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Paul Kreibich

Paul Kreibich was born May 24, 1955 in Los Angeles, moving to Costa Mesa, CA when he was an infant. From an early age he showed an interest in drumming. As a kid he made his own drum set out of a cardboard barrel and coffee cans. He then began playing in the school band at the age of nine. At 12 years old Paul started private lessons with Bob Wrate. He was drum major at Costa Mesa High School and already working five nights a week at a local club on Balboa Island by his junior year. Paul continued his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He returned home to attend Orange Coast College and study with renowned percussionist Forrest Clark. Paul then worked for 2 years with tenor saxophonist Vince Wallace's Quintet ("…that was my real schooling!") Following this, Paul worked a variety of musical jobs including a stint with the Continental Circus.

In 1979 at the age of 23 he got his first major jazz gig with the great singer Carmen McRae. They toured the United States and Japan including a concert at Carnegie Hall.

Paul moved to Los Angeles in 1981, began private studies with well-known drum teacher Fred Gruber and attended LA City College.

Impressed with Japan and their love of jazz, Paul accepted an offer to return to work in Japan for 6 months with American and Japanese musicians in Osaka and Kyoto.

Upon his return to Los Angeles he got back into the local music scene. At a friend's coaxing, Paul went to a "cattle call" audition for the Ray Charles Band. He was the last drummer to play and was hired on the spot. Paul traveled with the band internationally for four years.

Los Angeles remained his home base and he became first call drummer for many touring artists such as Mose Allison, Red Rodney, The Woody Herman Band, Anita O'Day, Scott Hamilton, Joe Pass, Charles Brown, Rosemary Clooney, Lee Konitz, and others. Paul's recording credits are now well over 60 titles including CD's with, Bill Perkins, Dianne Reeves, Bob Cooper, Conte Candoli, Charlie Shoemake, Herb Geller, Cedar Walton, John Hendricks, James Moody, Kenny Burrell, Ray Charles, Gerald Wiggins, Andy Simpkins, Terry Gibbs, Hod O'Brien, Claude Williamson, and Frank Strazerri.

In 1995 Paul joined the Gene Harris Quartet where he toured and recorded with the group until Harris' untimely passing in January 2000. He plays on Harris' last Concord release "Alley Cats" along with Ernie Watts, Red Holloway and Jack McDuff.

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Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Big Band Extravaganza

Read "Big Band Extravaganza" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Some reviewers have been known to complain that contemporary big bands can do most anything but swing. Like all generalizations, there is some merit to the observation. But, like all generalizations, the occasional exception falsifies it. Looking for a big band that pushes all the right buttons? Look no further. Doug MacDonald's “desert jazz" band is an extremely good one. While it might be difficult to make claims about the novelty of what is on offer, the band is tight, ...

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Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Big Band Extravaganza

Read "Big Band Extravaganza" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Pardon the superlative, but what a terrific album! Extravanga marks the debut of guitarist Doug MacDonald's seventeen-member Jazz Orchestra, and he has guaranteed that it swings with gusto by writing nine perceptive and luminous charts that are sure to bring out the best in any ensemble, especially one as well-equipped as this. During his decades-long career as one of the West Coast's foremost guitarists, MacDonald has recorded fifteen albums with groups ranging from solo to duo, quartet to brass and ...

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Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Serenade to Highland Park

Read "Serenade to Highland Park" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


According to Kirk Silsbee, noted jazz writer and student of the LA jazz scene, Highland Park is “mainly Latino, though working-class art types live there and have their studios there. And it's at the foot of Mt Washington, a place for arty affluence." Well, if Highland Park is the new trendy place to be, and the standards and selected originals by Doug McDonald give you a feel for what is on offer in the neighborhood, it sounds like ...

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Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Serenade to Highland Park

Read "Serenade to Highland Park" reviewed by Jack Bowers


On Serenade to Highland Park, three consummate professionals salute the Los Angeles neighborhood in which the album was recorded. The three are guitarist Doug MacDonald, bassist Mike Flick and drummer Paul Kreibich, each of whom is among the best-known and busiest jazz musicians on the West Coast. Listening to them play is akin to catching a set by the Jeff Hamilton Trio, with MacDonald's bright and nimble guitar replacing Tamir Hendelman's always trim and engaging piano. A ...

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Album Review

David Angel: Out on the Coast

Read "Out on the Coast" reviewed by Jack Bowers


David Angel, one of the West Coast's best-kept secrets, earns a long-overdue hour or three in the sun and makes every moment count on Out on the Coast, a superlative three-disc anthology that bundles fifteen of his luminous original compositions with seven jazz standards in an invariably pleasurable and charming package. When not teaching, writing or arranging, at home or abroad, Angel has led a Los Angeles-based rehearsal band for more than half a century. A list of alumni reads ...

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Album Review

David Angel Jazz Ensemble: Out on the Coast

Read "Out on the Coast" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Every now and then one runs across musicians or composers who are well-known by their peers, or who have carved out loyal followings regionally, but who at the same time have for whatever reason escaped the notice of the wider jazz community. Los Angeles-based saxophonist/bandleader David Angel would certainly fall into that category, despite a career going back to the 1970s, not only in jazz but in film, television and studio work, in addition to his regular participation in various ...

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Concerts

Apr 28 Sun
Julie Newsome
Bogies
Westlake Village, CA

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Big Band Extravaganza

Self Produced
2023

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Out on the Coast

Basset Hound Music
2021

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