Instruments bass saxophone | Years active 1966–present Name Vince Giordano | |
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Born March 11, 1952
Brooklyn, New York ( 1952-03-11 ) Associated acts Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks Role Musician · vincegiordano.com Albums Cheek to Cheek, The Music of the Cotton Club, Moonlight Serenade, Hits of the 30's & 40's, Quality Shout Movies Revolutionary Road, Finding Forrester, Bloodhounds of Broadway Profiles | ||
Occupation(s) Musician and arranger | ||
Three blind mice vince giordano and the nighthawks 11 14 2015
Vince Giordano (March 11, 1952, Brooklyn) is an American saxophonist and leader of the New York-based Nighthawks Orchestra. He specializes in jazz of the 1920s and 1930s and his primary instrument is the bass saxophone. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks have played on television and film soundtracks, including the award-winning HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Woody Allen's musical comedy film Everyone Says I Love You.
Contents
- Three blind mice vince giordano and the nighthawks 11 14 2015
- An interview with vince giordano
- Music career
- Collecting
- Performing
- Awards and honors
- Selected discography
- References
An interview with vince giordano
Music career
When he was five, Giordano listened to music of the 1920s on a wind-up Victrola. When he was 15, he played string bass and bass saxophone professionally and took lessons from Bill Challis to learn about writing arrangements like the dance bands of the 1920s and 30s. He performed with New Paul Whiteman Orchestra, the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Band, he New York Jazz Repertory Company, and Leon Redbone. His band The Nighthawks plays music from the early days of jazz, such as Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.
Lending his musical and acting talents to Francis Ford Coppola's film The Cotton Club led to working with Dick Hyman's Orchestra in half a dozen Woody Allen soundtracks, then acting as bass player, most notably in Sean Penn's band in Allen's Sweet and Lowdown. Giordano and the Nighthawks have appeared on soundtracks for the movies The Aviator, Finding Forrester, The Good Shepherd, and Public Enemies, the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce, and the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
Collecting
Giordano is a music historian and collector with more than 60,000 scores in his collection. He is listed as "a friend of Thornton Hagert and the Vernacular Music Research's archive of music" in The Devil's Horn: The Story of the Saxophone by Michael Segall (2006). In 2011, he was featured in the PBS series Michael Feinstein's American Songbook, in which he reveals his treasures from the Great American Songbook. His collection includes big band arrangements, silent movie scores, 78-rpm discs, piano rolls, and a Victrola.
Performing
Giordano and his band have been guests on Garrison Keillor's variety radio show, A Prairie Home Companion. Turner Classic Movie Film Festival spotlighted him at Hollywood's Music Box, where the band performed vintage movie music, in addition to accompanying The Cameraman, a Buster Keaton silent film shown at the Egyptian Theater. In the summer of 2012, the band performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, Music Mountain, and the Litchfield Jazz Festival.
Awards and honors
Selected discography
Soundtrack appearances
With Leon Redbone
With Marty Grosz
With Back Bay Ramblers
With others