Richie Kamuca
Encyclopedia
Richie Kamuca was an American
jazz
tenor saxophonist
born in Philadelphia
.
, Kamuca grew up in the East before moving west around the time that bebop
changed the prevailing style of jazz. His early playing, in what is generally considered the Lester Young
style, was done on tour with the big bands of Stan Kenton
and Woody Herman
, where he became a member of the later line-ups of Herman's famous Four Brothers saxophone section with Al Cohn
and Bill Perkins
.
Kamuca stayed on the West Coast
playing with the smaller groups of Chet Baker
, Maynard Ferguson
, Shorty Rogers
, and others. He was one of the Lighthouse All-Stars in 1957 and 1958, and recorded with Perkins, Art Pepper
, Jimmy Rowles
, Cy Touff
and many others in those years, as well as leading recording sessions in his own right.
Kamuca was a member of the group "Shelly Manne and His Men
" from 1959 through 1962, when he moved to New York
. In New York, he worked with Gerry Mulligan
, Gary McFarland
, and Roy Eldridge
before returning to the West Coast in 1972, where he recorded in the studios and performed with local groups.
Less well known to the general public than saxophonists who played in a similar style, like Stan Getz
, Kamuca, with his inventive and impassioned playing, was appreciated by his peers and by many others who knew his work.
Richie Kamuca died of cancer, in Los Angeles
, just before his 47th birthday.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
tenor saxophonist
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
born in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
Musical career
Like many players associated with West Coast jazzWest coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music tended to be more heavily arranged,...
, Kamuca grew up in the East before moving west around the time that bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
changed the prevailing style of jazz. His early playing, in what is generally considered the Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
style, was done on tour with the big bands of Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
and Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
, where he became a member of the later line-ups of Herman's famous Four Brothers saxophone section with Al Cohn
Al Cohn
Al Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...
and Bill Perkins
Bill Perkins (saxophonist)
Bill Perkins was a cool jazz saxophonist and flutist popular on the West Coast jazz scene, known primarily as a tenor saxophonist. Born in San Francisco, California, Perkins started out performing in the big bands of Woody Herman and Jerry Wald. He also worked for the Stan Kenton orchestra, which...
.
Kamuca stayed on the West Coast
West coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music tended to be more heavily arranged,...
playing with the smaller groups of Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
, 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...
, Shorty Rogers
Shorty Rogers
Milton “Shorty” Rogers , born Milton Rajonsky in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played both the trumpet and flugelhorn, and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. Rogers worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and...
, and others. He was one of the Lighthouse All-Stars in 1957 and 1958, and recorded with Perkins, Art Pepper
Art Pepper
Art Pepper , born Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr., was an American alto saxophonist and clarinetist.About Pepper, Scott Yanow of All Music stated, "In the 1950s he was one of the few altoists that was able to develop his own sound despite the dominant influence of Charlie Parker" and: "When Art Pepper...
, Jimmy Rowles
Jimmy Rowles
Jimmy Rowles was an American jazz pianist who was best known as an accompanist. He also released a number of albums under his own name, and explored various idioms including swing and cool jazz. - Biography :Born in Spokane, Washington, Rowles studied at Gonzaga College in Spokane, Washington...
, Cy Touff
Cy Touff
Cyril James Touff was a jazz bass trumpeter. He was one of the few jazz musicians known as a bass trumpeter. He was also associated with West coast jazz even though he spent most of his life in Chicago.He started on piano at age 6 and went on to play xylophone and saxophone before settling on...
and many others in those years, as well as leading recording sessions in his own right.
Kamuca was a member of the group "Shelly Manne and His Men
Shelly Manne
Shelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, swing, bebop, avant-garde jazz and fusion, as well as contributing...
" from 1959 through 1962, when he moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In New York, he worked with 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...
, Gary McFarland
Gary McFarland
Gary McFarland was an influential composer, arranger, vibraphonist and vocalist, prominent on Verve and Impulse! Records during the 1960s, when he made "one of the more significant contributors to orchestral jazz"...
, and Roy Eldridge
Roy Eldridge
Roy David Eldridge , nicknamed "Little Jazz" was an American jazz trumpet player. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos and his strong influence on Dizzy Gillespie mark him as one of the most exciting musicians of the swing era and a...
before returning to the West Coast in 1972, where he recorded in the studios and performed with local groups.
Less well known to the general public than saxophonists who played in a similar style, like 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...
, Kamuca, with his inventive and impassioned playing, was appreciated by his peers and by many others who knew his work.
Richie Kamuca died of cancer, in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, just before his 47th birthday.
Selected discography
- The Brothers (1955) (With Al CohnAl CohnAl Cohn was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger and composer.-Biography:Alvin Gilbert Cohn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was initially known in the 1940s for playing in Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the Four Brothers, along with Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Serge Chaloff...
and Bill PerkinsBill Perkins (saxophonist)Bill Perkins was a cool jazz saxophonist and flutist popular on the West Coast jazz scene, known primarily as a tenor saxophonist. Born in San Francisco, California, Perkins started out performing in the big bands of Woody Herman and Jerry Wald. He also worked for the Stan Kenton orchestra, which...
. ) - Cy TouffCy TouffCyril James Touff was a jazz bass trumpeter. He was one of the few jazz musicians known as a bass trumpeter. He was also associated with West coast jazz even though he spent most of his life in Chicago.He started on piano at age 6 and went on to play xylophone and saxophone before settling on...
and Richie Kamuca, Primitive Cats (1955) - Bill Perkins, Tenors Head-on (1956) (With Kamuca.)
- Maynard FergusonMaynard FergusonMaynard 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...
, Live at Peacock Lane 1956-1957 (Live in Los Angeles, with Kamuca in the band.) - Richie Kamuca Quartet (1957)
- West Coast Jazz in Hi-Fi (1959) (With Bill Holman, Conte CandoliConte CandoliSecondo "Conte" Candoli was an American jazz trumpeter based on the West Coast. He played in the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie, and in Doc Severinsen's NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show. He played with Gerry Mulligan, and on Frank Sinatra's TV specials...
and Frank RosolinoFrank RosolinoFrank Rosolino was an American jazz trombonist.- Biography :Born in Detroit, Michigan, Frank Rosolino studied the guitar with his father from the age of 9. He took up the trombone at age 14 while he was enrolled at Miller High School where he played with Milt Jackson in the school's stage band and...
.) - Shorty RogersShorty RogersMilton “Shorty” Rogers , born Milton Rajonsky in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played both the trumpet and flugelhorn, and was in demand for his skills as an arranger. Rogers worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and...
, Swingin' Nutcracker (1960) (Along with Holman, Perkins and Art PepperArt PepperArt Pepper , born Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr., was an American alto saxophonist and clarinetist.About Pepper, Scott Yanow of All Music stated, "In the 1950s he was one of the few altoists that was able to develop his own sound despite the dominant influence of Charlie Parker" and: "When Art Pepper...
, Kamuca was part of the saxophone section on Rogers' big-band jazz version of TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Nutcracker Suite.) - Shelly ManneShelly ManneShelly Manne , born Sheldon Manne in New York City, was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, swing, bebop, avant-garde jazz and fusion, as well as contributing...
, Shelly Manne & His Men at The Manne Hole (1961) (Recorded live at Shelly's Manne-Hole, with Kamuca on tenor saxophone throughout.) - Gary McFarlandGary McFarlandGary McFarland was an influential composer, arranger, vibraphonist and vocalist, prominent on Verve and Impulse! Records during the 1960s, when he made "one of the more significant contributors to orchestral jazz"...
, Point of DeparturePoint of Departure (Gary McFarland album)Point of Departure is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Gary McFarland featuring performances recorded in 1963 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1963)