Baritone Saxophonist Nick Brignola Dies

  I  

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.



  • Hal_Galper_Courtesy_halgalper.com_copy.jpg

    Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.

  • DownBeat_May_8%2C_1975_2.jpg

    Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.

    Chuck Mangione, Rest in Peace

    Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…

  • Sheila_Jordan_by_Mark_Sheldon_copy.jpeg

    Jordan was a dyed-in-the-wool bebopper whose formative musical experiences were with Charlie Parker.

  • DownBeat_palmieri.jpg

    “I don’t guess I’m going to excite you; I know I’m going to excite you,” Palmieri said in an August 1994 DownBeat feature.

  • Buster_Williams_by_Jimmy_Katz_copy.jpg

    “What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.