Charlie Ventura
Albums
Charlie Ventura first gained fame as the tenor-saxophonist in the Gene Krupa Trio and big band, starring on a 1945 recording of "Dark Eyes." Ventura had a [more]
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Charlie Ventura and Bill Harris made their mark among fellow jazz musicians but both died in obscurity. The reappearance of these historic live [more]
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Appearances
I can't see where there's anything fantastic about it all. I put quite a bit of study into the horn, that's true. In fact, the neighbors threatened to ask my mother to move once when we were living out West. She said I was driving them crazy with the horn. I used to put in at least 11 to 15 hours a day. -Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker was one of the true giants of American music. A brilliant alto-saxophonist who could play perfectly coherent solos at a blinding speed, Parker [more]
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![Drummin' Man [Quadromania]](/cache/JHS/m8/130x130_m89434amkr7.jpg)
The first superstar drummer and still one of the most famous drummers of all time, Gene Krupa was a joy to watch. He could make every drum [more]
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Some of Dizzy Gillespie's best and most well-known material from the '60s with a truly talented band is included on this long-awaited reissue of recordings done in [more]
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Charlie Ventura and Bill Harris made their mark among fellow jazz musicians but both died in obscurity. The reappearance of these historic live [more]
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Sarah Vaughan's recordings of the 1940s tend to be with big bands and string sections. Depending on your taste for the symphonic or operatic Vaughan, this collection of [more]
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In 1977, a long-lost Gerry Mulligan big-band session from 1957 was released for the first time. The four selections featured the baritonist's arrangements for a 15-piece group that [more]
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With a wealth of saxophone masters spread across 21 cuts, Indigo's Art of the Saxophone Ballad is an hour-long treatise on the power of reeds to put over a ballad. [more]
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Biography
- Born Dec 2nd 1916 in Philadelphia, PA
- Died Jan 17th 1992 in Pleasantville, NJ
A fine swing-oriented tenor saxophonist, Ventura is best-remembered for his attempt at popularizing bebop during the tail end of the music's mid- to late-'40s heyday. Born Charles Venturo, he came from a large, musically inclined family. His first instrument was C-melody sax. He switched to alto before eventually settling on tenor. Ventura left his day job at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1942 to join Gene Krupa's band. He became a featured soloist with Krupa, playing with the drummer from 1942-1943 and 1944-1946 (working in the interim with guitarist/bandleader Teddy Powell). Ventura achieved considerable popularity while with Krupa, winning a Down Beat magazine award as best tenor saxophonist in 1945. He started his own big band in 1946 with middling results. He had more success fronting a small band, one version of which included trumpeter Conte Candoli, trombonist Bennie Green, alto saxophonist Boots Mussulli, drummer Ed Shaughnessy, and vocalists Jackie Cain and Roy Kral. Ventura recorded for small labels before getting signed to RCA Victor, which at the time wanted to capitalize on the emergence of bebop. An RCA executive purportedly told him that they wanted the word "bop" in the band's name. Ventura came up with the phrase "Bop for the People," which implied an accessible form of the music. Ventura formed a big band in 1948, but soon cut it down to eight members, retaining Cain and Kral, who were crucial components of the band's sound. The Bop for the People band worked through 1949 (during which time Ventura employed modern jazz's greatest saxophonist, Charlie Parker, on a record date), but in the end Ventura's stab at making a commercial success of bop failed. Indeed, as fine a player as he was, Ventura himself was never really a bopper. During the early '50s Ventura led another big band; formed a highly acclaimed group called the Big Four with bassist Chubby Jackson, drummer Buddy Rich, and pianist Marty Napoleon; briefly ran his own night club in Philadelphia; and also worked again with Cain and Kral. Ventura's health was not the best, yet he continued to work with Krupa into the '60s. After the '50s, Ventura recorded commercially only once (in 1977, with pianist John Bunch for the Famous Door label). Still, he remained active. He worked in Las Vegas (with comedian Jackie Gleason), and fronted various groups in the '70s and '80s, before dying of lung cancer in 1992. ~ Chris Kelsey, All Music Guide
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