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Walter Blanding

Walter Blanding (Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, Clarinet) was born on August 14, 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio to a musical family and began playing the saxophone at age six. In 1981, he moved with his family to New York City, and by age 16, he was performing regularly with his parents at the Village Gate. Mr. Blanding attended LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts and continued his studies at the New School for Social Research. Mr. Blanding lived in Israel for 4 years, where he had a major impact on the music scene, inviting great artists such as Louis Hayes, Eric Reed and others to perform. He also taught in several Israeli schools and toured the country with his ensemble. During this period, Newsweek described him as "Jazz's Ambassador to Israel." His first recording, Tough Young Tenors, was acclaimed as one of the best jazz albums of 1991. Since then, he has performed or recorded with many artists, including Cab Calloway, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Marcus Roberts, Illinois Jacquet, Eric Reed, Roy Hargrove and others. His latest release, The Olive Tree, features fellow members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

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6
Album Review

Randy Napoleon: The Door is Open: The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "The Door is Open: The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Paul Rauch


In and around the formidable jazz studies program at Michigan State University is a plethora of jazz talent devoted to instrumental and compositional excellence. Most of this talent is young, benefiting from a wide array of world-class instructors that includes program director Rodney Whitaker and veteran guitarist Randy Napoleon, among other notables. Within this labyrinth of jazz wisdom in the Detroit / Lansing metroplex is composer Gregg Hill, a former truck driver and tech entrepreneur whose performing ambitions were superseded ...

9
Album Review

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet with Wynton Marsalis: The Democracy! Suite

Read "The Democracy! Suite" reviewed by Paul Rauch


There is an interesting generational divide in perception when it comes to the music of Wynton Marsalis. While many hail his work at Lincoln Center as elevating jazz to its rightful place among the fine arts, others lament the separation from his iconic quartet and quintet work in the 1980's as some sort of jazz treason. What is unquestionable is his virtuosity and eloquence, expressing each note with beauty as the clear priority in his playing as a ...

172
Album Review

Walter Blanding: The Olive Tree

Read "The Olive Tree" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


A new addition to an already heady bunch of tenor stars on Criss Cross, including Walt Weiskopf, Tim Warfield, Seamus Blake, and Ralph Lalama, 28-year-old saxophonist Walter Blanding is making good on the promise he showed back in 1991 on the collective project Tough Young Tenors. His debut as a leader, The Olive Tree, finds Blanding in familiar company, with trumpeter Kisor a buddy from high school and both pianist Farid Barron and bassist Rodney Whitaker chums from the Lincoln ...

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Event

Jazz Day - April 9 - Taste of Jazz at Time Warner Center

Jazz Day - April 9 - Taste of Jazz at Time Warner Center

Source: Michael Ricci

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER AND TIME WARNER CENTER'S CIRCLE OF TASTE PRESENT A TASTE OF JAZZ Celebration Marks the Inauguration of “Jazz Day" on April 9th (During Jazz Appreciation Month) Chefs from the Center's Restaurant and Bar Collection Present Dishes Inspired by the Great American Jazz Cities Special Music Performance by Members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Bebop, swing and New Orleans jazz will inspire chefs and menus alike for one hoppin' evening at the first ever A ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Democracy! Suite

Blue Engine Records
2021

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The Olive Tree

Criss Cross
2010

buy

The Olive Tree

Criss Cross
2000

buy

The Lost Tune

From: The Door is Open: The Music of...
By Walter Blanding

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