Urbie Green

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Urban Clifford "Urbie" Green (born August 8, 1926 in Mobile , Alabama ; † December 31, 2018 in Hellertown , Pennsylvania ) was a jazz trombonist who played with Woody Herman , Gene Krupa and Frankie Carle , among others . He has participated in over 250 recordings and recorded more than two dozen albums as a soloist.

Life

Urbie Green received piano lessons from his mother as a child . At the age of 12 he started playing the trombone like his two older brothers . At that time he was listening to well-known trombonists such as Tommy Dorsey , JC Higginbotham , Jack Jenny , Jack Teagarden and Trummy Young . But he was most influenced by the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and the saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lester Young . Further influences can be seen through the singing of Perry Como and Louis Armstrong . At the age of 15, Green started his professional music career. First he played in Tommy Reynolds Band in California before he played with Bob Strong and Frankie Carle for some time .

In 1947 Green became a member of Gene Krupa and His Orchestra and in 1950 Woody Herman's third "Thundering Herd" big band , where he played alongside his brother Jack. In 1954 he received the "New Star Critics Award" from Down Beat Magazine. After moving to New York City in 1953, he established himself as one of the most sought-after trombonists. He has been voted "Most Valuable Player" several times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences . Green has made recordings with almost all known jazz greats of the 1950s and 1960s. He also led his own bands and toured as a soloist with various bands, including Benny Goodman , Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey's orchestra after his death in 1956. He played with the innovative producer Enoch Light for the record labels Command and Project 3 albums, probably his most famous are. This includes the two-part albums The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green and 21 Trombones .

In the 1970s, Green began developing innovations on its instrument. He developed a mouthpiece for Jet Tone ( Memento of October 10, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) and, together with Martin Brass, made improvements to the instrument itself. He also began to experiment with a “Green Monster”, a King trombone with built-in electronics for octave and reverb effects . Some of his best recordings from this period are those with Enoch Light and the Light Brigade, Dick Hyman , Maynard Ferguson and Doc Severinsen . After the very productive years with Enoch Light, Urbie Green's playing style changed a bit. During his recordings with the record label CTI, the backing band came into their own more than the soloist Green.

Since the 1980s, Urbie Green has only recorded two albums, Just Friends and Sea Jam Blues; both are live recordings.

Most recently, he spent most of his time with his second wife, Kathy, a jazz singer, in the Pocona region of Pennsylvania . They have two children, Jesse and Casey. Urbie Green still gave concerts every September at the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) festival in Delaware Water Gap , not far from his home. In 1995 he was elected to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

Play style

Urbie Green is known for its soft and warm sound, even in the high pitches. He possessed a technique that was unheard of in his youth and is still touted by many as flawless today. Stylistically it was a -technical- continuation of Tommy Dorsey's style.

Discography

  • New Faces, New Sounds (Blue Note, 1953)
  • Urbie Green Septet (Blue Note, 1954)
  • Blues and Other Shades of Green (Blue Note, 1955)
  • The Melodic Tones of Urbie Green (Bethlehem, 1955)
  • East Coast Jazz, Volume 6 (Bethlehem, 1955)
  • The Lyrical Language of Urbie Green (Bethlehem, 1955)
  • The Melodic Tones of Urbie Green (Vanguard, 1955)
  • Urbie Green and His Band (Vanguard, 1955)
  • Blues and Other Shades of Green (Paramount, 1955)
  • All About Urbie Green (Paramount, 1955)
  • Urbie Green Octet / Slidin 'Swing (Jazztone, 1957)
  • Let's Face the Music and Dance (RCA, 1957)
  • Best of New Broadway Show Hits (RCA, 1958)
  • The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green (Command, 1960)
  • The Persuasive Trombone of Urbie Green Volume 2 (Command, 1961)
  • Urbie Green and His 6-tet (Command, 1963)
  • 21 trombones (Project 3, 1967)
  • 21 Trombones Volume 2 (Project 3, 1967)
  • Green Power (Project 3, 1971)
  • Bein 'Green (Project 3, 1972)
  • Urbie Green's Big Beautiful Band (Project 3, 1974)
  • The Fox (CTI, 1976)
  • Senor Blues (CTI, 1977)
  • Live at Rick's Cafe American (Flying Fish, 1978)
  • Just Friends (EJ, 1981)
  • Sea Jam Blues ( Chiaroscuro , 1995)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Doug Ramsey : Urbie Green, 1926-2018. Rifftides, January 5, 2019, accessed on January 6, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Green, Urbie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Green, Urban Clifford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz trombonist
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Mobile, Alabama , United States
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 2018
Place of death Hellertown , Pennsylvania