Results for "saxophone, tenor"

Booker Ervin

Born: October 31, 1930

Booker Ervin had a large hard tone like an r&b tenor saxophonist, but he was actually an adventurous player whose music fell between hard bop and the avant-garde. Ervin originally played trombone but taught himself the tenor when he was in the Air Force in the early 1950s. After his discharge, he studied music for two years before he made his recording debut with Ernie Fields in 1956. During that year he first performed with Charles Mingus and he was a key part of Mingus’s groups during 1956-1962, offering a contrast to the wild flights of Eric Dolphy. During 1963-1965, Ervin led ten albums for Prestige and each has its rewarding moments

Dave Ellis

Tenor saxophonist Dave Ellis has long been a key figure in the fertile Northern California jazz scene. His story is a tapestry woven from myriad musical adventures. It begins with his days as a ten-year-old musical prodigy and opens on a new chapter with State of Mind, his debut recording for Milestone, featuring a sterling jazz veteran cast of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassists Peter Washington and Christian McBride, drummers Carl Allen and Lewis Nash, and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring. Along the way, Ellis was named Best New Talent (along with Diana Krall) in the 1997 Jazziz magazine Readers Poll

Teddy Edwards

Born: April 26, 1924

A pioneer hard bopper on the tenor and recognized as one of the masters in the L.A. Central Avenue scene, Edwards leaves a huge legacy of recorded music, stretching from the Forties right through to his death in 2003. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, on 26th April 1924, Edwards moved to Los Angeles in 1945, first coming to attention the following year when, with trumpeter Howard McGhee's group, he recorded the groundbreaking bebop tune, “Up In Dodo's Room.” By the end of that decade Edwards was sufficiently well known to front his own bands. In 1949 he was also one of the first members of the Lighthouse All Stars, the group based at the famous Lighthouse Club in Hermosa Beach

Miles Donahue

Born: August 19, 1944

Grammy award winning Boston Globe jazz critic Bob Blumenthal says, “Discover a jazz treasure. Miles Donahue is one of the best-kept secrets. Equally adept on trumpet and various saxophones and a composer of grace and originality…” Miles Donahue’s jazz career did not begin in earnest until age 45. Although in the '60s he performed at many venues with his own group that featured Harvey Swartz, Jerry Bergonzi, Charlie Banacos, Nick Goumas and Jack Diefendorf. One of these concerts in 1972 performed with Charlie Banacos and Jerry Bergonzi became known as the famous Arlington street Church Concert. In the '80s Miles did two albums for which he wrote all the original material with New York Philharmonic flutist Paige Brook

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis

Born: March 2, 1922

Eddie Lockjaw Davis was one musician who provided a link from the big band era through to the soul jazz phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Davis developed one of the most unmistakable tenor sax sounds in post war jazz. With a full bodied yet reedy tone that was equally at home in rhythm & blues settings as more modern contexts, his playing always had a direct, singing quality that was a huge influence on the next generation of sax men. Davis began to make his mark on the jazz scene in New York when he worked at Clark Monroe's Uptown House in the late 30s. Despite this establishment's close ties with the emergence of bebop a few years later, Davis' tenor saxophone playing was rooted in swing and the blues, and early in his career he displayed a marked affinity with the tough school of Texas tenors

Ravi Coltrane

Born: August 6, 1965

Ravi Coltrane- tenor and soprano saxophonist, bandleader, and composer - has fronted a variety of jazz lineups, recorded critically-hailed albums as leader, produced recordings by other artists - including his mother, worked as sideman for jazz luminaries, overseen important jazz reissues, and founded an independent record label. Seventeen years since finding his life's path, it seems music was Ravi's destiny from the outset. Born the second son of John and Alice Coltrane in 1965 in Long Island, New York and raised in the Los Angeles area, he was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar

Buddy Collette

Born: August 6, 1921

When it comes to unsung jazz heroes, Buddy Collette's talents on tenor saxophone, flute, and clarinet are as close to unmatched as it gets. A gifted composer of classical music in addition to his jazz pedigree, Collette continues to fly almost defiantly under the radar of greater renown. William Marcel Collette was born on August 6, 1921 in the Watts district of Los Angeles. Along with saxophonist Dexter Gordon bassist Charles Mingus, and drummer Chico Hamilton, he helped keep bebop alive in the city's historic Central Avenue neighborhood. Buddy also played an important role with the development of the cool jazz movement

George Coleman

Born: March 8, 1935

No tenor saxophonist better epitomizes the robust muscularity of that heavyweight instrument of jazz expression than George Coleman. With brilliant technique and a deeply soulful tone firmly rooted in his hometown of Memphis, George has performed with many of jazz’ most legendary figures and influenced countless saxophonists during his half century in music. Growing up in Memphis’ rich musical environment of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, alongside such notables as Booker Little, Harold Mabern, Frank Strozier, Jamil Nasser, Hank Crawford, Phineas Newborn Jr., and blues immortal B.B. King, Coleman began to teach himself to play the alto saxophone in 1950, upon being profoundly affected by the music of Charlie Parker. So prodigious was his talent that George was soon performing locally and in 1952, at the age of 17, was invited to tour with B.B

Al Cohn

Born: November 24, 1925

Cohn was initially known for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff. Unlike his the better known tenors Sims and Getz, Cohn contributed arrangements to the Herman band. After leaving the Herman group Cohn went on to play with a variety of other musicians but his most well known association was with Zoot Sims whom he co-led a quintet starting in 1956. They continued to play together sporadically until the death of Sims. The high point of their recorded output can be found on "You 'n' Me" which was released on Mercury Records in 1960. In addition to his work as a jazz tenor saxophonist, Al Cohn wrote arrangements for the Broadway productions of "Raisin" and "Sophisticated Ladies". His son Joe Cohn is a talented guitarist. Cohn died in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Arnett Cobb

Born: August 10, 1918

One of the classic Texas Tenors, there was always excitement elicited by Cobb’s uninhibited, blasting style which earned him the label "Wild Man of the Tenor Sax."

Arnette Cleophus Cobbs, was born on August 10, 1918, in Houston, Texas. He was taught piano by his grandmother and went on to study violin before taking up tenor saxophone in the Wheatley High School band. When he was fifteen he joined Louisiana band leader Frank Davis’s band and performed in the Houston area and throughout Louisiana during the summer. He worked with trumpeter Chester Boone for two years and left to become a founding member of the Milton Larkin Orchestra in 1936.