John LaPorta

John LaPorta (born April 1, 1920 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † May 12, 2004 in Sarasota , Florida ) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.

life and work

La Porta studied classical clarinet with Joseph Gigliotti of the Philadelphia Orchestra and later with Leon Russianoff at the Manhattan School of Music . His composition teachers were Ernst Toch and Alexei Haieff . From 1937 to 1938 he performed with the American Youth Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski and Sylvan Levine .

He began his professional career as a jazz musician in 1942 as a clarinetist in Bob Chester's swing band. From 1944 to 1946 he was a member of Woody Herman's Big Band . He then worked in New York City with the pianist Lennie Tristano . From 1953 to 1954 he worked with Charles Mingus and Teo Macero in the Jazz Composers Workshop, which is central to the development of his own composition concepts . In 1954 his first album appeared as a band leader, followed by the album Conceptions in 1956 . He worked as a sideman of Herb Pomeroy , Kenny Clarke , Phil Wilson , Rusty Dedrick , Donald Byrd , Lester Young , Miles Davis , Max Roach , Ray Brown , Fats Navarro , Buddy Rich , Dizzy Gillespie , Charlie Parker , Duke Ellington , Gunther Schuller , Billy Eckstine , Hank Mobley , Bill Evans , Buddy Rich, Bill Harris , Fats Navarro, Oscar Pettiford , Helen Merrill , Neal Hefti , Johnny Mathis and others.

Since the mid-1950s, LaPorta concentrated on teaching, initially at the Manhattan School of Music, and from 1963 at the Berklee College of Music , and only performed irregularly. He has authored fifteen books on music education and more than two hundred compositions. He recorded Igor Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto for Everest Recording , and in 1957 he recorded Teo Macero 's Fusion with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein .

From 1985 he was active again as a jazz musician, in 1999 his last album Life Cycle was released . In the 1990s he wrote the autobiography Playing It By Ear . In 2002 the album Themes and Variations was released , which offers the content of the album Conceptions from 1956, as well as additional recordings from the period.

Choice discography

• 1947: Charlie Parker: The Great Sessions (Jazz Anthology)
• 1954: Charles Mingus, Teo Macero, John La Porta: Jazz Composers Workshop (Savoy)
• 1954: Helen Merrill with Clifford Brown And Gil Evans (Emarcy 1954–56)
• 1956: Hank Mobley: The Jazz Message Of Hank Mobley (Savoy)
• 1958: John LaPorta: Themes and Variations ( Fantasy Records , 1956–58) with Wally Cirillo , Louis Mucci , Sol Schlinger , Wendell Marshall

Individual proof

1. ^ Obituary in The Independent