Italian-American jazz clarinetist
Buddy DeFranco
DeFranco in New York, 1947
Birth name Boniface Ferdinand Leonard DeFranco Born (1923-02-17 ) February 17, 1923
Camden, New Jersey , U.S.Died December 24, 2014(2014-12-24) (aged 91)
Panama City, Florida , U.S. Genres
Occupation(s) Musician Instrument(s)
Years active 1940s–2014 Labels
Norgran ,
Verve ,
Mercury , Concord Jazz,
Arbors ,
Pablo Website
www .buddydefranco .com
Musical artist
Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy " DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014)
[1] was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist. In addition to his work as a bandleader, DeFranco led the
Glenn Miller Orchestra for almost a decade in the 1960s and 1970s.
Biography
Born in
Camden, New Jersey , United States,
[2] DeFranco was raised in
South Philadelphia . He was playing the clarinet by the time he was nine years old and within five years had won a national
Tommy Dorsey
[3] swing contest.
[1]
He began his professional career just as
swing music and
big bands —many of which were led by clarinetists like
Artie Shaw , and
Benny Goodman —were in decline. While most jazz clarinet players did not adapt to this change, DeFranco successfully continued to play clarinet exclusively, and was one of the few
bebop clarinetists.
[4]
In 1950, DeFranco spent a year with
Count Basie 's septet.
[2] He then led a small combo in the early 1950s which included pianist
Sonny Clark and guitarist
Tal Farlow . In this period, DeFranco recorded for
MGM , Norgran and
Verve ; the latter two labels were owned by
Norman Granz .
During the years 1960-64, DeFranco released four innovative quartet albums, as co-leader with the accordionist Tommy Gumina.
[5]
He was
bandleader of the
Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1966 to 1974,
[2] under the name, "The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, Directed By Buddy DeFranco". He also performed with
Gene Krupa ,
Art Blakey ,
Tommy Dorsey ,
Count Basie ,
Charlie Barnet ,
Art Tatum ,
Oscar Peterson ,
Lennie Tristano ,
Dodo Marmarosa ,
Terry Gibbs ,
Charlie Parker ,
Dizzy Gillespie ,
Miles Davis ,
Eddie Daniels ,
Andy Firth-musician ,
Don Burrows ,
Putte Wickman ,
Billie Holiday and many others, and released dozens of albums as a leader.
DeFranco died in
Panama City, Florida , at the age of 91.
[6]
Awards and honors
DeFranco won twenty awards from
DownBeat magazine, nine awards from
Metronome , and sixteen
Playboy All-Stars awards.
[3]
Discography
As leader
Cool & Quiet with
Lennie Tristano (Capitol, 1953)
The Progressive Mr. DeFranco (Norgran, 1954)
Pretty Moods (Norgran, 1954)
The Artistry of Buddy DeFranco (Norgran, 1954)
Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson Play George Gershwin (Norgran, 1954)
The Buddy DeFranco Wailers (Norgran, 1956)
Sweet and Lovely (Verve, 1956)
In a Mellow Mood (Norgran, 1956)
Mr. Clarinet (Norgran, 1956)
Jazz Tones (Norgran, 1956)
Buddy DeFranco Plays Benny Goodman (Verve, 1957)
The Art Tatum Buddy DeFranco Quartet (Verve, 1958)
Cross Country Suite (Dot, 1958)
Generalissimo (Verve, 1958)
Buddy DeFranco and the Oscar Peterson Quartet (Verve, 1958)
Live Date! (Verve, 1958)
Buddy DeFranco Plays Artie Shaw (Verve, 1958)
Cooking the Blues (Verve, 1958)
Bravura (Verve, 1959)
Pacific Standard Swingin'! Time with
Tommy Gumina (Decca, 1960)
Presenting with Tommy Gumina (Mercury, 1961)
Kaleidoscope with Tommy Gumina (Mercury, 1962)
Pol.Y.Tones with Tommy Gumina (Mercury, 1963)
The Girl from Ipanema with Tommy Gumina (Mercury, 1964)
Blues Bag (Vee Jay, 1965)
Crosscurrents with
Lennie Tristano (Capitol, 1972)
Free Sail (Choice, 1974)
Black Magic with Helen Forrest (Shamrock, 1975)
Love Affair with a Clarinet Vol. 2 (Famous Solos, 1976)
Sessions, Live (Callipe, 1976)
Borinquin (Sonet, 1976)
Waterbed (Choice, 1978)
Buddy DeFranco with Jim Gillis (Classic Jazz, 1978)
Closed Session (Verve, 1979)
Buddy DeFranco (Famous Solos, 1980)
Like Someone in Love (Progressive, 1980)
Jazz Party: First Time Together with Terry Gibbs (Palo Alto, 1981)
Eastern Exposure (Silver Crest, 1982)
Buddy DeFranco Presents John Denman (Lud, 1983)
Now's the Time with Terry Gibbs (Tall Tree, 1984)
Mr. Lucky (Pablo, 1984)
Hark with Oscar Peterson (Pablo, 1985)
Groovin (Hep, 1985)
Chicago Fire with Terry Gibbs (Contemporary, 1987)
Holiday for Swing with Terry Gibbs (Contemporary, 1988)
Garden of Dreams with
Martin Taylor (ProJazz, 1988)
Memories of You: A Tribute to Benny Goodman with Terry Gibbs, Herb Ellis (Contemporary, 1991)
Kings of Swing with Terry Gibbs, Herb Ellis (Contemporary, 1992)
Five Notes of Blues (Musidisc, 1992)
Modern Clarinets: Museum of Modern Jazz (Verve, 1993)
The Buenos Aires Concerts (Hep, 1995)
Free Fall (Candid, 1996)
You Must Believe in Swing with Dave McKenna (Concord Jazz, 1997)
Do Nothing Till You Hear from Us! with Dave McKenna (Concord Jazz, 1999)
The Champs with Putte Wickman (Gazell, 1999)
Terry Gibbs and Buddy DeFranco Play Steve Allen (Contemporary, 1999)
Gone with the Wind (Storyville, 1999)
The Three Sopranos (hr-musik.de, 2001)
Cookin' the Books (Arbors Records, 2003)
Charlie Cat 2 (Arbors, 2007)
Cookin' with Eiji Kitamura, Kiyoshi Takeshita (Jazz Cook, 2008)
Down for Double with John Burnett Swing Orchestra (Delmark Records, 2010)
As sideman
With
Tommy Dorsey
Yes Indeed! (RCA Victor 1956)
Tribute to Dorsey, Vol. 2 (RCA Victor, 1957)
Tommy Dorsey's Greatest Band (20th Fox, 1959)
With
Lionel Hampton
The Lionel Hampton Quintet (Clef, 1954)
Album #2 (Clef, 1955)
Lionel Hampton and His All Stars (Columbia, 1957)
With others
Charlie Barnet , Sky Liner (MCA, 1976)
Count Basie , Blues by Basie (Columbia, 1956)
Les Brown , Jazz Song Book (Coral, 1960)
Ella Fitzgerald , Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern & Johnny Mercer Songbooks (Verve, 1976)
Stan Getz , Stan Getz Blues (VSP, 1966)
Billie Holiday , Ladylove (United Artists, 1962)
Billie Holiday, Live in Cologne 1954 (Jazzline, 2014)
Rolf Kuhn , Affairs (Intuition, 1997)
Herbie Mann , Big Band Mann (VSP, 1966)
Gerry Mulligan , Chet Baker Gerry Mulligan Buddy DeFranco (GNP, 1957)
Joe Negri , Uptown Elegance (MCG, 2004)
Flip Phillips , Flip Philllips Celebrates His 80th Birthday at the March of Jazz 1995 (Arbors, 2003)
Tullio De Piscopo , Live in Zurich at Moods Club (Rai Trade, 2004)
Buddy Rich , Buddy Rich at JATP (VSP, 1966)
References
^
a
b Heckman, Don (26 December 2014).
"Buddy DeFranco dies at 91; first clarinetist to master bebop" .
Los Angeles Times .
^
a
b
c
Colin Larkin , ed. (1992).
The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.).
Guinness Publishing . pp. 651/2.
ISBN
0-85112-939-0 .
^
a
b
"Buddy DeFranco To Play At LVC" . Lebanon Daily News . Lebanon Daily News. July 14, 1977. p. 22. Retrieved April 25, 2015 – via
Newspapers.com .
^ Pankin, Ted (1999).
"On Buddy DeFranco's 89th Birthday, a 1999 Downbeat article, plus Interview" .
Down Beat .
ISSN
0012-5768 .
^
Myers, Marc (24 May 2011).
"Buddy DeFranco and Tommy Gumina" . Jazzwax.com .
^
Strum, Charles (26 December 2014).
"Buddy DeFranco, 91, Versatile Jazz Clarinetist, Dies" .
The New York Times . p. B7.
External links
International National Artists Other