Buddy DeFranco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Buddy DeFranco | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Boniface Ferdinand Leonard DeFranco |
| Also known as | "Buddy" |
| Born | February 17, 1923 |
| Origin | Camden, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Bebop Post bop |
| Occupation(s) | Clarinetist |
| Instrument(s) | Clarinet |
| Years active | 1940s – present |
| Label(s) | Verve Records Mercury Records Arbors Records Norgran Records |
| Associated acts | Buddy DeFranco Quartet Tommy Gumina Norman Granz |
Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (born February 17, 1923 in Camden, New Jersey) is a jazz clarinet player.
DeFranco had the bad fortune to begin his professional career just as Swing Music and Big Bands — so many of which were led by clarinet players like Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman — were fading in popularity.
DeFranco was perhaps the only major jazz clarinet player to adapt to this change, and until the 1980's, he was the only notable jazz musician who played clarinet exclusively. He was also perhaps the only viable bebop clarinetist (but see Brad Terry, who carried Bebop to its extreme in modern Jazz).
In 1950 he joined the famous Count Basie Septet, spending a year with the band, and was also the leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1966 to 1974.
He has also performed with Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and many others, and has released dozens of albums as a leader.
[edit] Select discography
- Mr. Clarinet with Art Blakey, Milt Hinton, 1953
- Blues Bag with Victor Feldman, Curtis Fuller, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Freddie Hill, Victor Sproles, 1964
- Free Fall with Victor Feldman, John Chiodini, Joe Cocuzzo, Victor Sproles, 1974
- Like Someone in Love with Tal Farlow, Derek Smith, George Duvivier, Ronnie Bedford, 1977
- Hark with Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Martin Drew, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, 1985
- Holiday for Swing with John Campbell, Terry Gibbs, Todd Coolman, Gerry Gibbs, 1988
- Born to Swing! with Al Grey, Lin Biviano, Dave Cooper, Denis DiBlasio, Donald Downs, Pete Jackson, Larry McKenna, George Rabbai, Joe Sudler, Tony Desantis, Dom Fiori, Wendell Hobbs, Tony Vigilante, Zeigenfus, Brian Pastor, John Simon, 1988
- Chip off the Old Bop with Jimmy Cobb, Keter Betts, Joe Cohn, Larry Novak, 1992
- Buenos Aires Concerts Live album with Jorge Lopez Ruiz, Ricardo Lew, Jorge Navarro, 1995
- Mr. Lucky, Live album with Albert Dailey, George Duvivier, Ronnie Bedford, Joe Cohn, 1981/1997
- Buddy DeFranco & Oscar Peterson Play George Gershwin with Herb Ellis, Oscar Peterson, Marty Berman, Ray Brown, Nick Dimaio, Jack Dumont, David Frisina, Louis Kievman, Dan Lube, Rickey Marino, Murray McEachern, Dick Noel, Richard Perissi, Mischa Russell, Marshall Sosson, Bobby White, Kurt Reher, Eudice Shapiro, Sam Caplan, Julie Jacobs, Henry Hill, 1998
- Gone with the Wind with Todd Coolman, Jerry Coleman, 1999
- Do Nothing Till You Here from Us with Dave McKenna, Joe Cohn, 1999
- Cookin' the Books with Butch Miles, John Pizzarelli, Martin Pizzarelli, Ray Kennedy, 2004
- Wailers with Harry Edison, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Rowles, 2006
- Nobody Else But Me with the Metropole Orchestra
