Lee Katzman, trumpet, 1928, Chicago
Lee started studying the trumpet when he was only 13 years old, and by the time he was 20 he was working with big bands such as Sam Donahue and later Buddy Rich. In 1949 Lee worked in the bands of ClaudeThornhill and Jimmy Dorsey. After performing and recording in New York , with Herbie Fields, Katzman moved to the West Coast where he joined Stan Kenton in 1956. While with Kenton's band he toured extensively in the U.S and in Europe, and made several recordings. Lee remained in California after he left Kenton and played with the bands of Les Brown and Terry Gibbs and numerous small groups. From the mid '70s on, Lee worked with just about every prominent jazz group on the West Coast. His playing and reading skills are flawless, and he is constantly in demand for performing and recording.
Paul Quinichette sax 1916 Denver CO
Paul began his music education on clarinet and alto sax when in his early teens but later changed to the tenor sax. His first gigs were with local bands in the New York area. He left New York to tour with the bands of Nat Towels and later Lloyd Hunter. In the early '40s Paul worked with Ernie Fields, Jay McShann, Benny Carter, Sid Catlett, and the rhythm-and-blues drummer Johnny Otis. In the late '40s Paul made the move to New York and began performing with Louis Jordan, Lucky Millinder, J.C.Heard, Henry "Red" Allen, Hot Lips Page, and Dinah Washington. In the early '50s when Paul was working with the Count Basie band, he was nicknamed "The Vice Pres.", because his playing was very similar to Lester Young's. After leaving Basie, Paul performed with Benny Goodman and Nat Pierce, and later, a group of his own. Although he played again in the 1970s, his activities were somewhat restricted due to poor health. Quinichette's style displayed a strong swing feeling, unequaled among most of the musicians of that era who were influenced by Lester Young. Paul Quinichette died in 1983..
Jackie McLean, Alto Saxophone, 1932, New York, NY
Jackie's father, John McLean, was a guitarist in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra, and he was probably most responsible for Jackie's decision to become a musician. He started playing the alto sax when he was in his mid teens, studying eith Foots Thomas and Cecil Scott. He also studied with Bud Powell at times, and gigged with Thelonious Monk. From 1948-9 Jackie worked with Sonny Rollins, and in the early '50s spent several years with Miles Davis. It was during his stint with Davis that Jackie cut his first recordings. He later worked with Paul Bley, George Wallington and Charles Mingus. The late '50s found Jackie working with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messingers. In the early '60s he led his own quintet with which he recorded and also made a tour of Japan. In 1968 he became faculty member of the Hartt School of Music, and in 1972 became head of the jazz studies departmentat at the University of Hartford. During the summers he toured with various groups and sometimes with his son, Rene, who played saxophone and flute. In the early '80s he appeared in a documentary film "Jackie McLean on Mars", in which he is seen teaching, playing, and discoursing on life and music. McLean had a raw, urgent style that is grounded in bop but is also greatly affected by free jazz. Although Jackie was a close friend of Charlie Parker, they never recorded together, but the intensity of Parker's playing can be heard in Jackie's playing. His strong sound and his forceful lines have also rubbed of on a whole generation of altoists, such as Gary Bartz and Sonny Fortune. Jackie McLean died in 2006.
Dewey Redman, Tenor Sax, 1931, Ft Worth, TX
Dewey studied the clarinet while in his early teens, later taking up the alto sax and finally changing to the tenor instrument while attending Prairie Vew Agricultural and Mechanical University (BS1953). From 1956 to 1960 Dewey taught high school and also played professionally while earning a master's degree at North Texas State University, (MA1959). In the mid '60s Dewey moved to California and became a full-time jazz musician. From the mid '60s to the mid '70s he was a sideman in Ornette Coleman's group in New York, although he also performed with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra (1969), and Keith Jarrett's group. During this period he also led his own group that often included Eddie Moore as one of his sidemen. It was around this time that Dewey began vocalizing through, and together with, his saxophone, producing a unique sound, and he also took up the musette as his second instrument. In the mid '60s, along with Don Cherry, Haden, and Ed Blackwell, he formed the group, Old and New Dreams, with which he toured and recorded for approximately two decades. He continued leading his own small groups in the mid '80s, playing a repertory of blues, bop, and free jazz, which testifies to his technical versatility and wide- ranging interests. He also played with the drummer Paul Motian, into the first part of the 1990s.
