Buzz Gardner

Buzz Gardner (* 1931 in Cleveland , Ohio as Charles Guarnera ; † January 2004 ) was an American rock and jazz musician . His main instrument was the trumpet and he also played the flugelhorn . He became known, among other things, through his collaboration with Frank Zappa and his group The Mothers of Invention .

youth

"Buzz", as he was later always called, was the son of Thelma and Charles Guarnera. Why his father later dropped the original family name and instead took the surname Gardner is not known. Buzz had a brother, "Bunk" Gardner , who was about two years younger. Bunk also became known as a musician.

Buzz grew up in Cleveland. He heard a trumpet for the first time when he was about seven years old and was instantly impressed by the clear, "heroic" sound of this instrument. He was initially interested in the music of Harry James , Tommy Dorsey , Claude Thornhill and Count Basie , and as a teenager he became increasingly enthusiastic about representatives of modern jazz such as Dizzy Gillespie , Miles Davis and Zoot Sims . The brothers Buzz and Bunk formed a big band when they were both teenagers. They played arrangements such as those supplied by the music shop, and local dance numbers. In addition, adaptations by the big band innovator Stan Kenton were part of the band's repertoire.

Early years in jazz

Buzz Gardner got his start in the music business at the age of 16 when he went on tour with pianist Jack Wilson. He then went to New York for a year to study at the Mannes School of Music. During his military service - from 1951 to 1953 in Trieste, Italy - he played in a military band with the jazz flutist Herbie Mann . In the barracks he shared the room with Don Preston , with whom he would play in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention about 15 years later.

After his military service, Buzz Gardner went to Paris for two years to deepen his music studies at the conservatory. During this time he belonged to the bands of two important European jazz musicians. The Belgian guitarist René Thomas , who would later work with well-known American musicians in Canada, released his album René Thomas et son Quintets in 1954 , in which Gardner was involved as a trumpeter. In addition, another record was made that year with the participation of Buzz Gardner: Bobby Jaspar's New Jazz Vol.2 by the Belgian jazz saxophonist Bobby Jaspar . A year later the Frenchman André Hodeir , who was known as a jazz critic as well as a composer and arranger, released the album Essais with his “Jazz Groupe de Paris” , on which the trumpeter Buzz can also be heard.

Gardner ended his European interlude in 1955. He went to New York and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in music in 1959. In New York he played in the jazz bands of Neal Hefti , Claude Thornhill and Freddie Slack . 

In 1959, Buzz moved to Los Angeles with his brother Bunk, who also lived in town. There they could be "with the big boys of the jazz world", as Bunk Gardner put it. A false hope: by the end of the decade, Buzz Gardner played in several Latin and jazz bands, none of which, however, had a particularly high profile. In the mid-1960s, musicians were "grateful for everything" that would have secured them the next rent payment, Gardner biographer Geoff Wills stated laconically.

"Mother" Gardner

From around May 1962, Buzz and Bunk had met several times with Don Preston and Frank Zappa to experiment musically in Don's recording studio. They did some concerts.

In the fall of 1968, Buzz was finally hired by Frank Zappa for a tour of the American west coast. Gardner was on tour with the Mothers the following spring, this time in Europe. In the summer of 1969, Gardner went into the studio with Zappa and the Mothers. Live and studio recordings of this ten-month collaboration can be found on the Mothers albums Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasel's Ripped My Flesh (both 1970). Recordings with Buzz Gardner from this period can also be heard on the CD retrospective You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore (Volumes 1, 4 and 5), which was later published by Zappa . 

further activities

Immediately after he left Zappa, Buzz Gardner, Bunk Gardner and bassist John Balkin - the brothers knew him from common times in the "Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra", with whom they contributed in the spring of 1967 to the Zappa album Lumpy Gravy had recorded - the trio "Menage a Trois". This ensemble made a number of appearances until 1972. Around the same time, Buzz worked with the folk music, but open to jazz and musical experimentation songwriter Tim Buckley and recorded the album Starsailor (1970) with him . As a guest musician, he was also involved in the recording sessions for the two albums released in 1972 and 1980 by Jimmy Carl Black's hard rock band Geronimo Black . Gardner can also be heard on Domenic Troiano's first solo album, which the former Guess Who guitarist released in 1972. 

"Grandmother" Gardner

In the early 1980s, Buzz Gardner's name appeared in the credits of a total of four albums by the Grandmothers - a band that played songs by the early Mothers of Invention in addition to their own compositions. Their first album Grandmothers (1981) contains five songs with Gardner's participation, four of which, however, were recorded between 1969 and 1972. On the second album, Lookin 'up Granny's Dress, he only took part in two studio recordings, one of which is his composition My Love Has Gone . The third Grandmothers release, The Official Grandmothers Fan Club Talk Album, played no commercial role. It appeared in three editions, with the first two not even exceeding the 500 mark. And the fourth album A Mother of an Anthology was a sampler, so it did not contain any new recordings either, only existing material. The Grandmothers toured numerous North America and Europe tours since 1981. Buzz Gardner was never involved. 

Aftertaste

Later, Buzz Gardner failed to gain a foothold in the music business. In the early 1990s he worked twice a week for a fee of $ 100 in a Mexican dance hall. Around the same time he founded the jazz band "Hollywood Allstars" with Brother Bunk. The group performed once a week - for a tip as a fee - in the club "Legends of Hollywood" and broke up after a short time. As a result of this development, Buzz Gardner made the decision to completely withdraw from the music business. He died in January 2004. 

Discography (selection)

• René Thomas Quintet: René Thomas et son Quintets - 1954
• Bobby Jaspar: Bobby Jaspar's New Jazz Vol . 2 - 1954
• André Hodeir et le Jazz Groupe de Paris: Essais - 1955
• The Mothers of Invention: Burnt Weeny Sandwich - 1970
• The Mothers of Invention: Weasels Ripped My Flesh - 1970
• Tim Buckley: Starsailor - 1970
• Domenic Troiano: Domenic Troiano - 1972
• Geronimo Black: Geronimo Black - 1972
• Geronimo Black: Welcome Back - 1980
• The Grandmothers: Grandmothers - 1981
• The Grandmothers: Lookin 'up Granny's Dress - 1982
• The Grandmothers: Fan Club Talk - 1983
• The Grandmothers: A Mother of an Anthology - 1993
• Bobby Jaspar: Bobby Jaspar and his Modern Jazz - 1998
• André Hodeir: The Vogue Sessions - 1999
• Sampler: The 1954 Paris Sessions - 1999, with Roy Haynes Sextet, René Thomas Quintet, Frank Foster Quartet

Videos (selection)

• Frank Zappa: Uncle Meat - 1987
• Frank Zappa: Video From Hell - 1987

Web links

• United Mutations - biography and discography
• The Grandmothers - "grandmotherly" information

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Biography Buzz Gardner (as of November 5, 2006)
2. ↑ Norbert Obermanns: Zappalog. 2nd Edition, Rhino Books, Los Angeles, 1982.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Bunk Gardner (as of November 5, 2006)
4. ^ Zappa / Mothers chronology (as of November 5, 2006)
5. ↑ ^{a b} Participation in the Zappa environment (as of November 5, 2006)
6. ↑ Abnuceal's Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra (as of November 5, 2006)
7. ↑ First Grandmothers album (as of November 5, 2006)
8. ↑ Second Grandmothers album (as of November 5, 2006)
9. ↑ Third Grandmothers album (as of November 5, 2006)
10. ↑ Fourth Grandmothers album (as of November 5, 2006)
11. ↑ The Grandmothers (as of November 5, 2006)
12. ↑ ^{a b} Biographical and Discography (as of November 5, 2006)