Richie Cole (musician)

Early life

Cole was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He started playing alto saxophone when he was ten years old, encouraged by his father, who owned a jazz club in New Jersey. He is a graduate of Ewing High School, in Ewing Township, New Jersey. Cole won a scholarship from Down Beat magazine to the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Career

In 1969 he joined drummer Buddy Rich's Big Band. After working with Lionel Hampton's Big Band and Doc Severinsen's Big Band, he formed his own quintet and toured worldwide, doing a great deal to popularize bebop and his own "alto madness" style in the 1970s and early '80s. He formed the Alto Madness Orchestra in the 1990s.

Cole has performed and recorded with Eddie Jefferson, Nancy Wilson, Tom Waits, The Manhattan Transfer, Hank Crawford, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Kloss, Bobby Enriquez, Phil Woods, Sonny Stitt, Art Pepper, and Boots Randolph. He has recorded over fifty albums, including his top hit album Hollywood Madness (Muse, 1979) and his tribute album to Leonard Bernstein, Richie Cole Plays West Side Story (Music Masters, 1997).

He was appointed to the Board of the National Jazz Service Organization and the Board for the National Endowment for the Arts where he served as chairman for one year. He is a charter member of the International Association of Jazz Educators.

In 2005 he was awarded the State of California Congressional Certificate of Lifetime Achievement in Jazz on behalf of the Temecula Jazz Society.

As leader

As sideman

With Greg Abate

With Les DeMerle

With Jim Holman

With Freddie Hubbard

With Eddie Jefferson

With Peter Lauffer

With The Manhattan Transfer

With Oliver Nelson

With Anita O'Day

With Don Patterson

With Buddy Rich

With Janine Santana

With Sigmund Snopek III

With Sonny Stitt

With James Van Buren

With Patrice Villastrigo

DVDs