Joe Castro
Joseph Armand "Joe" Castro (* 15. August 1927 in Miami (Arizona) ; † 13. December 2009 ) was an American jazz - pianist and bandleader. Initially oriented towards bebop , he later accompanied singers and played in Las Vegas.
Castro went to school in the San Francisco area of Pittsburg and studied at San José State University. While still a student, he founded a jazz trio with which he played on the west coast and in Hawaii. In 1956 he went to New York with his trio, where they played in leading jazz clubs such as Birdland. 1956 recorded his trio with Zoot Sims (released on Pablo Records ). In 1958 he went back to Los Angeles and was in Teddy Edwards' quartet with Leroy Vinnegar and Billy Higgins . In 1956 he recorded the album Mood Jazz on Atlantic Records , on which he played with both jazz combo and strings (arranger Neal Hefti ), and in 1958 Groove Funk Soul with his quartet at Atlantic (with one of the earliest uses of the word funk on one Record cover). 1958/59 and from 1960 he accompanied June Christy and he also accompanied Anita O'Day around this time.
In the early 1960s he founded the label Clover Records and the music publisher Jo-Do with his girlfriend Doris Duke (a tobacco company heiress and jazz fan) and with the support of Duke Ellington (with whom he was friends). However, the label and the publisher did not survive the separation of Castro and Duke in 1966. They only released one album ( Lush Life 1960 by Castro) and a few singles, but there are many tapes.
1961 to 1963 he was musical director for Tony Martin . He also had trios and quartets, to which u. a. Chico Hamilton , Red Mitchell , Ed Shonk, and Howard Roberts included. In the 1970s he went to Las Vegas , where he played in orchestras, accompanied singers and became musical director of the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel. Then he led his own small bands again in Las Vegas and California.
Since 1966 he was married to the singer Loretta Faith Haddad (died 2008), with whom he has two sons.
Tom Lord's jazz discography includes 25 recording sessions from 1956 to 1985 (in addition to piano, celesta ).
Lexical entry
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Castro, Joe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Castro, Joseph Armand (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz pianist and band leader |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 15, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Miami (Arizona) |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 13, 2009 |