Buddy DeFranco

Biography

Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an American jazz clarinet player. DeFranco began his professional career just as swing music and big bands — many of which were led by clarinetists like Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman — were in decline. While most jazz clarinet players did not adapt to this change, DeFranco successfully continued to play clarinet exclusively, and was one of the few bebop clarinetists. In 1950, DeFranco spent a year with Coun...

Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an American jazz clarinet player.

DeFranco began his professional career just as swing music and big bands — many of which were led by clarinetists like Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman — were in decline. While most jazz clarinet players did not adapt to this change, DeFranco successfully continued to play clarinet exclusively, and was one of the few bebop clarinetists.

In 1950, DeFranco spent a year with Count Basie's Septet.

He then led a small combo in the early 1950s which included pianist Sonny Clark and guitarist Tal Farlow.

In this period, DeFranco recorded for MGM Records, Norgran and Verve, the latter two labels were owned by Norman Granz.

He was bandleader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 1966 to 1974, under the name, "The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, Directed By Buddy DeFranco".

He also performed with Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and many others, and released dozens of albums as a leader.

Discography:

As leader:

Mr. Clarinet (as the Buddy DeFranco Quartet) with Art Blakey, Milt Hinton, Kenny Drew, 1953
Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson Play George Gershwin, 1954
Cooking the Blues with Sonny Clark, Tal Farlow, Gene Wright, Bobby White, 1954
Sweet and Lovely with Sonny Clark, Tal Farlow, Gene Wright, Bobby White, 1954
Generalissimo with Harry "Sweets" Edison, Bob Hardaway, Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, Curtis Counce, Alvin Stoller, 1958
Plays Nelson Riddle's Cross Country Suite, 1958
Live Date! with Herbie Mann, Bob Hardaway, Victor Feldman, Pete Jolly, Barney Kessel, Scott LaFaro, Frank DeVito, 1958
Blues Bag with Victor Feldman, Curtis Fuller, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Freddie Hill, Victor Sproles, 1964
Do You Want To Dance with The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, Directed By Buddy DeFranco, 1969
Free Fall with Victor Feldman, John Chiodini, Joe Cocuzzo, Victor Sproles, 1974
Like Someone in Love with Tal Farlow, Derek Smith, George Duvivier, Ronnie Bedford, 1977
Jazz Party: First Time Together with Terry Gibbs, 1981, Palo Alto Records
Hark with Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Martin Drew, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, 1985
Holiday for Swing with John Campbell, Terry Gibbs, Todd Coolman, Gerry Gibbs, 1988
Born to Swing! with Al Grey, Lin Biviano, Dave Cooper, 1988
Nobody Else But Me, 1989
Chip off the Old Bop with Jimmy Cobb, Keter Betts, Joe Cohn, Larry Novak, 1992
Buenos Aires Concerts with Jorge Navarro, 1995
Mr. Lucky, Live album with Albert Dailey, George Duvivier, Ronnie Bedford, Joe Cohn, 1981/1997
Gone with the Wind with Todd Coolman, Jerry Coleman, 1999
Do Nothing Till You Hear from Us with Dave McKenna, Joe Cohn, 1999
Cookin' the Books with Butch Miles, John Pizzarelli, Martin Pizzarelli, Raymond Louis Kennedy, 2004
Wailers with Harry "Sweets" Edison, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Rowles, 2006 Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.