Michael Abene

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Michael Abene (* 2. July 1942 in Brooklyn , New York City ) is an American jazz - pianist , arranger, composer , music educator and producer. From 2004 to 2014 he was chief conductor of the WDR Big Band .

Live and act

Abene comes from a musical family; his father had his own band; his uncle was a Stride pianist. His professional career in Farmingdale (New York) began in his band; In 1958 he appeared in Marshall Brown's international youth band at the Newport Jazz Festival . Abene then had lessons from John LaPorta , Wally Cirillo and studied composition at the Manhattan School of Music in 1961/62 . He played in the Big Band of Don Ellis in 1961/62 and then went to Maynard Ferguson , where he also worked as an arranger until 1965 ( On Green Dolphin Street ).

In the early 1960s he also played with Clark Terry , Jimmy Nottingham , Buddy Rich , Harry Sweets Edison and Georgie Auld ; From 1965 to 1967 he appeared in the band of Zoot Sims and Al Cohn in New York's Half Note . He also composed jingles and music for TV programs, composed and arranged for an eleven-member band led by Joe Shepley and Burt Collins in the late 1960s.

In the early 1970s he made guest appearances in duo line-ups; with bassist Michael Moore in New York clubs like Bradley's and 1978 in Half Note , arranged for David Taylor , Jim Pugh , the Grover Mitchell Big Band, Liza Minnelli , Charles Aznavour , BB King and Gary Burton , for the Mel Lewis Orchestra and for Dizzy Gillespie United Nation Orchestra . In the following years he worked as a producer for GRP Records . In 1988 the album Digital Duke , which he had produced with Mercer Ellington , received a Grammy .

As a band and session musician, Abene took part in numerous recordings, including a. with Billy Cobham (1987), Chris Connor (1987), Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich and Dizzy Gillespie, and in 1997 in the band of singer Nnenna Freelon ( Maiden Voyage ).

Between 2000 and 2003, various works by Abene were premiered in collaboration with international ensembles, including the Metropole Orkest at the International Trombone Festival in Utrecht , the Mancini Institute Orchestra in Los Angeles and the RTV Symphony and Big Band in Slovenia.

Michael Abene worked for a long time as a music teacher at the Manhattan School of Music . Since January 2004 Michael Abene has been chief conductor of the WDR Big Band Cologne ; WDR Big Band productions won a Grammy in 2007 (with Michael Brecker ) and 2008 (with Patti Austin ); a production (with Joe Lovano ) was also nominated for a Grammy in 2009. He also wrote arrangements for the WDR Big Band; For example, she played sextet compositions by Charles Mingus that Abene had arranged at the 2010 Jazz Festival Viersen . His successor as chief conductor was the American Richard DeRosa at the beginning of the 2014/2015 season . Since November 2011 Abene has been professor for ensemble conducting jazz at Institut 8 Jazz at the University of Art in Graz .

Works (selection)

  • Richard Sussmann, Michael Abene: Jazz Composition and Arranging in the Digital Age. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. 2012 ISBN 978-0-19-538099-6

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.jazzfestival-viersen.de WDR Big Band Köln plays Mingus ( Memento from September 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ WDR report on the change in conductor
  3. ↑ Personnel. Michael Abene. In: https://jazz.kug.ac.at . University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, accessed on April 3, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Bio | Michael Abene. In: http://www.michaelabene.com . Michael Abene, accessed April 3, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Abene, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abene, Mike
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist, arranger, music educator and composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York , USA