Results for "Saxophone"

Tim Berne

Born: October 16, 1954

Tim Berne was born in Syracuse, New York in 1954, and was subjected to a perfectly normal childhood. But he didn't decide to take up music until nearly twenty years later when he was attending Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, putting most of his energy into intramural basketball. At this point, while resting a sore ankle in his dormitory, Berne encountered a saxophonist who was selling his alto, and bought it on impulse. "There was just something about the sound of the saxophone that got to me," he says. Musically, up to that point, Berne had always been motivated by all types of music, but especially by the great Stax artists like Sam and Dave and Johnnie Taylor, as well as Motown artists like Martha and the Vandellas and Gladys Knight

Jerry Bergonzi

Born: October 21, 1947

Tenor saxophonist, Jerry Bergonzi, is an internationally recognized jazz performer, composer, author and educator. His music is renowned for its innovation, mastery, and integrity. Relentless drive, inner fire, total command, awesome technique, elastic lyricism, rich resonance, world-class, a musical visionary, are among the rave reviews credited to his sound. Bergonzi's music has been applauded throughout the world at festivals, concert halls, and jazz venues and his dedication to jazz music has been well documented by an extensive discography. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Bergonzi became interested in music early on

Bob Berg

Born: April 7, 1951

Born in 1951, Bob Berg began his musical experience at the age of six, studying classical piano at his home in Brooklyn N.Y. He began playing saxophone at the age of 13, and soon thereafter attended the High School of the Performing Arts. In 1968, Berg was admitted to The Juilliard School, studying classical saxophone. While attending Juilliard, Berg was offered a tour with the organist Jack McDuff, which began his career as a jazz musician. In 1973, Berg joined Horace Silver’s band and remained there for three years, appearing on three of Silver’s albums. It was in this period that Bob also became active on the New York jazz scene meeting other young musicians and playing and exchanging ideas with many of his peers

Gary Thomas

Born: June 10, 1961

Saxophonist and flutist Gary Thomas established himself in the 1980s as one of the most jarring soloists of his generation, especially against somewhat chaotic backdrops such as the electronic-tinged accompaniment of guitar, keyboards, bass and drums on Seventh Quadrant (1987) and Code Violations (1988). He kept antagonizing the tradition of jazz with By Any Means Necessary (1989), featuring (among others) alto saxophonist Greg Osby, keyboardist Geri Allen, guitarist John Scofield, bassist Anthony Cox and percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, and The Kold Kage (1991), that experimented with synthesizer, turntable and rapping, always displaying a passion for uncharted territories. A member of Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition band and Thomas has worked with John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Jim Hall, Dave Holland, Wayne Shorter, Ravi Coltrane, Cassandra Wilson, Wallace Roney, Miles Davis, Steve Coleman, as well as numerous other premier jazz musicians. He currently serves as Director of Jazz Studies at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.

Joe Temperley

Born: September 20, 1929

Joe Temperley (saxophones) was born in Scotland and first achieved prominence in the United Kingdom as a member of Humphrey Lyttelton's band from 1958 to 1965. He toured the United States with the band in 1959. In 1965, he came to New York City, where he performed and/or recorded with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson, Duke Pearson, the Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra and Clark Terry, among many others. In October 1974 he toured and recorded with The Duke Ellington Orchestra as a replacement for Harry Carney. Mr. Temperley played in the Broadway show Sophisticated Ladies in the 1980s, and his film soundtrack credits include The Cotton Club, Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, When Harry Met Sally, and Tune In Tomorrow, composed by Wynton Marsalis

John Tchicai

Born: April 28, 1936

By approaching jazz from a wide scope, Afro-Danish-American John Tchicai has been continuously progressive throughout his life. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1936, of a Danish mother and a Congolese father and growing up in healthy surroundings, John Martin Tchicai became a leading exponent of the jazz avant-garde in New York in the '60s and a father-figure for the European avant-garde after that. Now based in Davis, California, and Claira, France, by a single-mindedness of purpose and action, his work still reflects what he's always been doing, which is innovate and inspire other people, in a most refreshing way

Paul Taylor

In the first few bars of the title track to his new Peak Records/eOne album, Countdown, contemporary urban jazz’ hit saxman Paul Taylor, ever the engaging showman, invites his legion of fans into the experience by counting off 5…4…3…2…1. He launches into his incredible third decade as a solo artist with a set that’s fuses his trademark jazzy/funk/soul vibe with prominent elements of synthy dance pop/EDM, trancelike neo-soul, electronica, folksy lite rock, reggaeton, even a touch of blues. The album’s colorful fusion of grooves and styles was created by the saxophonist and his longtime collaborator, co-writer and producer Dino Esposito

John Surman

Born: August 30, 1944

Born in Tavistock, Devon in 1944, composer/multi-instrumentalist John Surman is one of the key figures in a generation of European musicians who have crucially expanded the international horizons of jazz during the past thirty years or so. Long acknowledged as an improviser of world class, Surman has also composed a body of work which extends far beyond the normal range of the jazz repertoire. Already, by the late 60s, it was clear that Surman was a phenomenon. He started out as a teenager playing the music of fellow Devonian Mike Westbrook, and then amazed the London establishment with displays of extravagant instrumental proficiency combined with a passionate, rumbustious imagination. As a soloist, Surman's early career took shape in the melting pot that produced a number of fine British musicians during the 60s

Michael Stuart

Born: December 2, 1948

Michael Stuart (tenor and soprano saxophones) was born December 2, 1948 in Annotto Bay, Jamaica, West Indies. After graduating from high school there, he attended the Jamaica School of Music for two years studying saxophone, music theory, and flute. Moving to Toronto, Canada in 1969, he enrolled at the Brodie School of Music where he studied Classical Saxophone, also studying privately with jazz saxophonist Alvin Pall. In the ‘80s, Stuart studied piano briefly with Frank Falco, and in the early ‘90s, studied eighteenth century counterpoint with Nick Deutsch in the early ‘90’s. In the Spring of 2004 he attended a Michael Brecker clinic held at Humber College, a personal “clinic” that ended up lasting three days

John Stubblefield

Born: February 4, 1945

John Stubblefield was one of the most versatile musicians in jazz, an invaluable artist who expanded on the music's potential from within the tradition. Stubblefield's tenor and soprano saxophones told the story of four decades of diverse musical experience, from local R&B acts like Jackie Wilson and Solomon Burke (64) through Chicago's progressive Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (67- 70) to freelancing in New York with the renowned Tito Puente (72-74) and Kenny Barron (86) and everyone in between. After moving to New York in 1971, he played with the Collective Black Artists big band and Mary Lou Williams