Greg Abate (born May 31, 1947)Yanow, Scott
Greg Abate Biography
,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, retrieved 2011-02-05 is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

saxophonist, flautist, composer, and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

. He grew up in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. In the fifth grade he began to play clarinet.

Career

After high school, he attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

in Boston.Greg Abate
", All About Jazz, retrieved 2011-02-05 After working for several years in California, he returned to Berklee in 1972 to finish his education. During a second trip to Los Angeles he was hired to play alto saxophone in the

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

band in 1973 and '74.Massimo, Rick (2004)
Charles remembered as a 'true original'
, ''

Providence Journal ''The Providence Journal'', colloquially known as the ''ProJo'', is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, the largest newspaper in Rhode Island, US. The newspaper was first published in 1829. The newspaper had won four ...

'', June 11, 2004, retrieved 2011-02-05Butler, Mike
Jazz: Greg Abate
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Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

'', retrieved 2011-02-05 Soon after, Abate formed a sextet called Channel One.Smith, Andy (1994) "Paul Murphy: Beloved, respected, gone The sudden death of a rhythm guitar genius stuns the local music scene", ''

'', August 19, 1994, p. D-02 The group's only album, ''Without Boundaries'', was released in 1980. While living in Rhode Island, he became a member of Sax Odyssey, led by Tony Giorgianni, and Duke Bellair's Jazz Orchestra. In 1986 he was hired by Dick Johnson to play tenor saxophone in the

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

band. He has also appeared with

Jerome Richardson Jerome Richardson (December 25, 1920 – June 23, 2000) was an American jazz musician and woodwind player. He is cited as playing one of the earliest jazz flute recordings with his work on the 1949 Quincy Jones arranged song "Kingfish". Caree ...

and

Red Rodney Robert Roland Chudnick (September 27, 1927 – May 27, 1994), known professionally as Red Rodney, was an American jazz trumpeter. Biography Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he became a professional musician at 15, working in the mid-1940 ...

. He has taught at Rhode Island College. In April 2016 Abate was among eight inductees for the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame.

Discography

* ''Bop City: Live at Birdland'' ( Candid, 1991) * ''Straight Ahead'' (Candid, 1993) * ''Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde'' (Candid, 1995) * ''It's Christmas Time'' (Brownstone Recordings, 1995) * ''Bop Lives!'' (1201 Music/Blue Chip Jazz, 1996) * ''Happy Samba'' (Blue Chip, 1998) * ''Evolution'' (1201 Music, 2002) * ''Horace Is Here'' (Koko Jazz, 2005) * ''Monsters in the Night'' (Koko Jazz, 2006) * ''Horace Is Here: A Tribute to Horace Silver'' (Rhombus, 2011) * ''The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods'' ( Posi-Tone, 2012) * ''Motif'' (

Whaling City Sound Whaling City Sound is an independent jazz record label established by Neal Weiss in 1999. History Weiss is president of Fiber Optic Center in New Bedford, Massachusetts. A lifelong fan of jazz, he started Whaling City Sound as a jazz label, thou ...

, 2014) * ''Kindred Spirits: Live at Chan's'' (Whaling City Sound, 2016) * ''Road to Forever'' (Whaling City Sound, 2016) * ''Gratitude'' (Whaling City Sound, 2019) * ''Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron'' (Whaling City Sound, 2021)

References

External links

* *

AllMusic entry AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...

New England Jazz History Database - Audio Interviews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abate, Greg 1947 births American male saxophonists People from Fall River, Massachusetts Living people Candid Records artists 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians Berklee College of Music alumni