Results for "saxophone, tenor"

Ike Quebec

Born: August 17, 1918

“This incontestably superior musician has been almosttotally ignored in the chronicling of the musical form to whichhe has contributed so much. Quebec was a tenor man ofthe Hawkins school with a big tone and firm, vigorous style.I hope this new perspective of the contribution Ike Quebechas made to jazz will help to bring a little lightness to his souland much more recognition to his name.” Leonard Feather

An accomplished dancer and pianist, he switched to tenorsax as his primary instrument in his early 20s, and quicklyearned a reputation as a promising player. His recordingcareer started in 1940, with the Barons of Rhythm. Herecorded or performed with Frankie Newton, Hot Lips Page,Roy Eldridge, Trummy Young, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carterand Coleman Hawkins. Between 1944 and 1951, he workedwith Cab Calloway. He recorded for Blue Note records inthis era, and also served as a talent scout for the label(helping pianists Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell come towider attention) and, due to his exceptional sight readingskills, was an uncredited impromptu arranger for many BlueNote sessions.

Bill Pierce

Born: September 25, 1948

Pierce, William (Watson), saxophonist and educator; b. Hampton, Va, September 25, 1948.

Bill was raised in Jacksonville and Miami, Fl. His parents, Frances and William, Sr. were educators. Bill began saxophone lessons in public school. In his senior year he took oboe lessons at the university of Miami. He attended Tennessee State University for two years. He transferred to Berklee College of Music in 1968, graduating in 1972.

Bill began performing in the early 70's in Boston while a student, appearing with artists such as Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. In 1980, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, serving as musical director and sharing the bandstand with other young talents including Bobby Watson, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and Donald Harrison. After three years of recording and touring with Blakey, Bill returned to Berklee, where he became an Associate Professor in the Woodwind Department. During this time he was active in both the Boston and New York scenes and regularly performed with the Freddie Hubbard quintet.

Flip Phillips

Born: March 26, 1915

Joseph Edward Fillippelli, known professionally as Flip Phillips, was an American jazz tenor saxophone and clarinet player. He is best remembered for his work with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts from 1946 to 1957. Phillips recorded an album for Verve when he was in his 80s. He performed in a variety of genres, including mainstream jazz, swing, and jump blues.

During the 1930s, Phillips played clarinet in a restaurant in Brooklyn. After that he was a member of bands led by Frankie Newton, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman, and Wingy Manone. He was a regular soloist for the Woody Herman band in the middle 1940s and for the next ten years performed with Jazz at the Philharmonic. He retired to Florida, but after fifteen years he returned to music, recording again and performing into his 80s.

Pete Petersen

Born: September 22, 1969

Pete Petersen is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist from the Pacific Northwest. His exciting musical fluency and his ability to seem completely at home in a variety of different musical styles have made him one of the area's most in-demand players. In addition to his strength as a performer, Pete Petersen also is a very gifted and diligent orchestrator. His work has been featured on film soundtracks, national touring bands, and recordings.

Houston Person

Born: November 10, 1934

Houston Person wears the Boss Tenor crown, worn so long by Gene Ammons. Mr. Person is busy working his own gigs; booking his tours, finding new clubs, having phone numbers for every major concert promoter on every continent. He even produces his own albums. His first big break came while working as a sideman with organist Johnny Hammond and his group, co-led by Etta Jones. Mr. Person's working relationship with Ms. Jones began in 1973 and lasted for thirty years, until her recent passing in 2001. Early gigs happened while serving in the Army overseas in Germany, where he played with Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton and others

Jim Pepper

Born: 1941

Jim Pepper, the son of a Creek Indian mother and Kaw father, grew up surrounded by the songs and dances of the intertribal powwow circuit. He learned Native American Church peyote chants and other songs from his father, Gilbert Pepper, and grandfather, Ralph Pepper. Originally from Oklahoma, his family moved to Portland, Oregon, where he was born - although he spent many summers back in Oklahoma with his grandfather's family. In the mid-1960s, he left home to make a name for himself in New York - which he did by exploding onto the scene with what may very well have been the first jazz-rock fusion band, Free Spirits. That early, innovative group - with Bob Moses on drums, Larry Coryell and Columbus Baker on guitars, and Chris Hill on vocals and bass, along with Pepper on saxophone - recorded their first album, Out of Sight and Sound, for Rudy Van Gelder at ABC/Paramount in 1967

Anthony Ortega

Born: June 7, 1928

Anthony Ortega is one of the finest bop reedmen of the second half of the 20th century, though he is better known in Europe than in the U.S. A highly original improviser with impeccable tone and great emotional range, Ortega's style blends bebop with forms and techniques that evolved later. He is currently active and has released "Afternoon In Paris," in 2007.

Coming out of the famed Los Angeles Central Avenue scene, Ortega was very much the peer of such sax men as Wardell Gray and Dexter Gordon. After a stint in the Army, he came back in ‘51 to join up with Lionel Hampton with whom he traveled to Europe where he would garner quite a reputation. He came back to the states in ’58 and played steadily though not in the limelight until his release in ’61 of “A Man And His Horn.” This was a great hard bop set where he was accompanied by pianist Hank Jones.

Big Nick Nicholas

Born: August 2, 1922

Tenor saxophonist Big Nick Nicholas was active for more than 50 years without ever receiving consistent recognition or material rewards commensurate with his contribution to early modern jazz. He is usually remembered as the caloric soloist who improvised for 16 bars on Dizzy Gillespie's 1947 recording of "Manteca"; as the honoree of a warmly whimsical portrait recorded by John Coltrane with Duke Ellington in 1962, and as a weathered veteran who enjoyed a brief comeback during the 1980s. George Walker Nicholas was born in Lansing, MI on August 2, 1922 and studied clarinet, saxophone, and piano during the years 1933-1939

David "Fathead" Newman

Born: February 24, 1933

David "Fathead" Newman was born in Corsicana, Texas on February 24, 1933. His family soon moved to Dallas, where they settled and David stayed through graduating Lincoln High School. After school, David found gigs in local bands. He received a scholarship to Jarvis Christian College where he studied theology and music. After two years of college, David decided to go on the road full time with Buster Smith (Charlie Parker's mentor). The band played lots of one-nighters and dance halls, touring Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and sometimes California. On one of those tours, David met Ray Charles. Ray was working as a sideman with another group on the night's roster

Roger Neumann

Born: January 3, 1941

Roger Neumann is a Los Angeles-based jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger and music educator. He has contributed arrangements to some of the most important artists in jazz, including the Count Basie, Buddy Rich. Ray Anthony and Ray Charles bands, the Phil Norman Tentet, and Anita O'Day, as well as for such pop stars as The Beach Boys. He is an active music educator at venues across the country. Since 1983 he has taught at the Reggie Schive Jazz Camp in Iowa, Since 2002 he has been a mentor for the L.A. Jazz Society, in its Bill Green Mentorship Program. Neumann was born in 1941 in Minot, North Dakota, moved first to Akron, Ohio, then to Spencer, Iowa at age 4