Gabe Baltazar

Gift Baltazar (* 1. November 1929 in Hilo , Hawaii) is an American jazz - saxophonist .

Gabe Baltazar was of Filipino ancestry, was originally from Hawaii, and came to the United States in the mid 1950s, where he worked with Paul Togawa in 1957 and played All-Stars with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse in 1960 . He was best known as a soloist in the orchestra of Stan Kenton , to which he was a member from 1960 to 1965. Baltazar took part in numerous recordings during this period, such as Adventures in Blues (1960/61), Together (1960) and Mellophonium Moods (1962). In September 1961 he recorded an album with Ray Starling , Vinnie Burke and Al Beldini for Savoy Records , but it was not released.
In 1965 he worked for Terry Gibbs , played in 1965 at the Monterey Jazz Festival in the festival band led by Dizzy Gillespie and was involved in recordings by Gil Fuller , Johnny Hartman and Oliver Nelson (1967) before moving back to Hawaii in 1969. In the 1990s, Baltazar came to California more often, where he worked as a band leader and in 1992 recorded two albums for Fresh Sound Records and VSOP.

According to the authors Cook and Morton, Baltazar's hardbop saxophone style is reminiscent of Herb Geller .

Discographic notes

• Back in Action (VSOP, 1992) with Tom Rainier, Richard Simon, Steve Houghton
• Birdology (Fresh Sound, 1992) with Frank Strazzeri , Andy Simpkins , Nick Martinis

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• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .

Web links

• Administration Baltazar at Discogs (English)
• Monday's Picks: Gabe Baltazar, Eddie Sax and “Shock Mondays” (English)
• Gabe Baltazar on Allmusic (English)