Joe Albany

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Joseph "Joe" Albany (* 24. January 1924 in Atlantic City as Joseph Albani , New Jersey ; † 11. January 1988 in New York City ) was an American jazz pianist of Bebop . He played with Charlie Parker and Lester Young .

Live and act

The Italian-American Joe Albany learned to play the piano as a child, first played the harmonica, moved to Los Angeles and played with Leo Watson in 1941, in Benny Carter's orchestra in 1943 and briefly with Georgie Auld and Boyd Raeburn . Albany came to New York in 1944, worked there with Max Kaminsky , but went back to the West Coast , where he played with Charlie Parker ( Yardbird in Lotusland , Spotlite), Howard McGhee , Miles Davis in 1946 . In 1945 recordings with Lester Young were made for the Aladdin label in 1945. Afterwards Albany worked as a freelance musician, mostly in the vicinity of Los Angeles; In 1957 he recorded an album for Riverside with Warne Marsh ( The Right Combination ).

Drug problems kept him away from the jazz scene in the 1950s and 1960s. He lived mostly withdrawn in Europe. In the mid-1960s he played briefly with Charles Mingus (1963). It was not until the 1970s that he returned and recorded some records, including a. with Ralph Peña , Joe Venuti , Art Pepper ( The Garden State Jam Sessions , 1975) and then several under his own name. He has also appeared as a soloist in the West End Cafe and in trios with Art Davis , Bob Whitlock , Frank Butler and Roy Haynes ; His last album, Portrait of an Artist , was created in 1980 .

His daughter Amy Jo Albany wrote the memory book Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales from Childhood (Bloomsbury, 2003) about him . The director Jeff Preiss shot the biography Joe Albany - My father, the jazz legend (Low Down) based on Amy Albany's 2010 book ; the role of Joe Albany was played by John Hawkes .

Carole Langer shot the documentary Joe Albany ... a Jazz Life about him in 1980 , in which he relentlessly reported on his drug addiction and his failed marriages.

Selection discography

  • The Right Combination (OJC, 1955) with Warne Marsh
  • Birdtown Birds - Live at Jazzhus Montmartre 1973 (Steeplechase)
  • Two's A Company (Steeplechase, 1974) with Niels-Hennig Oersted Pedersen
  • Live In Paris (Fresh Sound Records, 1977) with Alby Cullaz and Aldo Romano
  • Bird Lives (Storyville, 1979) with Art Davis , Roy Haynes

literature

Web links

Evidence / Notes

  1. ↑ Information on Hal McKusick and Joe Albany at Jazzwax (2010)
  2. ↑ They were reissued by Blue Note ( The Complete Aladdin Sessions )
  3. ↑ The recordings were a practice session for a live performance that came out in 2004 on VSOP as Live from Dana Point 1957
  4. ↑ Jazz pianist biopic 'Low Down' can't find its rhythm , New York Post, October 22, 2014, accessed January 8, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Albany, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Albany, Joseph (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Atlantic City , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 1988
Place of death New York City , New York