Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eric Marienthal was born on December 19, 1957 in Sacramento, California but moved with his family to San Mateo, California when he was two years old. He was taught music while in school and picked up the saxophone in the fourth grade. His father bought him a $400 Selmer saxophone and enrolled him in Corona Del Mar High School. Throughout his education, he learned to play guitar, flute, clarinet and piano.
After graduating from high school he studied saxophone at the Berklee College of Music. By the time he left Berklee, Eric had achieved the highest proficiency rating given by the school. He began his professional career in 1980 with New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt. Heading west he settled in Los Angeles, California and became a member of the Chick Corea Elektric Band. He recorded six albums with that band and two of them won Grammy Awards.
Marienthal has also written instructional books, including Comprehensive Jazz Studies & Exercises, The Ultimate Jazz Play Along, and The Music of Eric Marienthal. He has made instructional videos, Play Sax From Day One, Modern Sax and Tricks of the Trade. He occupies the lead alto chair of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, playing alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, and piccolo.
Grammy Award-nominated alto saxophonist Eric Marienthal continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William Frank Reichenbach Sr. was born on December 18, 1923 in Washington, D.C. and started his musical career even before he graduated from the McKinley Tech High School. During World War II, he played in a band of the Navy before he toured with the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, and Art Mooney. Later he worked in the jazz clubs of his hometown, where he accompanied Frank Sinatra, Patti Page, Teddy Wilson, and Zoot Sims.
Charlie Byrd hired Reichenbach as an additional drummer for the Stan Getz album Jazz Samba, recorded in 1962. This recording provoked a wave of enthusiasm for bossa nova in the United States. That same year he replaced Buddy Deppenschmidt in the Byrd trio, and stayed as a member for twelve years. Departing from Byrd, he returned to work in Washington D.C., as the house drummer at the Blues Alley.
Drummer and percussionist Bill Reichenbach, who co-developed the jazz-samba drumming style, transitioned following a series of strokes in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 84 on May 16, 2008.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Louis Raphael Mucci was born December 13, 1909 in Syracuse, New York and began as a baritone horn player and was appearing in professional settings by the time he was ten years old. As a teenager he switched to trumpet and worked in the late 1930s with Mildred Bailey and Red Norvo before joining Glenn Miller’s ensemble in 1938-1939.
During World War II he played in the bands of Bob Chester, Hal McIntyre, Claude Thornhill, and Benny Goodman. In the first half of the 1950s Lou worked as a house musician for CBS and also recorded with Buddy DeFranco and Artie Shaw. Later in the decade he worked with Helen Merrill, John LaPorta and Miles Davis, the latter lasting into the early Sixties.
Trumpeter Lou Mucci, who also played with Kenny Burrell in 1964, transitioned on January 4, 2000.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marky Markowitz was born Irwin Markowitz but also known as Irving Markowitz on December 11, 1923 in Washington, DC. The youngest of seven children of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he learned the trumpet at the local Police Boys’ Club. He played early in his career in a number of big bands during the Forties, including those of Charlie Spivak, Jimmy Dorsey, Boyd Raeburn, and Woody Herman. He played in Buddy Rich’s orchestra in 1946–47, then returned to service under Herman in 1947–48.
Moving his family from Washington, D.C. to New York City in 1958 he eventually settled in Nyack, New York where he worked primarily as a studio musician in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. During this period in his career he did appear on stage with Herman, Gene Krupa, Lee Konit, Ralph Burns, George Russell, Al Cohn, Paul Desmond, and Bill Evans. Marky was a first call trumpeter for many top artists of the time including Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, the Young Rascals, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Maynard Ferguson, George Segal, and many others. He played as well on hundreds of advertising jingles, TV ads and movie scores.
He was a perennial on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy, had a vocal impression of Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, and performed in his hometown with an All-Star band, led by Nelson Riddle, at the Inaugural Ball for President Ronald Reagan’s 2nd term.
Trumpeter and flugelhornist Marky Markowitz, who recorded one album as a leader titled Marks Vibes, transitioned on November 18, 1986.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charlie Ventura was born Charles Venturo on December 2, 1916 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the 1940s, he played saxophone for the Gene Krupa and Teddy Powell bands. In 1945 he was named best tenor saxophonist by DownBeat magazine.
During the Forties he led big bands and led a band which included Conte Candoli, Bennie Green, Boots Mussulli, Ed Shaughnessy, Jackie Cain, and Roy Kral. By the 1950s he formed the Big Four with Buddy Rich, Marty Napoleon, and Chubby Jackson. He was a sideman with Krupa through the 1960s, then worked in Las Vegas with comedian Jackie Gleason. By the 1980s he slowed down until finally retiring from music.
Tenor saxophonist and bandleader Charlie Ventura transitioned from lung cancer on January 17, 1992 in Pleasantville, New Jersey at age 75. was an American from
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