Results for "Saxophone"

Allen Eager

Born: January 10, 1927

Allen Eager (Jan. 10, 1927, New York City - May 13, 2003, Daytona Beach, Florida) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Eager first played jazz as a teenager during World War II in the bands of Bobby Sherwood, Sonny Dunham, Shorty Sherock, Hal McIntyre, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey, and Johnny Bothwell. After the war he became a regular on the scene around 52nd Street in New York; he led his own ensemble there from 1946-48. In 1948 he played with Tadd Dameron, in 1951 with Gerry Mulligan, in 1952 with Terry Gibbs, and shortly after with Buddy Rich. From 1953 to 1955 he again led his own ensemble. He lived in Paris from 1956 to 1957 and returned to record with Mulligan in 1957; after this, he essentially retired from jazz.

Paul Dunmall

Born: May 6, 1953

After turning professional at seventeen and touring Europe for one year with progressive rock group Marsupilami he moved to America and lived there for three years playing with many musicians including Alice Coltrane and toured with Johnny Guitar Watson for one year. On his return to the UK he worked with folk musicians Polly Bolton/Kevin Dempsey and groupings worked around the Dando Shaft band. In 1979 he became a founder member of the jazz group Spirit Level with pianist Tim Richards plus playing free improvised music with the Nigel Morris trio. At this time also Paul played in the London Improvised music scene. In 1985 the group Tenor Tonic was formed with Alan Skidmore, Tony Levin and Paul Rogers

Arthur Doyle

Born: June 26, 1944

Saxophonist/flutist/singer Arthur Doyle is hardly alone in his position as a marginal jazz figure. In an art form known for its many trials and tribulations (both artistic and financial), Doyle hasn't made his situation any easier by attempting to carve a singular path along the music's outskirts. The fact that he has done so, however, is what makes his music so unique. Performing in a style he calls "free jazz soul," Doyle combines the liberated freedom flights of the avant-garde with the gritty, gut-wrenching emotion of gospel and R&B.

The second of five children, Arthur Doyle was born in Birmingham, AL, on June 26, 1944. He attended college at Tennessee State University where he quickly built a circle of contacts in the Nashville music scene, playing with Louis Smith (Horace Silver) and Walter Miller (Sun Ra). Following brief stints in Detroit, playing in a big band led by Charles Moore, and back home in Alabama with R&B outfit Johnny Jones & the King Casuals, Doyle left for New York at the age of 23.

Lou Donaldson

Born: November 1, 1926

Lou Donaldson, alto saxophonist, recording star andentertainer extraordinaire was born in Badin, North Carolinaon November 1, 1926. He is the child of parents, LucyWallace Donaldson, mother, and Louis Andrew Donaldson,Sr., father. His mother was a first grade teacher at BadinHigh School, Musical Director at the school, and a concertpianist who was a graduate of Cheney University. His fatherwas a graduate of Livingstone College, an AME Zionminister, and insurance agent. Lou is the second of 4children, between older sister Margaret and younger sisterElizabeth and brother William, all of whom ended up involvedwith music. Lou never studied piano because his mother hada switch that she would crack across the fingers whenstudents missed a note. That turned him completely awayfrom being a pianist. When he was about 9 years old, sheheard him singing or humming all of the piano etudes that thestudents played and she took him aside and told him that hehad more musical talent than anyone in the family and that heneeded to play some type of instrument. She got a clarinetfrom the Band Director, Leo Gabriel, at the Alcoa AluminumPlant Band. Although she knew nothing about the clarinet,she taught him basic music and they used the clarinet bookto learn the fingerings and how to play the clarinet. Loumastered the instrument and this ignited his pursuit of acareer in music.

Manu Dibango

Born: February 10, 1934

The most widely known musician from the African nation of Cameroon, Manu Dibango was one of the pioneers of world music in the early 1970s and remained one of the most internationally celebrated African musicians into the mid-1990s. Long recognized for combining African, American, European, and techno sounds, Dibango first achieved global fame in 1973 with “Soul Makossa,” through which he popularized makossa music, a Cameroonian form of early-century West African dance music. Born Emmanuel Dibango on February 10, 1934, in Douala, Cameroon, Dibango first discovered his interest in music as a boy at home and in church

Karl Denson

Karl Denson is a funk and jazz saxophonist, flutist and vocalist from San Diego, California. He was a member of Lenny Kravitz's band and has co-founded and led The Greyboy Allstars. Denson has recorded with artists including Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Blind Boys of Alabama and Stanton Moore. As of 2007 he continues to lead his own Karl Denson's Tiny Universe and Karl Denson Trio (KD3). Members of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe include Denson (saxophone, flute), Ron Johnson (bass), Chris Littlefield (trumpet), Brian Jordan (guitar), David Veith (keyboards) and John Staten (drums). KD3 is Denson with keyboardist Anthony Smith (Global Funk, Giant People) and drummer Brett Sanders (brother of John Staten).

Elton Dean

Born: October 28, 1945

Elton Dean, who died at 60 on February 8th 2006, was a totally unique musician : at times lyrical and moving, at others explosive and unsettling, his approach of saxophone playing was totally his own, besides the fact that he favoured a little-used member of the sax family : the saxello, an hybrid between alto and soprano, with an instantly recognizable sound. Over the years, Dean lent his immense talents to bands like Soft Machine, Soft Heap, In Cahoots and L'Equip'Out, as well as many jazz ensembles featuring Keith Tippett, Hugh Hopper, Pip Pyle, Mark Hewins and John Etheridge. Elton Dean was born in Nottingham in 1945

Ernest Dawkins

Born: November 2, 1953

One of the life goals of Ernest Dawkins is to represent the African American cultural experience through his music. His musical art form reflects the rich background and cultural distinctions of African American life. He is one of Chicago's premier jazz saxophonist whose music reflects his extraordinary talent not just as a musician but a composer as well. He has recorded eleven CD's and is the founder and leader of his own group, New Horizons Ensemble. Dawkins started his musical career at the tender age of twelve when he learned how to play the bass and conga drams. At nineteen he became mesmerized by the sound of the saxophone while listening to his father's jazz recordings of Lester Young

Nathan Davis

Born: February 15, 1937

Nathan Davis - tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, educator.

An accomplished jazz master who has quietly garnered an impeccable reputation in both the recording and the academic arenas, Nathan Davis is truly one of the living treasures in jazz and one of its most sophisticated spokesmen as well.

Born Nathan Tate Davis on Feb. 15 1937, in Kansas City, Davis began to play trombone at the age of 17, but soon switched to reeds and became an accomplished player on flute, bass clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones. His first noteworthy job was with the Jay McShann band, and a little later he became one of the few males who has ever played with the usually all-female International Sweethearts Of Rhythm. While studying at Kansas University, Davis lead a group with Carmell Jones; then army service in 1960 took him to Berlin. On leaving the army in 1963 he remained in Europe and was invited to Paris by Kenny "Klook" Clarke, with whom he played for most of the next six years.

Charles Davis

Born: May 20, 1933

Born in Mississippi and raised in Chicago, Charles graduated from the famous DuSable High School, studied at the Chicago School of Music and was a private student of John Hauser. 50’s -- Played in the bands of Billie Holiday and Ben Webster, Sun Ra and Dinah Washington. Performed and recorded with Kenny Dorham with whom he had a musical association that lasted many years. 60’s -- Performed and recorded with Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison, Illinois Jacquet, Freddie Hubbard, Johnny Griffin, Steve Lacy, Ahmad Jamal and worked with Blue Mitchell, Erskine Hawkins, John Coltrane, Clifford Jordan, among others