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 the Buddy Rich Big Band. And after stints with the Lionel Hampton Big Band and the Doc Severinsen 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 vocalist Eddie Jefferson, the Manhattan Transfer, Bobby Enriquez, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Art Pepper, Tom Waits, Boots Randolph, and Nancy Wilson 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

PRC Records Records
Muse Records
Milestone Records
Palo Alto Records
Akashic Records

http://www.akashicrecords.ws/richie-cole-akashic-records.html


Other CDs
Richie Cole appears on these CDs and albums

CD Imports

As sideman

With Oliver Nelson

With Don Patterson

With Buddy Rich

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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