Happy Birthday Charlie Mariano

[hepcat1950]

Today, November 12, 2008, Charlie Mariano celebrates his 85th birthday.

On November 21, his friends will give him a great party at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart.

Personnel, as announced so far: Philip Catherine (g), Wolfgang Dauner (p), Wolfgang Haffner (dr), Mike Herting (p)

Dieter Ilg (b), Ack van Rooyen (tp, flh), Paul Shigihara (g), Quique Sinesi (g), Chaouki Smahi (oud), Jasper van‘t Hof (p), Bobby Stern (ts,ss, cl).

See Theaterhaus

[king ubu]

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

A great, individual, yes unique voice on the alto sax!

The duo album with Quique Sinesi and his Enja quartet album "Deep in a Dream" are marvellous!

[king ubu]

Time to dig up those Mariano/Geller live shows I have on some dust-gathering pile... 185 years of great sax playing! Wow!

[B. Goren.]

I have a special weakness to his recordings with Toshiko Akiyoshi:

[king ubu]

I only have the Fresh Sound live of those... should get the others I guess. But I'm debating a real buying stop so don't push me please

[JSngry]

I have a special weakness to his recordings with Toshiko Akiyoshi:

And I have a special weakness for his child with Toshiko Akiyoshi...

Best wishes (and good health!) to a great player.

[king ubu]

just finished playing a recent recording with Richie Beirach (p), Gregor Hübner (viol) and Veit Hübner (b), aptly titled "Beauty" (Intuition, rec. 2004):

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, some of that stuff you're referring to is ridiculous.

[hepcat1950]

wish he had been a better composer. he has ruined many an album for me where interesting compositions by other musicians are interrupted by a traditional indian tune which is obviously mariano's choice. ...

Your wish was Charlie Mariano's command.

Charlie Mariano wrote more than 130 compositions. The majority of these compositions do not even have the slightest suggestion of any influence of Indian music.

... he never seemed really able to synthesize his exotic interests with compositional style in line with his bandmates on some albums and on the traditional indian tunes no one sounds as comfortable as mariano, who is invariably playing an unpleasantly piercing wail on one instrument or another.

Charlie Mariano recorded more than 300 albums - most of them as a side musician. There are lots of albums proving that black is white. I assume that your opinion is based on your experience from listening to a small part of his work.

[papsrus]

85! Wonderful!! Happy birthday.

[Shrdlu]

He's hot on Elvin's "Dear John C" album (not out on CD though). And also on "The Return of El Chico".

[king ubu]

Interesting observations by ms fong and mr thornton - my exposure to Mariano has so far largely been jazz-based discs (plus said duo with Sinesi - what's that, some kind of flameco-jazz?). In that area, he did quite a few marvellous albums, in my opinion. And I enjoy his early work - in the early/mid fifties he must have been one of the most individual alto voices around (next to Konitz I guess).