Born September 23, 1950, George Garzone is a saxophonist and jazz educator residing in New York City. He is a member of The Fringe, a jazz trio founded in 1972 that includes bassist John Lockwood and drummer Bob Gullotti, that performs regularly in the Boston area and has toured world wide.
The group has released several albums. Garzone has appeared on over 20 recordings. He began on the tenor saxophone when he was six, played in a family band and attended music school in Boston. In addition Garzone has guested in many situations, touring Europe with Jamaaladeen Tacuma and performing with Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Jack DeJohnette, Rachel Z, Bob Weir and Ratdog and John Patitucci
Garzone is also a jazz educator, teaching at the Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, New York University and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He has pioneered the triadic chromatic approach and students of his have included Joshua Redman, Branford Marsalis, Mindi Abair, Teadross Avery, Luciana Souza, Mark Turner, Donny McCaslin, Doug Yates and Danilo Pérez.
In 1995 he recorded a tribute to Stan Getz on NYC called Alone; Four’s and Two’s followed a year later with compatriot Joe Lovanowhich earned him four stars in Downbeat magazine, and in 1999 Garzone returned with Moodiology. Fringe in New York was released in summer 2000. He is a member of the Grammy-winning Joe Lovano Nonet, and performed and recorded with this group at the Village Vanguard in September 2002.
B.M., Berklee College of Music – Performances with the Fringe, Kenny Barron, Harvie Swartz, Dan Gottlieb, John Patitucci, Bill Stewart, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Tom Harrell, Don Alias, Danilo Perez, Lenny White, Joe Lovano, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Gary Peacock, Dennis Chambers, Anton Fig, Cecil McBee, Dave Holland, Stanley Cowell, Bob Moses, and Dave Liebman. Records on NYC Records.
Reviews of Garzone’s CD “Four’s and Two’s”.
“…Part of the fun is contrasting Garzone’s and Lovano’s approaches to the material, made up largely of Garzone compositions and vehicles for blowing….Listeners who investigate FOUR’S AND TWO’S to hear Lovano will carry away a new or renewed appreciation of Garzone’s strengths as well…”
“This is an aggressive recording….But the aggressive character lies not so much in aggression as in a joyful refusal to let any element of the music stand unchallenged…”
In George Garzone’s case, Coltrane has never been far afield from his own voice. With his band (of 25 years), The Fringe, he exercised the more free improvisational aspects ofColtrane. As a sideman to Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, George Russell, Gunther Schuller, Rachel Z, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Hart, and even Jamaaladeen Tacuma I always heard the Coltrane spirit in his playing.
Garzone has always possessed an expansive warm tone that moves from inside to out-jazz with relative ease. Like Trane, his music resonates from what must be a warm and beautiful soul. ~ Mark Corroto, allaboutjazz.com
