the well-received Energy Fields (Mighty Quinn), was his first in over a decade and his first ever for a US label. ...

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Ralph Lalama at The Turning Point Cafe

by David A. Orthmann
June 25, 2009

Ralph Lalama The Turning Point Café Piermont, NY May 18, 2009

On Mondays, tenor saxophonist Ralph Lalama plays in the reed section and is one of the featured soloists of the venerable Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He recently took a night off to lead a quartet at The Turning Point Café, a small, comfortable venue about 25 miles north of Manhattan. The gig generated some advance buzz because Lalama was slated to come in with ...