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Dennis Irwin

Dennis Irwin was born on November 28, 1951 in Birmingham, Alabama but grew up in Atlanta and Knoxville. Early in life he discovered music"inspired by older brothers who coached him in jazz early on"and began playing clarinet. As a teenager, his family moved to Houston, where he played in R&B bands playing alto sax and handling lead vocals. He attended North Texas State University studying classical music focusing on his clarinet. Two friends in the program, drummer John Riley and bassist Marc Johnson turned him on to the upright bass at the age of 19: he thus found his true calling and joined the school’s acclaimed Two O’Clock Big Band.

In nearby Dallas, he worked as a sub with pianist Red Garland, who suggested Irwin move to New York. In August of 1974, Irwin headed north to New York when an old friend from high school offered him a place to stay and a job in a Greenwich Village record store. In no time he was gigging with Charles Brackeen, finally landing his first steady gig in trumpeter Ted Curson’s group in 1975. He quickly became the bassist of choice with such vocalists as Jackie Paris, Betty Carter, Annie Ross, Ann Hampton Callaway, Tania Maria and Mose Allison. “It’s challenging to work with a vocalist,” Irwin explains, “because you have to listen for exactly what a singer needs. Sometimes it’s about just getting out of the way, you can’t play too hip, otherwise you draw attention to yourself. But that’s true of playing behind any soloist. Playing the bass is about instinct and calculation.” He looks back upon the years he spent with Allison as “fun, because of Mose’s knack for human and social commentary.”

A number of musicians have served as mentors including bassist Ali Jackson, Sr., best known for the '50s session he co-led with trumpeter Wilbur Hardin featuring John Coltrane. “Listening to Ali taught me so much,” Irwin explains. “He wasn’t as well known as his brother, Oliver ‘Bop’ Jackson, but he really played with tremendous feeling and a strong tie to Africa. Today, people would describe him as something of hippie radical, but those were the times.” Bassist Eddie Jones, known for his work with Count Basie was also a mentor, as were drummers Vernel Fournier, Ben Riley and Leroy Williams. “I’ve been so lucky,” he explains to learn directly from these masters.” A stint with Brazilian pianist Dom Salvador, which included Dennis's first major recording session, jump started his long-term love affair with Brazilian music, fed regularly by Salvador's steady supply of choro charts which Dennis mastered on clarinet, as well as obscure Brazilian recordings.

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1,528
Interview

Dennis Irwin: Respect the Tradition

Read "Dennis Irwin: Respect the Tradition" reviewed by Lora Rosner


In March of 2008, the jazz world lost the irreplaceable Dennis Irwin, a bassist who was a remarkable musician; a beautiful person generous with his time and his heart; and a scholar and facilitator of musical experiences without equal. Since his passing there have been tributes to this world-class sideman, which enumerate the details of his career. Not too many people know that Irwin began playing bass at 19, after years of classical clarinet and playing drums in marching bands ...

219
Album Review

Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen: Heavy Juice

Read "Heavy Juice" reviewed by Ken Franckling


This CD has been a recording waiting to happen for twenty years. Back then, highschooler Harry Allen joined Scott Hamilton on stage at the Newport Jazz Festival for a cameo performance with the George Wein-led Newport All-Stars. Allen grew up in Rhode Island, which also claims Hamilton as a native son. And Hamilton certainly was a role model as Allen blossomed then—and fast became a welcome young player on the New York swing jazz scene.They've had occasional chances ...

104
Album Review

Scott Hamilton & Harry Allen: Heavy Juice

Read "Heavy Juice" reviewed by John Kelman


Strangely enough, recordings pairing tenor players are not unusual. Sonny Rollins did it with John Coltrane on Tenor Madness ; more recently Joe Lovano with Joshua Redman on Tenor Legacy ; even Chris Potter did it with Joe Lovano on a few tracks on Vertigo. Why this particular variation of saxophone is more conducive to teaming up is a mystery, but it always seems to work. Now Scott Hamilton has come together with next generationer Harry Allen for Heavy Juice ...

152
Album Review

Harry Allen: Love Songs Live!

Read "Love Songs Live!" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Two words are about all that are needed to sum up the singular talents of swing–based tenor saxophonist Harry Allen — smooth and consistent, each of which aspect of his charismatic persona is abundantly present on this compilation of love songs recorded in concert between 1993 and ’96. I’m not fully conversant with Allen’s influences but Stan Getz had to be one of them (listen, for example, to Jobim’s “Once I Loved”). Others, he says, include Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins ...

213
Album Review

Harry Allen: Love Songs Live!

Read "Love Songs Live!" reviewed by Dave Nathan


Nagel Heyer has put together an album of romantic love songs performed by the Coleman Hawkins influenced, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims like tenor horn of Harry Allen. All of the tracks were compiled from previously released recordings of live concerts, mostly in Hamburg where Allen was on the stage with a variety of first rate jazz musicians. Given that virtually every song is played in that slow, ballad tempo, this album could just as well have been titled Music for ...

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196

Interview

Bassist Dennis Irwin - 1994 Interview Unearthed

Bassist Dennis Irwin - 1994 Interview Unearthed

Source: All About Jazz

In March of 2008, the jazz world lost the irreplaceable Dennis Irwin, a bassist who was a remarkable musician; a beautiful person generous with his time and his heart; and a scholar and facilitator of musical experiences without equal. Since his passing there have been tributes to this world-class sideman, which enumerate the details of his career. Not too many people know that Irwin began playing bass at 19, after years of classical clarinet and playing drums in marching bands ...

133

Obituary

Dennis Irwin, 56, Bassist Popular in New York Jazz, is Dead

Dennis Irwin, 56, Bassist Popular in New York Jazz, is Dead

Source: Michael Ricci

Dennis Irwin, who for more than 30 years was a much-in-demand New York jazz bassist and whose recent illness became a rallying point for jazz musicians without medical insurance, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 56. The cause was liver failure as a result of cancer, said his son, Michael Irwin. He died the same day as a benefit concert was presented in his honor, staged by Jazz at Lincoln Center and including performances by Wynton Marsalis, Tony Bennett, ...

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Event

Tony Bennett Added to Dennis Irwin Benefit

Tony Bennett Added to Dennis Irwin Benefit

Source: All About Jazz

Jazz at Lincoln Center: Playing Our Parts Concert Proceeds From This Concert Will Benefit THE JAZZ FOUNDATION OF AMERICA For DENNIS IRWIN March 10, 2008 - The Allen Room - 7:30 p.m. WHO/WHAT: Joe Lovano and John Scofield team up with Jazz at Lincoln Center and Wynton Marsalis to bring together incredible performers in a benefit concert for beloved bassist Dennis Irwin. All artists are donating their services and Jazz at Lincoln Center is ...

150

Performance / Tour

Dennis Irwin Tribute

Dennis Irwin Tribute

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

DENNIS IRWIN TRIBUTE

On Monday, February 18, 2008 at the Village Vanguard, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra will honor its great bassist Dennis Irwin with a night of music featuring guest soloists Joe Lovano and John Scofield whose bands have also run on Irwin power for much of the last 15 years. The motivation for this night is to say thanks to a rare person, of great value to all of us, on and off the bandstand. The reason we're doing ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Blues Twilight

Self Produced
2008

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Heavy Juice

Concord Music Group
2004

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Love Songs Live!

Nagel Heyer Records
2001

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Focus

Nova
1978

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