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John Rangel

John Rangel is a dynamic Composer and Jazz Pianist.  He has been a professional musician for almost twenty years.  John grew up in a very musical family in New York City.  His mother and brother are opera singers and everyone in his family played an instrument.  John's grandmother played jazz and taught piano.  He attended Hunter High School (a gifted program) and studied at the Eastman School of Music.  John also studied Composition with John Corigliano and Jazz Piano with Joanne Brackeen, Kenny Werner, Stanley Cowell, Richie Beirach, and Phil Markowitz. John moved to Los Angeles in the early 90's.  He immersed himself in the rich vibrant culture of Leimert Park known as the "African Greenwich Village."  Leimert Park is the center of African-American Arts in LA, brimming with poets, artists, and musicians.  This community has been a major influence on John's spiritual intention and musical direction.  John Rangel is unique because of his tremendous range of musical experience; Jazz, Classical, Film Music, Pop, Hi-Life, Salsa, Reggae, and Calypso. John Rangel's versatility as a jazz pianist is most evident in his work with the following artists;  Nat Adderly, Marcus Printup, Ira Sullivan, Sam Rivers, Ravi Coltrane, Pharaoh Saunders, Sonny Fortune, Zane Musa, Eric Person, Ernie Watts, Sam Most, Azar Lawrence, Phil Ranelin, Scott Whitfield, George Bohannon, Al McKibbon, James Leary, Dr. Art Davis, Nedra Wheeler, Tony Dumas, Dwight Trible, Carmen Bradford, James Torme (son of Mel), Blay Amboley and His Afrikan Jazz Band, Tierney Sutton, Rosemary Clooney, Willie Jones III, Ndugu Chancellor, Sunship Theus, Sherman Ferguson, Ralph Penland, Smitty Smith, Joe La Barbera, Derf Reklaw, and Billy Higgins. Performance highlights include; Carnegie Hall in NY, Royce Hall in LA, Gene Harris Jazz Festival in Idaho, the Playboy Jazz Festival, LA County Museum of Art, MOCA, Central Avenue Jazz Festival, Clearwater Jazz Festival in Florida, Ronnie Scott's in London, Jazz Café in London, North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, and various venues in Osaka and Tokyo.  

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3
Album Review

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: Gyedu-Blay Ambolley & Hi-life Jazz

Read "Gyedu-Blay Ambolley & Hi-life Jazz" reviewed by Peter Jones


This is reportedly the 35th album from Ghanaian singer/rapper/tenor saxophonist Gyedu-Blay Ambolley. But although he has toured Europe and the US extensively, he remains relatively unknown in what we call “the West." It is a situation that ought to change, and if there was any justice in the world, this is the album that would do it. Ambolley is a leading modern exponent of high-life (or hi-life) jazz, a genre that grew out of the so-called “palm wine" ...

9
Album Review

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: Gyedu-Blay Ambolley And Hi-Life Jazz

Read "Gyedu-Blay Ambolley And Hi-Life Jazz" reviewed by Chris May


In the beginning, that is to say the 1950s and 1960s, there were two main strands of highlife, Ghana's national dance music. One was rural based, played by ensembles using acoustic guitars and traditional percussion instruments. The other was urban based, played by bands using kit drums as well as traditional percussion, and with large horn sections modelled on American swing orchestras; the style was dubbed “dance band highlife." In the 1970s, as electric guitars became commonplace in ...

2
Album Review

Scott Whitfield & Friends: A Bi-Coastal Christmas

Read "A Bi-Coastal Christmas" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If trombonist Scott Whitfield's A Bi-Coastal Christmas cannot quicken your inner holiday spirit, that will not be for lack of trying. Whitfield uses every ribbon in the packet and every tool in the shed to help make the season bright, from big band to quintet, from duo to solo (Whitfield's trombone all by itself). Two of the selections were recorded in 2004, four others in 2005, whereas Whitfield's brace of solo tracks was taped in 2020 as he cast off ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley...

Agogo Records
2022

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A Bi-Coastal Christmas

Self Produced
2020

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Pages

TC Productions, INC
2006

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