Results for "Saxophone"

John Klemmer

Born: July 3, 1946

John Klemmer began playing guitar at age 5. After interests in graphics and visual art & writing with ambitions of being dancer, puppeteer, painter, sculptor, writer, & poet, at schools that include The Chicago Institute of Art, he began alto sax at age 11 switching to tenor sax by high school. In addition to extensive private lessons in piano, conducting, harmony, theory, composition, arranging, clarinet, flute & classical & jazz saxophone, that continued up through college, he also attended Interlochen's National Music Camp with the highest of accolades. Upon graduating from High School, Klemmer, at an incredibly early age, signed with legendary Cadet/Chess Records in 1967, recording five plus albums, including his innovative hit album of the first of the jazz/rock fusion genre, "BLOWIN GOLD"

Bill Kirchner

Bill Kirchner is a composer-arranger, saxophonist, bandleader, educator, record and radio producer, and jazz historian. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Bill graduated in 1975 from Manhattan College in New York City. From then until 1980, he lived in Washington, D.C., playing with the Mike Crotty big band, the Bernard Sweetney quartet, and his own groups. Since July 1980, Bill has lived in New York City. A few months after moving back to New York, Bill began the Bill Kirchner Nonet. His intent was to have an ensemble with the intimacy and adventurousness of the best small groups and the power and excitement of a big band

King Curtis

Born: February 7, 1934

Curtis 'King Curtis' Ousley was already a well-respected Jazz tenor saxophonist in 1952 when he moved to New York, to concentrate on doing session work for the growing Pop and R&B markets. Over the next decade, saxophone became the pre-eminent lead instrument within Rhythm & Blues/Rock n' Roll, and King Curtis became its leading exponent, spicing up massive numbers of hits with ear catching solos, sealing his reputation as one of the leading instrumentalists of that era. Perhaps he'll be most remembered as blowing that solo on The Coasters 1958 smash “Yakety Yak.” King Curtis was originally part of the late 40's honking Texas tenor sax brigade, counting Arnett Cobb, Earl Bostic, and Illinois Jacquet as influences

Robin Kenyatta

Born: March 6, 1942

Robin Kenyatta - alto and tenor sax, flute In the 1960s and 1970s, Robin Kenyatta was one of the more original players in the new sound of jazz. Unafraid to put his alto sax through unexpected twists, Kenyatta became famous for his free jazz performances. During a career spanning four decades, he released 12 albums and appeared on dozens more. He held his own against the greatest jazz men of the twentieth century and, according to All About Jazz, is remembered as “one of THE altoists of the '60s.” Born Robert Prince Haynes on March 6, 1942, in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, Kenyatta was the third child of Thomas and Rebecca Haynes

Clifford Jordan

Born: September 2, 1931

Clifford Jordan was born in Chicago in 1931. A self-taught musician, his love of jazz had him performing in his home town until the late 1950's, when he moved to New York. His first album was appropriately titled "Blowing in from Chicago," and Horace Silver and Art Blakey. In the 60's, his range broadened, as he played with Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Kenny Dorham, Lloyd Price, and James Brown. He toured Europe as a soloist and conducted his own music for radio and studio orchestras in 1966. A year later, he was toured West Africa and the Middle East for the U.S. State Department with Randy Weston

Plas Johnson

Born: July 21, 1931

Plas Johnson - saxophone Jazz aficionados know him by name, but almost anyone exposed to music is familiar with his playing. His is the purring sax solo on Henry Mancini's famous "Pink Panther" movie theme song. His is the saxophone counterpart to Harry "Sweets" Edison's trumpet on Neal Hefti's signature music for "The Odd Couple" TV series. Plas is the featured soloist heard on countless albums, including those of such artists as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt and Sarah Vaughan. Plas was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, about sixty miles north of New Orleans

Paul Jeffrey

Born: April 8, 1933

Paul Jeffrey was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and educator. Perhaps best known for performing with Thelonious Monk (1970–1975), Jeffrey also worked with musicians including Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Lionel Hampton and B.B. King, amongst many others. Born in New York City, Jeffrey attended Kingston High School. After graduating in 1951, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree in music education at Ithaca College in 1955. He spent the late 1950s touring with bands led by Illinois Jacquet, Elmo Hope, Big Maybelle, and Wynonie Harris. From 1960 to 1961, Jeffrey toured the US with B.B

Sonya Jason

Born: January 10, 1963

"She's a hundred pounds of rompin' stompin' sax. She's so hot her horn smokes. Her first CD, Tigress, (Warner Music Discovery) defines mood, zest, verve and sizzling straight-on jazz from the hip. Some elements of jazz never change, but Sonya Jason picks up the leftovers and moves them into her own dimension." -- Jan Holland for Venice: The L.A. Arts and Entertainment Magazine There is no doubt jazz has been a man's world for sometime. Be it due to a lack of credible women musicians or outright bigotry we may never know, but the tide is certainly turning toward more women being accepted into the jazz realm. The biggest gains for women have been in the smooth and contemporary jazz arena

Joseph Jarman

Born: September 14, 1937

While attending high school in Chicago in the early '50s, Jarman took up the drums under the tutelage of the famous music teacher Walter Dyett. He switched to saxophone and clarinet while in the army. Upon his discharge in 1958, he returned to Chicago. There, he joined pianist Muhal Richard Abrams' Experimental Band (formed in 1961), alongside his future Art Ensemble compatriots Malachi Favors and Mitchell. Jarman played in a hard bop sextet with Mitchell, and in 1965, he became one of the first members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Starting around 1967, Jarman was one of the first saxophonists to perform solo, a tactic also embraced by other members of the AACM, notably Anthony Braxton

Boney James

Four gold albums, four GRAMMY nominations, two NAACP Image Award nominations, a Soul Train Music Award and a nomination, sales totaling more than 3 million records. Chart-topping saxophonist Boney James embodies the phrase "horn of plenty.” "I'm always thinking about making music,” he says. "It's still my consuming passion.” That passion reverberates throughout James' latest project, The Beat. The April 9 release marks his 14th album as well as his return to former label Concord Records. It's a penetrating fusion of R&B, jazz and Latin rhythms given voice by James' emotive saxophone and such guests as trumpet hitman Rick Braun, R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn and spoken word phenom The Floacist. "There was no sense that this had to be a certain thing,” recalls James, who was between labels when he began recording the album