Gerald Albright
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gerald Albright | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | August 30, 1957 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Jazz |
| Instrument(s) | Saxophone, Bass Guitar, Keyboard |
| Years active | 1987 – Present |
| Label(s) | GRP, Peak, Atlantic/Wea, Polygram |
| Associated acts | Will Downing |
| Website | www.GeraldAlbright.com |
Gerald Albright (born August 30, 1957) is an American jazz saxophonist.
Albright has sold over 1,000,000 albums in the U.S. alone. His self-produced music features him on bass guitar, keyboards, flutes, drum programming, and background vocals.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Los Angeles, Albright grew up in its South Central neighborhood. He began piano lessons at an early age, even though he professed no great interest in the instrument. His love of music picked up considerably when he was given a saxophone that belonged to his piano teacher. It was further reinforced when he attended Locke High School, a breeding ground for many young West Coast musicians.[citation needed] After high school, he attended the University of Redlands where he received a B.S. degree in business management, minoring in music. Already a polished saxophonist by the time he enrolled in college, Albright suddenly switched to bass guitar after he saw Louis Johnson in concert.
Immediately after college, Albright began to master his talent by working extensively in the studio with such artists as Anita Baker, Ray Parker, Jr., The Temptations, and Olivia Newton-John. A few months after graduating from college, Gerald joined Patrice Rushen, who was in the process of forming her own band, in which he played the saxophone. Later, when the bass player left in the middle of a tour, Albright replaced him and finished the tour on bass guitar. Consequently, he often performed on both instruments. Around the same time he also began to tour Europe with drummer Alphonse Mouzon.
He has also toured with Jeff Lorber, Teena Marie, Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, and many others. In addition to numerous appearances at clubs and jazz festivals, Albright had also been a part of the popular Jazz Explosion tours, which saw him teaming up with contemporary jazz stars like Will Downing, Jonathan Butler, Hugh Masekela, Chaka Khan, and Rachelle Ferrell, among others.
Albright has also made several television appearances on shows such as A Different World, Melrose Place, and BET jazz segments, as well as piloting a show in Las Vegas with Designing Women star Meshach Taylor.
Albright was one of the ten featured saxophonists who performed at Bill Clinton’s inauguration. He was also featured at the Presidential Summit, as well as several private functions for the President.
Albright is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. Albright now lives with his family in Denver, Colorado.
[edit] Saxophone
Gerald Albright plays a custom made model of saxophone from Cannonball Musical Instruments of Salt Lake City, Utah. The GA5SB is the current model shown above in a polished black-nickel bell on a silver plated body. The horn features twin necks of different weight, size and plating which can be interchanged depending on genre or venue, in essence creating two different sounding horns in one case. His latest model now features a "Fat Neck" as show above which incorperates an underslung octave mechanism similar to that of the vintage Conn 6M with the pip located on the bottom of the neck. This creates a clearer, more pronounced upper register which is especially helpful to solo jazz performers like Albright.
Albright's moutpiece and reed setups are as follows:
Tenor Sax - Sugal Kirk Whalum II with La Voz Medium Reeds
Alto Sax - Custom Beechler HR Diamond Inlay with La Voz Medium Reeds
Sorpano Sax - Dukoff D7 with La Voz Medium Reeds
[edit] Trivia
- Gerald Albright's saxophone work is featured in the PlayStation video game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. His saxophone work can be heard during the game's closing theme song "I Am the Wind" (which, coincidentally, also features smooth jazz keyboardist Jeff Lorber).[1]
[edit] Discography
| titles | year | label | |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Just Between Us" | 1987 | Atlantic/Wea | |
| "Bermuda Nights" | 1988 | Atlantic/Wea | |
| "Dream Come True" | 1990 | Atlantic/Wea | |
| "Live At Birdland West" | 1994 | Atlantic/Wea | |
| "Giving Myself To You" | 1995 | Atlantic/Wea | |
| "Live To Love" | 1997 | Atlantic/Wea | |
| "Pleasures Of The Night" with Will Downing | 1998 | Polygram | |
| "The Very Best Of Gerald Albright" | 2001 | Atlantic/Wea | |
| "Groovology" | 2002 | GRP | |
| "Kickin' It Up" | 2004 | GRP | |
| "New Beginnings" | 2006 | Peak | |
| "Sax for Stax" | 2008 | Peak |
