Richie Cole (musician)


Richie Cole was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger.

Early life

Cole was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He began to play alto saxophone when he was ten years old, encouraged by his father, who owned a jazz club in New Jersey. He was a graduate of Ewing High School, in Ewing Township, New Jersey. Cole won a scholarship from DownBeat magazine to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Career

In 1969, he joined drummer Buddy Rich's Big Band. After working with Lionel Hampton's Big Band and Doc Severinsen's Big Band, he formed his own quintet and toured worldwide, developing his own "alto madness" bebop style in the 1970s and early '80s. He formed the Alto Madness Orchestra in the 1990s.
Cole performed and recorded with Eddie Jefferson, Nancy Wilson, Tom Waits, The Manhattan Transfer, Hank Crawford, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Kloss, Bobby Enriquez, Phil Woods, Sonny Stitt, Art Pepper, and Boots Randolph. He recorded over fifty albums, including his albums Hollywood Madness and Richie Cole Plays West Side Story, a tribute to Leonard Bernstein.
He was appointed to the Board of the National Jazz Service Organization and the Board for the National Endowment for the Arts where he served as chairman for one year. He was a charter member of the International Association of Jazz Educators.
In 2005, he was awarded the State of California Congressional Certificate of Lifetime Achievement in Jazz on behalf of the Temecula Jazz Society.
Cole died of natural causes on May 2, 2020.

Discography

As leader

With Greg Abate
With Les DeMerle
With Allan Harris
With Jim Holman
With Freddie Hubbard
With Eddie Jefferson
With Vic Juris
With Peter Lauffer
With The Manhattan Transfer
With Karen Marguth
With Mark Murphy
With Oliver Nelson
With Anita O'Day
With Don Patterson
With Buddy Rich
With Red Rodney
With Janine Santana
With Sigmund Snopek III
With Sonny Stitt
With James Van Buren
With Patrice Villastrigo