Richie Cole (musician)

Richie Cole (born February 29, 1948) is an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer and arranger.

Early life

Cole was born in Trenton, New Jersey.[1]

Cole started playing alto saxophone when he was 10 years old, encouraged by his father who owned a jazz club in New Jersey. He is a graduate of Ewing High School, in Ewing Township, New Jersey.[2][3]

Influenced by Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker, Cole’s talent and dedication won him a full scholarship from Downbeat Magazine to the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Career

In 1969 he joined drummer Buddy Rich's Big Band. And after stints with vibraphonist/pianist Lionel Hampton's Big Band and trumpeter Doc Severinsen's Big Band, Cole formed his own quintet and toured worldwide, doing a great deal to popularize bebop and his own “Alto Madness” style in the '70s and early '80s.

Cole has performed and recorded with vocalists Eddie Jefferson, Nancy Wilson, Tom Waits, The Manhattan Transfer group, and instrumentalists Bobby Enriquez, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Art Pepper, and Boots Randolph, among many others.

Cole has recorded over 50 albums and CDs, including his top hit album Hollywood Madness (1979 Muse Records) and his tribute album to Leonard Bernstein, Richie Cole Plays West Side Story (1997 Music Masters Jazz).

Cole was appointed to the Board of the National Jazz Service Organization and the Board for the National Endowment for the Arts where he served as chairman for one year. He is also a charter member of the International Association of Jazz Educators. In 2005 he was awarded the State of California Congressional Certificate of Lifetime Achievement in Jazz on behalf of the Temecula Jazz Society.

The Alto Madness Orchestra was developed by Cole in the '90s. According to Cole, "The idea of the Orchestra is the concept and sound of an eighteen-piece big band using only seven instruments, four of which are horns. Not only does this have the big band ensemble sound, it also allows us plenty of room for improvisation as if we were in a quartet setting."

Personal life

Cole currently resides and performs in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Discography

As leader

Progressive Recording Corporation/PRC Records
Adelphi Records
Muse Records
Seven Seas/King [Japan] Records
GNP Crescendo Records
Palo Alto Records
Concord Records
Milestone Records
Heads Up Records
Music Masters Records
Fresh Sound Records
Jazz Excursion Records
Multisonic Records
Akashic Records
Richie Cole Presents/RCP Records

Other CDs/reissues/compilations

Import CDs from Japan

Cole also appears on these CDs

As sideman

With Greg Abate

With Les DeMerle

With Jim Holman

With Freddie Hubbard sextet, Ashley Alexander, George Cables etc

With Eddie Jefferson

With Peter Lauffer

With The Manhattan Transfer

With Oliver Nelson

With Anita O'Day

With Don Patterson

With Buddy Rich

With Janine Santana

With Sigmund Snopek III

With Sonny Stitt

With Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet

With James Van Buren

With Patrice Villastrigo

DVDs

References

  1. ↑ Provizer, Norman. "RICHIE COLE BRINGS SAX APPEAL TO VARTAN", Rocky Mountain News, April 4, 1996. Accessed March 25, 2012. "On his current CD, Kush: The Music of Dizzy Gillespie, alto saxophonist Richie Cole spends most of his time in the company of a large brass section.... Instead, the Trenton, N.J. native will be in a quartet setting for a live recording on the Vartan Jazz label."
  2. ↑ Bailey, Marilynn E. "Cole Bebops Into Greatness", Evening Independent, December 2, 1978. Accessed March 25, 2012. "Cole says he was pleased when he learned he and Johneon had gone to the same high school — Ewing High — in Trenton."
  3. ↑ Allmusic biography

External links

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