Nick Brignola

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Nick Brignola
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Background information
Birth name	Nicholas Thomas Brignola
Born	July 17, 1936
Origin	Troy, New York
Died	February 8, 2002
Genre(s)	Hard bop
Instrument(s)	baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone

Nick Brignola (b. July 17, 1936; d. February 8, 2002) was a baritone saxophonist who also played alto or soprano at times. He is largely associated with hard bop.

He began in music by playing clarinet at age eleven, but then added alto and tenor saxophone and also learnt flute. He did not use baritone saxophone until he was twenty and needed a "loaner instrument." The jazz magazine Down Beat praised the college band he worked in when attending Ithaca and this gained him his initial notability. He was also a member of Woody Herman's orchestra for a time, worked with Thelonius Monk, and had his first album as a collaboration with Glen Moore.

Although he did notable work for others he spent most of his career as a leader of his own small groups. In the 1990s he often topped the Down Beat polls in the baritone saxophone category, a period when many of his best-regarded albums were recorded, even though his health had begun to decline due to cancer.

[edit] Selected recordings

L.A. Bound (1979)
Raincheck (1988) swing session with Kenny Barron, George Mraz, Billy Hart. Brignola plays baritone, tenor, soprano and clarinet.
On a Different Level (1989)
What It Takes (1990) Brignola plays soprano and clarinet as well as baritone
Flight of the Eagle (1996)
Poinciana (1998)