Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
Kandace Springs Sings Billie Holiday
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
Baritone Sax great Nick Brignola died at the Albany Medical Center in Albany, N.Y., on Feb. 8, after a long battle with cancer. He was 65.
A big-toned baritone saxophonist whose greatest baritone influence was Harry Carney of the Duke Ellington band (who became his mentor), Brignola carved out his niche as perhaps the premier player of the big horn in the hard-bop mainstream of the music.
Brignola was born July 17, 1936, in Troy, N.Y. He studied at Ithaca College and Berklee and worked in the upstate New York region in the ‘50s with Herb Pomeroy and Reese Markewich, moved to the West Coast to play with Cal Tjader and the Mastersounds, then with Woody Herman’s band in 1963, followed by a stint with Sal Salvador in 1963-‘64.
In 1964, he moved back to his home area of Troy, Albany and Schenectady and began working with his own groups, had his own radio show and lectured and performed in area colleges. Since his sideman work with Ted Curson in 1967, Brignola largely led his own combos, recording for his own Priam label, then Beehive, Interplay, Sea Breeze, Discovery and, over more than the last decade, for Reservoir.
“There’s nothing quite like it,” Springs says of working with an orchestra. “It’s 60 people working in harmony in the moment. Singing with them is kind of empowering but also humbling at the same time.”
Jun 17, 2025 11:12 AM
When it came time to pose for the cover of her new album, Lady In Satin — a tribute to Billie Holiday’s 1958…
James Brandon Lewis earned honors for Artist of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Three of his recordings placed in the Albums of the Year category.
Jul 17, 2025 12:44 PM
You see before you what we believe is the largest and most comprehensive Critics Poll in the history of jazz. DownBeat…
Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.
Jul 22, 2025 10:58 AM
Hal Galper, a pianist, composer and arranger who enjoyed a substantial performing career but made perhaps a deeper…
Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.
Jul 29, 2025 1:00 PM
Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…
“Hamiet was one of the most underrated musicians ever,” says Whitaker of baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett.
Jul 8, 2025 7:30 AM
At 56, Rodney Whitaker, professor of jazz bass and director of jazz studies at Michigan State University, is equally…
