Joseph Armand Castro (August 15, 1927 – December 13, 2009) was an American

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, based primarily on the West Coast of the United States.

Biography

Castro was born in

Miami, Arizona Miami ( Western Apache: Goshtłʼish Tú) is a town in Gila County, Arizona, United States. Miami is a classic Western copper boom-town. Miami's old downtown has been partly renovated, and the Bullion Plaza Museum features the cultural, min ...

on August 15, 1927. Castro began playing professionally at the age of 15 in the San Francisco Bay area. After army service ended in 1947, he formed a small band. In 1956 Castro moved to New York City, where his trio appeared in jazz clubs. In 1958, he moved to Los Angeles, where he joined

Teddy Edwards Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards (April 26, 1924 – April 20, 2003) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Edwards was born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. He learned to play at a very early age, first on alto saxophone ...

' quartet. Castro recorded two albums as a leader for

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

: ''Mood Jazz'' in 1957 and ''Groove Funk Soul'' in 1960.

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 ...

/ref> He often participated in informal jam sessions at the Beverly Hills estate of his partner,

Doris Duke Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, and socialite. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Her great wealth, luxurious lifestyle, and love life attracted ...

. Many of the performances were captured on tape. He died in 2009 at age 82.

Discography

As leader

* 1957 '' Mood Jazz'' – Atlantic * 1958 '' Groove Funk Soul'' – Atlantic * 1960 ''Lush Life'' – Clover

As sideman

* 1956 ''Zoot Sims with the Joe Castro Trio Live at the Falcon Lair'' – Pablo Records * 1958 Bob Andrews Presents ''West Coast Sax Mode'' – Vantage Records * 1958

'' Teddy Edwards at Falcon's Lair'' – MetroJazz * 1959 Teddy Edwards Quartet '' Sunset Eyes'' – Pacific Jazz Records * 1959 June Christy ''Ballads for Night People'', '' Road Show'' – Capitol Records * 1959 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra/June Christy/The Four Freshmen ''Road Show'' – Capitol Records * 1960 Teddy Edwards Quartet '' Teddy's Ready!'' – Contemporary Records * 1960 Anita O'Day and Billy May '' Swing Rodgers and Hart'' – Verve Records * 1960 June Christy ''

Something Cool ''Something Cool'' is the debut solo album by June Christy, released on Capitol Records first as a 10-inch LP of seven selections in August of 1954, and then as a 12-inch LP of eleven selections the following August, both times in monophonic ...

'' (stereo version) – Capitol Records * 1960 June Christy '' The Cool School'' – Capitol Records

Compilations

* 2015 ''Joe Castro – Lush Life: A Musical Journey'' (includes jam sessions at Doris Duke's

Falcon's Lair Falcon Lair is an Estate (land), estate above Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles, California. The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, Spanish Revival house, designed by Wallace Neff, was originally built by Beverly H ...

mansion and other previously unreleased recordings) –

Sunnyside Records Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record company and label initially established by François Zalacain in 1982 to release an album by pianist Harold Danko. Albums by Kirk Lightsey and Lee Konitz soon followed, beginning a sequence of releases ...

Sunnyside Records
/ref>

References

External links

A musical chronology of Joe Castro 1927–1966

Interview with Teddy Edwards

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Joe 1927 births 2009 deaths American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists Cool jazz pianists Hard bop pianists Bebop pianists People from Miami, Arizona Atlantic Records artists Musicians from Arizona 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians