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Ron Aprea

Ron Aprea grew up in Astoria, NY and clearly remembers seeing Pete Fountain playing the clarinet on television. Inspired to play, Ron went to his elementary school band director, Mr. Cahill, and asked to play what he thought was Pete’s instrument, a saxophone. So that’s what the school gave him. That little mistake has given the world of Jazz an artist that contributes to the genre with exceptional skill to this day. Continuing to play throughout his school years, Ron finally got his own alto saxophone at age 16 and started taking lessons in a studio across the street from Radio City Music Hall. It was also during this time that Ron would frequent the famed Birdland Jazz Club on Broadway. He spent a lot of time soaking up inspiration from all of the Big Band and Jazz legends that played the club – such as Count Basie and Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Both would prove to be major influences in Ron’s career. It was at Birdland that Ron met Frank Foster, who played with and arranged for Count Basie; the two became lifelong friends. One of many prized items in Ron’s memorabilia is a collection of original arrangements that Frank had written for Basie’s band and then gave Ron copies for his band. Ron has spent years perfecting his musical prowess. He’s played with legends like Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Billy May, Skitch Henderson and Lionel Hampton. While playing with Hamp, he had the opportunity to do a recorded performance at the Smithsonian Institute, where Ron’s solos were taped and placed into their Archives. As part of an All-Star band, Ron played at a 2001 Charlie Parker Birthday Tribute in Harlem. He has also been featured during performances at the Paramount Theatre and the world famous Apollo Theatre. Ron performed extensively in 1998, being featured during the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival (at the University of Idaho) and as a special guest with Hamp’s Big Band, playing for thousands at the Planting Fields Arboretum in New York. He and his wife, jazz vocalist Angela DeNiro received a standing ovation at the event. 1998 was also the year Ron received 8 GRAMMY nomination entries for his production work on Angela’s “Swingin’ With Legends” album. The collaboration with Angela proved to be successful on much more than just a personal level. Ron’s compositions, arrangements and production skills are frequently heard on Angela’s CDs.

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22
Album Review

Angela DeNiro: Swingin' with Legends 2

Read "Swingin' with Legends 2" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On Swingin' with Legends 2, her fourth recorded collaboration with arranger (and husband) Ron Aprea's big band, vocalist Angela DeNiro sings beautifully--and receives a lot of help from her friends, especially guests Ken Peplowski on clarinet, Randy Brecker on trumpet and Lew Tabackin on tenor sax and flute. And what a band! Well-stocked with stars who are eager to fly whenever Aprea raises his baton. Not that DeNiro needs much help. She is quite simply a marvelous ...

4
Album Review

Angela DeNiro: Swingin' with Legends 2

Read "Swingin' with Legends 2" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Vocalist Angela DeNiro sings with blue-ribbon vocal abilities. This is evident in her release Swingin' With Legends 2 . Accompanied by the Ron Aprea Big Band, supplemented by special guests Randy Brecker, Ken Peplowski and Lew Tabackin, she sails through fourteen love songs written by some of the greatest composers of the American Songbook, providing a deep understanding and command of the material she performs. The album opens with “New York City Blues," a not frequently ...

2
Album Review

Angela DeNiro with the Ron Aprea Big Band: Swingin' with Legends 2

Read "Swingin' with Legends 2" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


Swingin' with Legends 2 from Angela DeNiro with the Ron Aprea Big Band, is a follow-up to their first Legends effort in 1988. The album, as was its Grammy-entered predecessor, is a quintessentially classic big band recording featuring a fine female vocalist. The fourteen tunes here are predominantly from the Great American Songbook, with jazz greats Randy Brecker, Lew Tabackin, and Ken Peplowski delivering outstanding cameos. The opener “New York Blues" is a flat-out swinger with DeNiro belting ...

4
Book Excerpts

The Era I Almost Missed

Read "The Era I Almost Missed" reviewed by Ron Aprea


The following is an excerpt from “Section 9: Les Elgart" of The Era I Almost Missed--An Autobiography by Ron Aprea (Self Published, 2021). The Embers West / Richie Barz Still rehearsing my band and looking for a room in Manhattan, my drummer Jimmie Young hooked me up with pianist Mike Longo. Mike just finished touring with Dizzy Gillespie and was leading the house band at the Embers West on West 49th Street. Mike arranged to have my band ...

6
Book Review

The Era I Almost Missed - An Autobiography

Read "The Era I Almost Missed - An Autobiography" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


The Era I Almost Missed -An Autobiography Ron Aprea 245 Pages ISBN: # 978-1-6678015-0-6 Self Published 2021 Jazz musicians are an oral bunch. Freud, although he despised music, would have had a field day studying them. Their autobiographies tend to fall into a handful of categories. Some read as if you're reading the phone book—a litany of names and places ad nauseam. Others tend to become more personally revealing as they detail the ...

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Interview

Ron Aprea: On John Lennon, Jazz Legends, And Life In Music

Read "Ron Aprea: On John Lennon, Jazz Legends, And Life In Music" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Picture this: The year is 1974 and you've just gotten off the road with Lionel Hampton. The phone rings, and on the other end of the line is an old buddy of yours. After a little small talk, he asks if you're available for a recording session. You indicate that you're free and ask him about the session. That's when he tells you, nonchalantly, that it's for John Lennon. That little episode may sound like it's coming ...

41
Album Review

Ron Aprea: Ron Aprea Pays Tribute to John Lennon and the Beatles

Read "Ron Aprea Pays Tribute to John Lennon and the Beatles" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


The John Lennon-Paul McCartney canon has been recorded by everyone with the possible exception of “Honey Boo Boo" and “Mini Me." Some of those efforts are feckless attempts at moving the popular-genre so far away from its source it is laughable. Saxophone artist, Ron Aprea had the unique opportunity (along with trumpeter Steve Madaio, he of Stevie Wonder and the L.A. studios) to record with John Lennon on his post-Beatles award-winning album, Walls and Bridges (1974, EMI). ...

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Recording

Ron Aprea: Remembering Blakey

Ron Aprea: Remembering Blakey

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

If you're going to record a tribute to drummer and hard-bop boss Art Blakey, you'd better come to burn. Alto saxophonist Ron Aprea and the band he assembled do just that on Remembering Blakey (Early Autumn)—one of the strongest small group albums of the year. Instead of miming songs recorded by Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Aprea wisely lined up 12 tracks that have almost nothing to do with legendary bandleader. For example, six of the songs are by Paul ...

"If you're going to record a tribute to drummer and hard-bop boss Art Blakey, you'd better come to burn. Alto saxophonist Ron Aprea and the band he assembled do just that on Remembering Blakey (Early Autumn)—one of the strongest small group albums of the year."Marc Myers, Jazz Wax - See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/07/ron-aprea-remembering-blakey.html#sthash.a4sEdPUT.dpuf

Frank Foster
saxophone

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Swingin' with Legends...

Early Autumn Productions
2023

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Ron Aprea Pays...

Early Autumn Productions
2015

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Remembering Blakey

Early Autumn Productions
2013

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