Results for "vibraphone"

John Cocuzzi

Born: October 26, 1964

Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, John was first a drummer, then a piano player, and didn't add the vibraphone until his late teens when he was inspired by Lionel Hampton recordings. Since then, he has performed alongside world-class musicians at many domestic jazz festivals and jazz parties, and at prestigious venues in Europe. John is recognized by many as one of the most versatile, talented and exciting musicians to come along in quite awhile. John and his quartet play favorites from the songbooks of Terry Gibbs, Milt Jackson, Red Norvo, and Lionel Hampton. He has earned a reputation as the East Coast's premier swing vibraphonist and is now living in California.

Lem Winchester

Born: March 19, 1928

Lem Winchester had great potential as a vibraphonist but it was all cut short by a tragic accident. Influenced by Milt Jackson but developing a sound of his own, Winchester actually played tenor, baritone, and piano before choosing to stick exclusively to vibes. A police officer in Wilmington, Delaware, he made a big impression at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and was soon recording regularly with such major players as Oliver Nelson, Benny Golson, and Tommy Flanagan. Winchester resigned from the police force in 1960 to be a musician full-time, but then on January 13, 1961, he unsuccessfully demonstrated a trick with a revolver.

Cal Tjader

Born: July 16, 1925

Cal Tjader crafted one the sleekest and most distinctive sounds in Latin jazz. His cool, shimmering, jazz vibes, gliding fluidly atop fiery, hot Afro-Cuban rhythms, made for a sonic signature that helped introduce the genre into a mainstream audience. Cal Tjader’s mother was a concert pianist, his father a vaudeville performer. He grew up with them on the road, tap- dancing his way through early childhood. Later, the family settled down in San Mateo on the San Francisco Peninsula, and his father opened a dancing school. After high school and a stint in the Navy, Cal ended up at San Francisco State College, where he first met up with Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond. Tjader graduated in 1950 with a B.A

Orphy Robinson

Born: October 13, 1960

Orphy Robinson MBE. Robinson is an award winning musician who specialises on Vibraphone & Percussion. The winner of the 2017 Jazz fm Awards “Live Performance of the year’ for his Bobby Hutcherson Songbook project. Robinson was awarded an MBE for “services to music” in the Queen’s birthday Honours list in June 2018. In 2015 he received a top 12 placing in the Critics Poll for the Jazz magazine Downbeat in ‘Vibraphonist of the year’ category. The first time a musician from the UK has achieved this accolade. One of the few musicians from the UK to have been signed to legendary record label ‘Blue Note,' where he released 2 albums and 2 EP’s to great critical and international acclaim

Dave Pike

Born: March 23, 1938

Dave Pike was born in Detroit, MI in 1938, he started off as a drummer and later learned marimba and vibraphone. Pike's family moved to Los Angeles in 1954, he played backing for artists such as Dexter Gordon, Harold Land, Carl Perkins, Paul Bley and Curtis Counce. Pike played often around California and then moved to New York in 1960 to tap into a busier Jazz scene.

Pike found greater success on the East Coast, probably occurring through joining the popular Herbie Mann's group with whom he appears on several early recordings. Pike became heavily influenced by the Latin Jazz scene and in 1964, he recorded the album "Manhattan Latin" released on Decca.

Red Norvo

Born: March 31, 1908

Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphonists. He helped establish the xylophone and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments. Norvo was born Kenneth Norville in Beardstown, Illinois. The story goes that he sold his pet pony to help pay for his first marimba. Norvo's career began in Chicago with a band called "The Collegians", in 1925. He played with many other bands, including an all-marimba band on the vaudeville circuit, and the bands of Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Woody Herman. Norvo recorded with Mildred Bailey (his wife), Billie Holiday, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra, among others

Steve Nelson

Born: August 11, 1954

Described as “the most completely realized and original performer on the vibraphone,” Steve Nelson began his career in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania choosing an instrument not often seen on the bandstand. He was introduced to the vibraphone in high school by George A. Monroe, a steel worker by day, and a gifted vibraphonist in the Milt Jackson tradition. Along with early instruction in jazz, Monroe also taught him the piano. Steve dedicates "Blues for George A." to his teacher on his album, Full Nelson.

Bobby Naughton

Born: June 25, 1944

Bobby Naughton is self-taught as a performer and composer. After playing piano in rock-and-roll groups he took up the vibraphone in 1966, and in the late 1960s played with Perry Robinson, Sheila Jordan, and others. He continued to work intermittently with Robinson while recording as a leader on his own label, Otic; in 1971 he wrote a score for Hans Richter's silent film Everyday (1929). He played with the Jazz Composers Orchestra in 1972 and Leo Smith (from the mid 1970s), and joined the Creative Musicians Improvisors Forum in New Haven, Connecticut. Naughton's vibraphone playing, like that of Gunter Hampel, emphasizes the instrument's role in group improvisation rather than its possibilities as a solo vehicle

Buddy Montgomery

Born: January 30, 1930

An Amazingly Talented Muscian, Arranger and Composer- His music has been described as, Lyrical and fluid, with a warmth and grace that's hard to resist. Composer and arranger, pianist and vibraphonist, Buddy Montgomery's musical career has spanned nearly half a century. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Buddy was the youngest in a family of musical siblings. He was motivated to pursue a musical career by his older brothers, Thomas, Monk and Wes. But it was his sister Lena's piano playing that inspired Buddy to play the piano. Thomas, who died in his teens, was a drummer; Monk, a bassist; and Wes, a guitarist. By the age of 18, Buddy was on the road with Big Joe Turner, a well-known blues singer

Gary McFarland

Born: October 23, 1933

Gary McFarland was one of the more significant contributors to orchestral jazz during the 1960s. He had an unfortunately short career. But he was surprisingly productive in the brief decade he was captured on record (1960-70). An "adult prodigy," as Gene Lees once noted, McFarland was an ingenious composer whose music revealed shades of complex emotional subtlety and clever childlike simplicity. While in the army, he became interested in jazz and attempted to play trumpet, trombone and piano. In 1955 he took up playing the vibes. Displaying a quick ability for interesting writing, he obtained a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music