Gabe Baltazar

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Gabe Baltazar
Gabe Baltazar, circa 1962
Gabe Baltazar, circa 1962
Background information
Birth nameGabriel Ruiz Hiroshi Baltazar Jr.
Also known asGabe Baltazar
Born(1929-11-01)November 1, 1929
Hilo, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
OriginUnited States
DiedJune 12, 2022(2022-06-12) (aged 92)
Hilo, Hawaii, U.S.
GenresJazz
Pop
Occupation(s)Musician, conductor, music director
Instrument(s)Saxophones
Clarinets
Flutes
Piano
Oboe
Years active1948–2022
LabelsCapitol
Contemporary
Creative World
Website
Military service
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service1950–1954
Unit356th Army Band (Fort Belvoir)

Gabriel Ruiz Hiroshi Baltazar Jr. (November 1, 1929 – June 12, 2022) was an American

alto saxophonist and woodwind doubler
.

Background and early years

Gabriel Ruiz Hiroshi Baltazar Jr. was born in

Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii to work on the plantations around 1900. His father, Gabriel Baltazar Sr., was born in Manila in 1906 and came to the United States to work as a musician in the mid-1920s. Gabe started playing reed instruments while his younger brother Norman Baltazar took up the trumpet.[2]

Musical education, meeting with Charlie Parker, move to Los Angeles

Gabe Baltazar was first playing music at the age of eleven when he was started on the

Hickam Field during this time (World War II) and Baltazar got to hear Artie Shaw, Sam Donahue, and Claude Thornhill.[3] Baltazar's main influences growing up were Benny Carter, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Willie Smith and Johnny Hodges. By age 16 (1946) he had already been playing professionally for two years and was first introduced to Charlie Parker's playing by jazz trombonist Frank Rehak.[3][2]

In 1945, Baltazar was the first recipient of a musical scholarship fund at Punahou School of Music under the auspices of the Filipino Art Lovers' Club.

After his graduation from

Baltimore, Maryland for two years.[3][4] Baltazar notes his meeting with Charlie Parker during a visit to New York in 1948 as one of the biggest musical inspirations of his life. He questioned Parker extensively during this meeting and it would become an inspiration for his own playing to closely resemble that of the famed alto saxophonist.[4]

Baltazar was drafted when the Korean War started and served in the United States armed forces from 1950 through 1954 at Fort Belvoir in Washington D.C. After that he moved back to Hawaii and played with the Royal Hawaiian Band for two years[5] later moving to Los Angeles playing and recording with Paul Togawa in the late 1950s. Baltazar first attended Los Angeles City College on the G.I. bill and then later transferred in 1958 to Los Angeles State College following in the footsteps of the alto saxist and Stan Kenton alum Lennie Niehaus.[3][2] He eventually completed a B.A. in Music in February 1967 at Los Angeles State College. While there he was initiated into the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity on December 1, 1957. Baltazar replaced Niehaus in 1960 with Kenton after he was heard on a concert by the bandleader during a Los Angeles State College concert; Baltazar was working for the Russ Morgan orchestra at the time.[5][2]

Los Angeles and the Stan Kenton Orchestra

Baltazar spent a brief unrecorded period in 1959–60 with the

Adventures In Jazz, along with the CD Adventures In Time. One other interesting Baltazar solo that stands out from the Kenton recordings is on Johnny Richards' composition Wagon, which did not get issued until the early 1970s on a Capitol LP compilation; Wagon is part of the extra material re-issued onto the Cuban Fire! CD. Baltazar is widely known as one of the last great jazz soloists of that era of Kenton orchestras, having played on the band with artists such as Marvin Stamm, Sam Donahue, Dee Barton, Carl Saunders, and Don Menza
.

After leaving the Kenton organization, Baltazar worked with

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Smothers Brothers Show, and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
.

Return to Hawaii and later musical career

Baltazar returned home to Hawaii in 1969 to rejoin and then become assistant director of the

Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii
" satellite broadcast concert and had a close-up flute solo during "An American Trilogy" ("Battle Hymn of the Republic"). In the 1990s, Baltazar visited California often, to be bandleader and record jazz CDs for the Fresh Sounds and V.S.O.P. labels.

In 2012, the

University of Hawaii Press published If It Swings, It's Music: The Autobiography of Hawaii's Gabe Baltazar Jr. The book was written by the biographer Theo Garneau, who based the work on extensive archival research, nearly 100 interviews with Baltazar's colleagues, friends, and family, and twenty-six interviews with Baltazar himself.[2]

Death

Gabe Baltazar died in Hilo on June 12, 2022, at the age of 92.[6]

Discography

As a Leader

  • Stan Kenton presents Gabe Baltazar
     (Creative World, 1979)
  • Gabe Baltazar Quartet: Back in Action (V.S.O.P., 1992)
  • Gabe Baltazar: Birdology (Fresh Sound, 1992)

With Paul Togawa

  • The Paul Togawa Quartet featuring Gabe Baltazar (Mode Records, 1957; V.S.O.P., 1987; CD issue: 1996)

With Stan Kenton

With Gil Fuller

With Onzy Matthews

  • Onzy Matthews: Mosaic Select (Originally recorded for Capitol 1963–1965. Mosaic, 2007) 3-CD set

With Oliver Nelson

With Richard Simon

  • Groove Therapy (UFO Bass, 1995)

With Noel Okimoto

  • Ohana: Featuring Makoto Ozone and Tiger Okoshi (Roy Sakuma Productions, 2003)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Scott Yanow (November 1, 1929). "Gabe Baltazar | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Baltazar, Gabe. Garneau, Theo. "If It Swings, It's Music The Autobiography of Hawai'i's Gabe Baltazar Jr". University of Hawaii Press. 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d Harris, Stephen. The Kenton Kronicles, Dynaflow Publications. Pasadena CA. 2000. pp. 199-202
  4. ^
    YouTube
  5. ^
    YouTube
  6. ^ Jazz legend Gabe Baltazar Jr. passes away

Sources

External links

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