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Liner Notes
American Saxophone Quartet: Gandy
Dancer
(Sons of Sound SSPCD004)
THE PLAYERS
ALBERT REGNI, the founder and leader of The American
Saxophone Quartet, is Principal Saxophonist with
the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera,
and New York City Ballet Orchestras. He is also
Professor of Saxophone at The College of New
Jersey.
GEORGE MARGE, a versatile woodwind player and
veteran of Broadway and New York recording studios,
began
his distiguished career at the age of 11 as the
Albany Symphony’s youngest member ever. Acclaimed
by his peers in the National Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences (NARAS), Mr. Marge won the coveted
Most Valuable Player Award on oboe every year from
when the award was instituted, in 1979, until his
death in 1985. He won the same award for flute
in 1979 and 1982.
JACK KRIPL studied conducting and classical saxophone
repertoire while a Fulbright Scholar in Paris.
In 1971, he won the Geneva International Competition
for Musical Performers, which launched his career
as a classical saxophone soloist. During his
16 years in New York, Mr. Kripl was principal woodwind
player with the Philip Glass Ensemble and a free-lance
woodwind specialist for network television, Broadway,
and the New York City Ballet.
BOB MINTZER is a respected composer, saxophonist,
improvisor, arranger, and bandleader. A charter
member of the ASQ, he is now with the best-selling
jazz group Yellowjackets in addition to leading
his own jazz big band and small group. His "Quartet
No. 1 in Three Movements" was recorded by the
ASQ and released on the CD Spanning the River in
1999.
DORA OHRENSTEIN is a gifted interpreter of art
song, vocal chamber works, and contemporary vocal
music. For over a decade she was solo vocalist
of the Philip Glass Ensemble, has performed chamber
music with the Kronos Quartet and Brentano Quartet,
and has appeared as soloist with the Chamber
Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Saint Paul
Chamber
Orchestra.
THE COMPOSERS
BERNARD HOFFER (b. 1934) A distiguished musician,
composer, conductor, and arranger, Mr. Hoffer’s
concert works have been performed by the New
York Philharmonic and the Spokane Symphony, among
others. He has also written extensively for film
and television. This work, including theme music
for the “MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour” on
PBS, has won several Emmy nominations, and his
commercial writing has earned six Clio Awards.
Mr. Hoffer’s
association with the ASQ includes the production
of two CDs: Spanning the River, and Mr. Regni’s
solo disc El Amor, both on Sons of Sound Recorded
Music.
CALVIN HAMPTON (1938-1984) Once called “the
greatest living composer of hymn tunes,” Mr.
Hampton distinguished himself as an organ recitalist
and interpreter of 19th- and 20th-century music.
From 1974 to 1983, he played the renowned weekly
Friday Midnight concerts at Calvary Church in New
York City. His choral, organ, chamber, and orchestral
works have been performed throughout the world.
They include concertos for saxophone quartet, for
organ, and for two violins.
DAVID MATTHEWS (b. 1942) is a veteran of the
jazz and commercial recording scene, composing
and arranging
for such luminaries as James Brown, Bonnie Raitt,
Paul Simon, and Buddy Rich. His Manhattan Jazz
Quintet is one of the
leading jazz groups in Japan. Matthews’ "Quartet
for Saxophones" received its premiere recording
by the ASQ on Spanning the River.
SEYMOUR BARAB (b. 1921) first developed an affection
for the saxophone after composing "Quartet" for
the ASQ in 1983. Since then he has written other
works
for saxophone, including a piece for saxophone
and string orchestra. He composed Saxophone Quartet
No. 2 for the ASQ in 1992. Barab has also written
many operas; his "Little Red Riding Hood" for
children is the most
frequently performed opera in America.
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