Results for "saxophone, alto"

Loren Pickford

Grammy nominated saxophonist, flutist, pianist, vocalist, composer, and recording artist, Loren Pickford, has had a multifaceted career as his travels have led him through a virtual tour of American music ranging from modern jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, Brazilian music and New Orleans rhythm and blues. Loren has performed in jazz festivals, special concerts, hotels and a host of other professional venues world-wide, and has wowed critics with his musical abilities. He has composed and performed scores for movies (Warner Bros.), documentaries (PBS-Public Broadcasting Service), CBS, radio presentations (NPR-National Public Radio), Broadway, and modern classical impressionistic dance scores for world renowned dance troupes. He has recorded seven CDs which have garnered him high critical praise. He has been an active working member of the musical scenes in Kansas City, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Louisville, Amsterdam, and Paris

Art Pepper

Born: September 1, 1925

Alto Saxophonist Art Pepper, a native of Gardena California, played in the overtly emotional manner that came to define the West Coast style. His solo approach was always passionate, from early recordings made with Stan Kenton's orchestra during his years with the band (1943 and 1946-52) and in jam sessions on LA’s Central Avenue.

Records and club work with Shorty Rogers and his Giants beginning in 1951 provided more room for his solo skills, and by 1952 he began cutting more intimate and open quartet and quintet sessions under his own name. By this time he had already developed a dependence on alcohol, pills, and heroin that led to an erratic lifestyle and (in 1952) the first of several arrests and incarcerations. For the remainder of the decade, Pepper alternated stretches in prison with bursts of recording activity. Two of these

Charlie Parker

Born: August 29, 1920

The only child of Charles and Addie Parker, Charlie Parker was one of the most important and influential saxophonists and jazz players of the 1940’s. When Parker was still a child, his family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where jazz, blues and gospel music were flourishing. His first contact with music came from school, where he played baritone horn with the school’s band. When he was 15, he showed a great interest in music and a love for the alto saxophone. Soon, Parker was playing with local bands until 1935, when he left school to pursue a music career. From 1935 to 1939, Parker worked in Kansas City with several local jazz and blues bands from which he developed his art

Frank Morgan

Born: December 23, 1933

It is a real rarity for a jazz musician to have his career interrupted for three decades and then be able to make a complete comeback. Frank Morgan showed a great deal of promise in his early days, but it was a long time before he could fulfill his potential. The son of guitarist Stanley Morgan (who played with the Ink Spots), he took up clarinet and alto early on. Morgan moved to Los Angeles in 1947 and was approached by Duke Ellington who wanted the then 15-year-old Frank to go on the road with his band. Frank's father wanted his son to finish school so the Ellington gig never materialized, but by the time he was 17, Frank was working at LA's Club Alabam, backing the likes of Josephine Baker and Billie Holiday

Jemeel Moondoc

Born: August 5, 1951

A powerful and vastly underrated avant-garde alto saxophonist, Jemeel Moondoc blended the free-form melodic thought of Ornette Coleman and the sharp edge of Jackie McLean or Charles Tyler with the sort of ferocious "energy playing" usually reserved for tenorists. Moondoc began playing piano as a child, studied clarinet and flute, and settled on alto around age 16; he subsequently studied with Cecil Taylor at various colleges in the early '70s. In 1972, he moved to New York, where he formed Ensemble Muntu with trumpeter Roy Campbell, bassist William Parker, and drummer Rashid Baker. The group recorded for its own Muntu label in the late '70s, and Moondoc also led solo sessions for labels like Soul Note and Cadence through the early '80s. However, financial difficulties forced Moondoc to break up his large ensemble (the Jus Grew Orchestra) and essentially retire from music for over a decade, working as an architect's assistant

Bobby Militello

Born: March 25, 1950

Bobby Militello has played with many artists for the last 4 decades, along with leading his own groups. Since 1982 he has been playing alto & flute with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and has recorded over 20 cds, played with almost every major orchestra in the U.S., Canada and Europe, appeared in many International jazz festivals, television and radio shows. A childhood dream come true, his tenure with Dave Brubeck has proven to be one of the highlights of his life and career. From 1975 to 1979, Bobby played with Maynard Ferguson, also a childhood dream, on baritone sax and flute. During his tenure with Maynard, he appeared in the Downbeat Readers polls from 1976 to 1979 on bari and flute and received critical acclaim in numerous articles and reviews throughout the United States and Canada

Charles McPherson

Born: July 24, 1939

For more than 60 years, saxophonist Charles McPherson has been one of the most expressive and highly regarded voices in jazz. His rich musical style, rooted in the blues and bebop, has influenced and inspired generations of musicians and listeners. McPherson was born in Joplin, MO, on July 24, 1939, and he developed a love for music at a young age. As a child, he began experimenting at the piano whenever one was available. He also attended summer concerts in Joplin that featured territory bands from the Midwest and Southwest. These concerts made a strong impression on McPherson, who was particularly enamored with the sound and shape of the saxophone. McPherson moved to Detroit in 1948 at age 9

Jackie McLean

Born: May 17, 1932

John Lenwood (Jackie) McLean was an alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City. His father, John Sr., who died in 1939, played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra. After his father's death, his musical education was continued by his godfather, by his stepfather, who owned a record store, and by several noted teachers. He also received informal tutoring from neighbours Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Charlie Parker. During high school he played in a band with Kenny Drew, Sonny Rollins, and Andy Kirk Jr. (the tenor saxophonist son of Andy Kirk). He recorded with Miles Davis, on Davis' Dig album, when he was 19 years old

Jimmy Lyons

Born: December 1, 1933

Imagine what Sonny Stitt might have sounded like had he embraced free jazz after mastering bebop, and one can probably conjure a pretty good mental impression of Jimmy Lyons. Like Stitt, Lyons was enamoured of Charlie Parker's style, particularly in terms of phrasing. Lyons' slippery, bop-derived rhythms and melodic contours lent his improvisations a Charlie "Bird" Parker-like cast, even as his performance contexts were more harmonically free. Lyons made his reputation playing with pianist Cecil Taylor, with whom he became inextricably linked. He was a near-constant presence in Taylor's bands from 1960 until the saxophonist's death in 1986

Preston Love

Born: April 26, 1921

Hailing out of Omaha, Nebraska, Preston Love started on the sax at age 15, and by 22 was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra during the 1940's. He went on to form his own group, the Preston Love Orchestra, and acquired quite a reputation as leader of the West Coast Motown Orchestra where he played with, among others, Ray Charles, the Supremes, the Temptations, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. The flutist-saxophonist grew up the youngest of nine children, in a predominantly black North Omaha neighborhood. He listened to his idols (especially Earle Warren) on the family radio and phonograph, taught himself to play the sax his brother had brought home, and learned Warren's solos note for note, laying recordings over and over again