Charlie Mariano (not yet RIP)

[hepcat1950]

So Oscar Peterson, the great old pianist from Canada, has left us at the age of 82. A great loss, indeed; fortunately his music has been captured on c200 recordings, among them the wonderful 6 LPs/4CDs he recorded for MPS.

R.I.P. Oscar Peterson

I'd like to draw your attention to another musician (from Boston, Massachusetts, USA) who celbrated his 84th birthday on November 12th, and who is still with us. Charlie Mariano has always been one of the most lyrical and melodical improvisers on the alto saxophone (and also played the soprano, tenor, and baritone saxophones, flute, and the Indian nagaswaram). This great musician almost seems to be forgotten in his homeland. So I decided to pay tribute to one of the greatest alto players - as long as he's with us, and before we can read the first obituaries.

Please visit my Charlie Mariano Tribute website:

http://www.charliemarianotribute.de/

You need an excuse for posting an alto player @ TalkBass? Well, Charlie Mariano played and/or recorded with bassists:

Arild Andersen, Norway; Yasuo Arakawa, Japan; Wilber Bascomb, USA; Fabian Bausch a.k.a. Christian Fabian, Sweden/Germany/USA; Max Bennett, USA; Bruno Brandenburger; Ray Brown, USA; Jack Bruce, UK; Ede Brumund-Rüther, Germany; Monty Budwig, USA; Bobby Burri, Switzerland; Sigi Busch, Germany; Paulo Cardoso, Brazil/Germany; Jack Carter, USA; Kent Carter, USA; Ron Carter, USA; Guilherme Castro, Brazil/Germany; Gene Cherico, USA; Arthur "Babe" Clark, USA; Buddy Clark, USA; Roger Cooke; Curtis Counce, USA; Bob Cranshaw, USA; Paolo Damiani, Italy; Palle Danielsson, Sweden; Art Davis, USA; Richard Davis, USA; Theo de Jong, The Netherlands; Riccardo Del Fra, Italy/France; Enrique Diaz, Chile/Germany; Isla Eckinger, Switzerland; Mark Egan, USA; Rudi Engel, Germany; Christian Fabian a.k.a. Fabian Bausch, Sweden/Germany/USA; Nicolas Fiszman, Belgium; Horacio Fumero, Argentina/Spain; Rosko Gee, UK; John Goldsby, USA/Germany; Norbert Hamm, The Netherlands/Germany; Masanaga Harada, Japan; Ali Haurand, Germany; Teppo Hauta-aho, Finland; Percy Heath, USA; Colin Hodgkinson, UK; Veit Hübner, Germany; Dieter Ilg, Germany; Jean-François "J.F." Jenny-Clark, France; Heiri Känzig, Switzerland; Dave King, UK; Peter Kowald, Germany; Fritz Krisse, Germany; Rob Langeries; Werner Lauscher, Germany; Jack Lawlor, USA; John Lee, USA; Tony Levin, USA; Andreas Lonardoni, Germany; Conny Mathieu, Germany; Ron McClure, USA; Hansgeorg "Micki" Meuser, Germany; Norbert Meyer, Germany; Charles Mingus, USA; Red Mitchell, USA; Carlo Mombelli, South Africa; Glen Moore, USA; George Mraz, Czechoslovakia/USA; Ray Oliveri, USA; Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Denmark; Gene Perla, USA; Barre Phillips, USA; Vitold Rek, Poland/Germany; Adelhard Roidinger, Austria; Hansford Rowe, USA; Tadashi Shigami, Japan; Thomas Stabenow, Germany; Bo Stief, Denmark; Hans Peter Ströer, Germany; Steve Swallow, USA; Harvie Swartz, USA; Ares Tavolazzi, Italy; John Turner; Frans van der Hoeven, The Netherlands; Ron van Eck, The Netherlands; Mads Vinding, Denmark; Leroy Vinnegar, USA; Miroslav Vitous, Czechoslovakia/USA; Christian von Kaphengst, Germany; Eberhard Weber, Germany; Tim Wells, USA

[Mark Carlsen]

Unfortunate we are here in Boston because we did not get to hear Charlie this summer....He was to re-unite w. Herb Pomeroy at the Ragatabar, but Herb canceled because he was too sick and later he passed in August...

[Marcus Johnson]

Yes! Let's praise good people while they're still here.

I met him years ago when he was with Eberhard Weber. I thought he was one of the coolest folks I'd ever run across. Played his a$$ off! Turned out he was staying at the same hotel I was, we had a coffee and some blah blah the following day.

[bassist14]

i´ve seen him live with bassist dieter ilg some years ago.
great concert, great cd (http://www.dieterilg.de/site/e_fullfat.html)

[damonsmith]

I love his playing. He is a very adventurous player. Peter Kowald had a trio gig with him but died before it happened.
He just kills it on "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (Mingus needs to added to the list above). He was in some of Eberhard Weber's bands and has done a lot of interesting projects, mostly in Europe.

Last Feb. I had the high honor of playing with another great octogenarian altoist: Marshall Allen of Sun Ra's Arkestra. He is 83 I believe, and playing stronger than ever. A cd just came out of that concert, Weasel Walter's "Firestorm".