In the history of Jazz there have been musicians who achieved greatness by mastery of an instrument - In most cases this mastery, while conveying their ideas, somehow resisted fusion with the personalities of the soloists. This is particularly true of the baritone saxophone players where only a handful of musicians have converted virtuosity to genuine voice. Harry Carney first breathed life into its unlikely shape, Serge Chaloff added anguish - Gerry Mulligan gave it humour and swagger, Pepper Adams gave it energy, and now Joe Temperley has given it a soul.Joe was born in 1929 Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland. Despite being born into a coal mining community he gravitated to jazz and with the encouragement of his elder, brother Bob gained the experience to play with local dance bands. He next joined the legendary Tommy Sampson band on alto sax. He quickly established himself in London and by 1953 was playing tenor sax in the Jack Parnell Orchestra. The baritone sax gradually became his preferred horn and after a long spell with the Humphrey Lyttelton band left for New York in 1965.Initially it was hard to fit in with the top New York players, but soon his reputation got him jobs with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Clark Terry and Thad Jones. There were also many months of lucrative, if repetitive, jobs in the pit bands of top Broadway shows.Then finally he sat in the seat once occupied by his hero Harry Carney with the Duke Ellington Orchestra now directed by Mercer Ellington. Throughout the late eighties and nineties he was busy both as a teacher with the Manhattan School of Music and latterly as a full time member of the Lincoln Center Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis. He has recently contracted to be with the Lincoln Center Orchestra till 2003.Joe's first recording under his own name was made in New York with trombonist Jimmy Knepper. This 1978 collaboration is available on Hep CD 2012 Special Relationship. At the 1980 Edinburgh Festival he became part of an informal recording session that included the veteren saxophonist Benny Waters and another highly inventive trombonist Roy Williams. This set, powered by Ronnie Scotts' rhythm section, is on Hep CD 2010 When You're Smiling. The first classic Temperely collection Nightingale Hep CD 2052 was recorded in 1992 . Fellow Scotsman Jimmy Deuchar, one of the most fertile minds in British jazz, was then commissioned to write a series of orchestral pieces for Joe. These were performed at the 1994 Glasgow Jazz Festival and are available on Hep CD 2062 Concerto For Joe.Yet another top Scots jazzman guitarist, Jim Mullen, was an invited guest on his 1997 album With Every Breath CD 2073.
"Easy to Remember" CD 2083 .recorded in London 2001,features several performances with arrangements for string quartet", Compositions by Ellington, Gershwin and Monk are programmed and the brilliantly original saxophonist Tony Coe, a long term friend from the Lyttelton days, also joins him on two tracks.Joe's "A Portrait" CD 2091 is the most ambitious to date with tributes to Carney,Chaloff,Mulligan and Payne. Joe also plays some of his own favourite tunes and is multi tracked on five performances to create a full sax section. The wonderful John Bunch is on piano."He has the ability to play very complicated parts as demanded by his tenure in the Lincoln Center Orchestra but his poetic stature is revealed in his ballad playing where each note of the melody is treated with respect and love.
(article from Hep Jazz site)
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