Gene Cherico
Encyclopedia
Eugene Valentino "Gene" Cherico (April 15, 1935, Buffalo, New York
—August 12, 1994, Santa Monica, California
) was an American jazz
double-bassist.
Cherico played drums as a child and played in a special services band in the Army
, but injured his hand and picked up double bass as therapy
. He attended the Berklee College of Music
, where he met Toshiko Akiyoshi
, with whom he would tour and record intermittently for many years. He also worked as a sideman with Herb Pomeroy
(1957-59), Maynard Ferguson
(1959-60), Red Norvo
(1961), Benny Goodman
(1962), George Shearing
(1963), Stan Getz
(1964-66), and Peter Nero
(1966-70). He also recorded with Gary Burton
and Joe Morello
in 1961 and with Paul Desmond
in 1961 and 1963.
Cherico spent much of the 1970s as a studio musician, working with Frank Strazzeri
(1973, 1975), Louie Bellson
, Lew Tabackin
, Gerry Mulligan
(1974), and Akiyoshi. He also did work as an accompanist to singers such as Peggy Lee
(1966), Carmen McRae
(1970), Frank Sinatra
(1973), and Nancy Wilson. He toured extensively with Sinatra into the next decade. He retired in 1984 after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
With Gary Burton
With Stan Getz
With Frank Sinatra
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
—August 12, 1994, Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
) was an American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
double-bassist.
Cherico played drums as a child and played in a special services band in the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, but injured his hand and picked up double bass as therapy
Therapy
This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
. He attended the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, where he met Toshiko Akiyoshi
Toshiko Akiyoshi
is a Japanese American jazz pianist, composer/arranger and bandleader. Among a very few successful female instrumentalists of her generation in jazz, she is also recognized as a major figure in jazz composition. She has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best...
, with whom he would tour and record intermittently for many years. He also worked as a sideman with Herb Pomeroy
Herb Pomeroy
Irving Herbert "Herb" Pomeroy, III was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and educator...
(1957-59), Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...
(1959-60), Red Norvo
Red Norvo
Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments...
(1961), Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
(1962), George Shearing
George Shearing
Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...
(1963), Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
(1964-66), and Peter Nero
Peter Nero
Peter Nero is an American pianist and pops conductor.-Early life:Born in Brooklyn, New York, As Bernard Nierow, Nero started his formal music training at the age of seven. He studied piano under Frederick Bried...
(1966-70). He also recorded with Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
and Joe Morello
Joe Morello
Joseph Albert Morello was a jazz drummer best known for his 12½-year stint with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. He was frequently noted for playing in the unusual time signatures employed by that group in such pieces as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk"...
in 1961 and with Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond
Paul Desmond , born Paul Emil Breitenfeld, was a jazz alto saxophonist and composer born in San Francisco, best known for the work he did in the Dave Brubeck Quartet and for penning that group's greatest hit, "Take Five"...
in 1961 and 1963.
Cherico spent much of the 1970s as a studio musician, working with Frank Strazzeri
Frank Strazzeri
Frank Strazzeri is an American jazz pianist.Strazzeri began on tenor saxophone and clarinet at age 12, then switched to piano soon after. He attended the Eastman School of Music, then took a job as a house pianist in a nightclub in Rochester in 1952. While there he accompanied visiting musicians...
(1973, 1975), Louie Bellson
Louie Bellson
Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni , better known by the stage name Louie Bellson , was an Italian-American jazz drummer...
, Lew Tabackin
Lew Tabackin
Lew Tabackin is a jazz flautist and a tenor saxophonist. He is married to Toshiko Akiyoshi, who is a jazz pianist and a composer/arranger.-Biography:...
, Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
(1974), and Akiyoshi. He also did work as an accompanist to singers such as Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
(1966), Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
(1970), Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
(1973), and Nancy Wilson. He toured extensively with Sinatra into the next decade. He retired in 1984 after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Discography
With Toshiko Akiyoshi- Toshiko and Leon Sash at NewportToshiko and Leon Sash at NewportThe live album Toshiko and Leon Sash at Newport was recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 and released on the Verve record label. All 4 Toshiko Akiyoshi tracks are also included on some later re-issues of the Norgran recording Toshiko's Piano / Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi.-Track...
(Verve, 1957) - The Many Sides of ToshikoThe Many Sides of ToshikoThe Many Sides of Toshiko is a jazz piano trio album by Toshiko Akiyoshi, recorded in New York in 1957 and released on the Verve Records label.-Track listing:#"The Man I Love" The Many Sides of Toshiko is a jazz piano trio album by Toshiko Akiyoshi, recorded in New York in 1957 and released on the...
(Verve, 1957) - Long Yellow Road (Asahi, 1961)
- The Toshiko – Mariano Quartet with Charlie MarianoCharlie MarianoCarmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in Cologne, Germany.-Biography:Mariano was the son of Italian immigrants....
(Candid, 1961) - Live at Birdland (Fresh Sound, 1961)
- Toshiko – Mariano Quartet (in West Side) with Charlie Mariano (Takt, 1963)
- East and West with Charlie Mariano (Victor, 1963)
- KogunKogunKogun is the first album recorded by the Los Angeles-based Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band. It was released in Japan by Victor in 1974 and received the Swing Journal Silver Disk prize for that year...
(RCA, 1974) with the Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big BandToshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big BandThe Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band was a 16 piece jazz big band created by pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi and tenor saxophone / flutist Lew Tabackin in Los Angeles in 1973. In 1982 the principals moved from Los Angeles to New York city and re-formed the group with new members under the name,... - Long Yellow Road (RCA, 1975) - Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band
- Dedications (Discomate, 1976)
- Notorious Tourist from the EastNotorious Tourist from the EastThe jazz album Notorious Tourist from the East was recorded by Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1978 and released in the USA on the Inner City Record label and in Japan on the Discomate record label .-Track listing:Side 'A'#"Notorious Tourist from the...
(Inner City, 1978) - Just Be BopJust Be BopJust Be Bop is a jazz album recorded by pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi around 1980 and released in Japan on the Discomate record label.-Track listing:#"Kelo" – 5:02#"But Beautiful" – 5:15#"Serpent's Tooth" – 5:25...
(Discomate, 1980) - Toshiko Akiyoshi TrioToshiko Akiyoshi Trio (1983 album)Toshiko Akiyoshi Trio is a jazz trio album recorded by pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1983. It was released on the Toshiba / EMI East World record label...
(Toshiba, 1983)
With Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
- New Vibe Man in TownNew Vibe Man in TownNew Vibe Man in Town is the debut album by vibraphonist Gary Burton recorded in 1961 and released on the RCA label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars stating "Vibraphonist Gary Burton's debut as a leader shows that he was a brilliant player from the start of his...
(RCA, 1961)
With Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
- Getz/Gilberto #2Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2Getz/Gilberto #2 is a live album by Stan Getz and João Gilberto, released in 1964. It was recorded at a live concert at Carnegie Hall in October 1964...
(Verve, 1964)
With Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
- L.A. Is My LadyL.A. Is My LadyL.A. Is My Lady is a 1984 studio album by Frank Sinatra, featuring arrangements by Quincy Jones. It was the last solo album that Sinatra recorded, though Sinatra recorded three further songs, which were unreleased until The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings.The album came after an album of duets...
(Qwest, 1984)