Anthony Ortega

Anthony Robert "Batman" Ortega , called Tony Ortega, (born June 7, 1928 in Los Angeles ) is an American jazz musician ( bass clarinet , clarinet , saxophone and flute ), band leader and composer .

Live and act

Anthony Ortega began his musical career in 1947 with Earle Spencer's orchestra . After military service he was from 1951 to 1953 the big band of Lionel Hampton at, looked at their European tour and played with in Paris with Clifford Brown , Art Farmer and Quincy Jones in Gigi Gryce octet and orchestra. On his return he worked for Milt Buckner ; In 1954 he led his first own formation in Los Angeles , then toured Scandinavia and took part in Norway, a. a. with the pianist Einar Iversen on the first 10 inch LP for the label Vantage .

In 1955 he settled in New York City , where he played in 1955 first with Luis Rivera, then with Nat Pierce (1956-58), Dizzy Gillespie , Maynard Ferguson and in the Quincy Jones Big Band (1960). He was also a much sought-after session musician, u. a. with James Moody , Paul Bley , Billy Taylor and Claude Williamson . In 1958, the album Jazz for Young Lovers was created for the Bethlehem label with the unusual instrumentation of mellophone, fiddle and bass clarinet.

In the early 1960s he again led his own band; he recorded another album with Hank Jones , Art and Addison Farmer and Ed Thigpen in 1961 ( A Man and his Horns ); then returned to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, worked in the big bands of Don Ellis , Nelson Riddle and Gerald Wilson and also recorded several albums for the Herald, Revelation and Discovery labels ; two sessions from 1966/67 with Chuck Dormanico, Bob West and Bill Goodwin were re-released by Hat Art in the 1990s ( New Dance ). A highlight of this session was " The Shadow of Your Smile " in the duo of Ortega and bassist Dormanico. In 1971 he worked on Frank Zappa's album The Grand Wazoo .

After it had become quiet around him for a few years - the album Rain Dance was released in the late 1970s , on which his wife Mona Orbeek Ortega contributed on piano and vibraphone - he gained more attention in the 1990s and 2000s through his recordings at HatArt and Evidence. In 1992 he returned to the studio and recorded the album Anthony Ortega on Evidence with the French musicians Sylvain Kassap , Didier Levallet , Manuel Rocheman and Jacques Mahieux ; it contained only original compositions by Ortega except for Mal Waldron's title Warm Canto. In June 2000 the album Scattered Clouds followed with jazz standards such as Body and Soul and Night and Day in trio with Mike Wofford and Joe LaBarbera .

Anthony Ortega recently recorded a live album in Paris; the duets with bassist Kash Killion were created in the studio. Live he played standards like " I'll Remember April " on the flute, Monk's "Blue Monk" and Charlie Parker's "Ornithology".

According to authors Richard Cook and Brian Morton, Ortegas in bebop Charlie Parker's rooted play is influenced by Ornette Coleman's musical ideas of the avant-garde.

Discographic notes

• Anthony Ortega (1954, Vantage)
• Jazz for Young Lovers (and Old Buzzards, Too) (Bethlehem, 1958), Re-Issue as Earth Dance ( Fresh Sound Records , 1958/59)
• A Man and his Horns (Herald / Blue Moon, 1954–1961)
• New Dance (Revelation, 1966; re-released on Hathut Records)
• Permutations (Revelation, 1978, re-released, coupled with New Dance , on Hathut Records)
• Anthony Ortega on Evidence (Evidence, 1992)
• Scattered Clouds (HatHut Records, 2001)
• Afternoon in Paris (HatOLOGY, 2007)

swell

• Bielefeld catalog 1985, 1988, 2001
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 9th edition. Penguin, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0 .
• Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon . Reinbek, Rowohlt, 1988

Web links

• Scott Yanow in the All Music Guide
• Discussion of New Dance in the music channel
• Afternoon discussion in Paris
• Interview with Marc Myers (2012)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Music Channel