Results for "saxophone, tenor"

David Murray

Born: February 19, 1955

Few musicians in jazz history have proven more vigorously productive and resourceful than David Murray. During the past 35 years, from the moment he first visited New York as a 20 year-old student, playing in a walkup loft, in 1975, David has careened forward in a cool, collected, rocket-fueled streak. He has released over 150 albums under his own name. Yet more impressive than the numbers is the constancy of two abiding achievements: as a tenor saxophonist, he has perfected an instantly recognizable approach to improvisation that even in its freest flights acknowledges the gravity of a tradition he honors more than most; and he has altered the context for his improvisations as an infinite mosaic of musical challenges and explorations

Sandy Mosse

Born: May 29, 1929

Sandy Mosse (May 29, 1929, Detroit, Michigan - July 1, 1983, Amsterdam) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist influenced by Lester Young. Mosse learned clarinet and alto saxophone early in life, and switched to tenor sax at the beginning of the 1950s. Based out of Chicago during the decade, he made several forays abroad, playing in Paris with Wallace Bishop in 1951, Django Reinhardt, and Woody Herman on his 1953 tour of Europe. Upon returning to Chicago in 1955 he played with Bill Russo, Chubby Jackson, James Moody, and Cy Touff. Mosse and Touff also co-led an octet called Pieces of Eight late in the 1950s into the early 1960s, featuring trumpeter John Howell

Wild Bill Moore

Born: June 13, 1918

In the summer of 1948, Texas tenor saxophonist Wild Bill Moore scored a hit on the R&B charts with a kicking number called "We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll," one of the first tunes whose title combined two words--"Rock" and "Roll"--that would define popular music for the rest of the 20th century, and beyond. Detroit's Wild Bill Moore, played alto sax early in life but his main interest was boxing. He was Michigan's amateur Golden Gloves light heavyweight champ for 1937, later turned pro, went back to sax and by 1945 was recording on tenor sax with the Slim Gaillard Orchestra, on the Queen label

Brew Moore

Born: March 26, 1924

The tenor saxophonist Brew Moore (Milton Aubrey Moore) was born in Indianola, Mississippi on March 26th 1924. He showed musical prowess at an early age. As a child of 7 he started playing popular tunes on a toy harmonica that he had received as a gift for his birthday. After a few years he played in his junior high school’s band and after graduating he entered Mississippi University to study music but left after only one semester to pursue a career as a tenor saxophonist. He arrived in New Orleans nearly broke but was quickly hired by the Fred Ford’s Dixielanders. For the next six years he played with different local bands in both New Orleans and Memphis

J.R. Monterose

Born: January 19, 1927

Frank Anthony Monterose Jr. ("J.R." is simply a corruption of the Junior) is a native of Detroit, where he was born in 1927. He is not, however, a Detroiter by any other token than the accident of birth, for before he was old enough to talk, let alone blow a horn, he was transplanted by his family to Utica, N.Y., which has been home base ever since.

J.R.'s musical studies were centered mainly on the clarinet; he had very little formal saxophone training. The first great influences were Coleman Hawkins and the late Chu Berry; but "the real inspiration that decided me to take up tenor seriously rather than clarinet or alto was, believe it or not, Tex Beneke."

Hank Mobley

Born: July 7, 1930

As one of the founding members of the original Jazz Messengers, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley was part of a brilliant innovation. Bebop's second generation of players had pulled the music into a tailspin of virtuosity. But there was a new inspirational sound taking hold, with roots in gospel and blues. By combining the best of bebop with the soulful new thing springing up, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham, Hank Mobley and Doug Watkins fashioned a sound with a percussive, street feel inspired by the hot steam grates and pavement they walked, the propulsive drive of the lives they were leading. Mobley was born in Eastman, Georgia, but was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, near Newark

Big Jay McNeely

Born: April 29, 1927

Big Jay McNeely brought the tenor sax to prominence in the golden age of R&B, known as the “King of the Honkers,” for his wild style and outrageous showmanship.. Tenor saxophonist Cecil "Big Jay" McNeely was born in Watts, California, on April 29, 1927, he formed his own band with jazz legends Sonny Criss (alto sax) and Hampton Hawes (piano) while still in high school. But in late 1948, when he was asked to record for Savoy Records, he abandoned jazz for something more raucous and struck paydirt when his second release, a honked-up instrumental called "Deacon's Hop," went to #1 on the national R&B charts in February 1949

Larry McKenna

Born: July 21, 1937

One of the world’s finest jazz saxophone players, Larry McKenna is known for his gorgeous tenor saxophone sound, the beauty of his balladry, and his fluid, bebop-inspired improvisations. After six decades in his profession, his international reputation as both a masterful jazz improviser and educator is firmly established. Over the years, Larry has performed and recorded with many jazz stars including Woody Herman, Clark Terry, Buddy DeFranco, Barry Harris, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis, Harry Allen, Terell Stafford, Eric Alexander, Bill Charlap, Warren Vaché, Kenny Barron, Randy Brecker, Wynton Marsalis and Frank Sinatra.

Virginia Mayhew

Born: May 14, 1959

Saxophonist-composer-arranger Virginia Mayhew has been an active participant in the New York jazz scene since 1987. A native of San Francisco, Virginia came to New York to enroll in the New School's Jazz Performance program, and was awarded its Zoot Sims Memorial Scholarship. In the course of her career, Virginia has worked with such renowned artists as Earl "Fatha" Hines, Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa, James Brown, Norman Simmons, Al Grey, Junior Mance, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Doc Cheatam, Joe Williams, Leon Parker, Clark Terry, Terry Gibbs, Kenny Barron, Chico O'Farrill, Dena DeRose, Ingrid Jensen, Claudio Roditi, and many others. Virginia has appeared in most of the City's jazz venues, including the Blue Note, the Village Vanguard, the Village Gate, Sweet Basil, Sweet Rhythm, Birdland, Carnegie Hall, the Jazz Standard, Lincoln Center, and Town Hall, as well as performing throughout the United States, Europe, the Newly Independent States, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Virginia has performed at many jazz festivals as a leader, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival, Floating Jazz Festival, Verizon Jazz Festival, Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center, San Francisco Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, East Coast Jazz Festival, Panasonic Jazz Festival, Guinness Cork (Ireland) Jazz Festival, Verizon Music Festival, Perth International Arts Festival, Melbourne Jazz Festival, Llangollen International Music Festival, Jazz At Sea, and other smaller festivals. Virginia has traveled twice as a representative of the United States as a Jazz Ambassador

Warne Marsh

Born: October 26, 1927

Marsh came from an affluent background: his father was the cinematographer Oliver T. Marsh (1892-1941), and his mother Elizabeth was a violinist. Mae Marsh, the actress, was his aunt. He was tutored by Lennie Tristano, and along with Lee Konitz became one of the pre-eminent saxophonists of the Tristano- inspired "Cool School". He was often recorded in the company of other Cool School musicians, and remained one of the most faithful to the Tristano philosophy of improvisation, the faith in the purity of the long line, the avoidance of licks and emotional chain-pulling, the concentration on endlessly mining the same small body of jazz standards