Richie Cole and I at the Selmer Week exhibition at Steinway Hall, NYC, 2011
I only recently learned that alto saxophonist Richie Cole passed away on May 2nd at the age of 72. He had apparently died in his sleep of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he had relocated to Pittsburgh and had reset his career. I had the pleasure of meeting Richie in 2011 when Selmer displayed their newest line of saxophones as well as the final incarnation of their Reference 54 "Bird" series saxophones. I was trying out the various saxophones and Richie had introduced himself to me as I was playing random tunes on the dozens of saxophones that were on display. A large number of other players and people in musical instrument sales were there as well, and Randy Jones of Tenor Madness was there and had set up a table for quick adjustments of the saxophones if needed. Richie had asked me which horns of all the horns I tried, which one I liked best. He was just an all around nice guy, great sense of humor because we also joked about a lot of things, and of course, one hell of a great alto player.
Cole was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He began the saxophone at age 10 encouraged by his father who had owned two jazz clubs in New Jersey. This gave him the opportunity to meet some of the greats in the music. At 16 he attended a jazz camp being taught by the late great Phil Woods, who was a mentor to him. He had won a scholarship from DownBeat magazine to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Before finishing however, he had joined Buddy Rich's Big Band, no small feat for such a young man since Buddy was known to be a perfectionist and tough task master. After working with Lionel Hampton's Big Band and Doc Severinsen's
Big Band, he formed his own quintet and toured worldwide, developing
his own "alto madness" bebop style in the 1970s and early '80s. He
formed the Alto Madness Orchestra in the 1990s.
Cole performed and recorded with Eddie Jefferson, Nancy Wilson, Tom Waits, The Manhattan Transfer, Hank Crawford, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Kloss, Bobby Enriquez, Phil Woods, Sonny Stitt, Art Pepper, and Boots Randolph. It was his relationship with Eddie Jefferson which was his primary focus until it was ended by the singer’s murder in Detroit in May 1979, which Cole
witnessed. For Cole, Jefferson’s death touched off a long battle with alcoholism. He spent much of the ’80s and early 1990s living a nomadic existence,
stopping off for periods in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and
Chicago. In the late ’90s, he returned to the East Coast, where he
formed a new seven-piece band, the Alto Madness Orchestra. Cole made his final move to Pittsburgh, where his daughter lived. He
quickly became an advocate for the city’s jazz scene, working and
recording with local musicians and supporting them tirelessly in his
interviews and album notes. His first album for his self-formed label,
Richie Cole Presents, was titled Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh version of his Alto Madness Orchestra accompanied Cole on all of his
final six albums, the last of which was 2018’s Cannonball.
Cole is survived by his two daughters, Annie Cole and Amanda (“Amy”)
Marrazzo, and by four grandchildren: Ricky and Julian Barajas and Emily
and Abby Marrazzo.
Discography:
As leader
- Trenton Makes, the World Takes (Progressive, 1976)
- Starburst with Reuben Brown Trio (Adelphi, 1976)
- Battle of the Saxes with Eric Kloss (Muse, 1976)
- New York Afternoon with Eddie Jefferson (Muse, 1977)
- Alto Madness with Eddie Jefferson (Muse, 1978)
- Keeper of the Flame with Eddie Jefferson (Muse, 1979)
- Hollywood Madness with Eddie Jefferson, The Manhattan Transfer (Muse, 1979)
- Side by Side with Phil Woods (Muse, 1980)
- Cool 'C' (Muse, 1981)
- Tokyo Madness (Seven Seas/King [Japan], 1981)
- Alive! at the Village Vanguard (Muse, 1981)
- Return to Alto Acres with Art Pepper (Palo Alto, 1982)
- The Wildman Meets the Madman with Bobby Enriquez (GNP Crescendo, 1982)
- Yakety Madness! with Boots Randolph (Palo Alto, 1983)
- Alto Annie's Theme (Palo Alto, 1983)
- Some Things Speak For Themselves (Muse, 1983)
- Bossa Nova Eyes (Palo Alto, 1985)
- Pure Imagination (Concord Jazz, 1986)
- Popbop (Milestone, 1987)
- Signature (Milestone, 1988)
- Bossa International with Hank Crawford (Milestone, 1990)
- Profile (Heads Up, 1993)
- Kush: The Music of Dizzy Gillespie (Heads Up, 1996)
- West Side Story (Venus [Japan], MusicMasters, 1996)
- Trenton Style (Jazz Excursion, 1998)
- Pure Madness (32 Jazz, 1999) compilation
- Come Sunday: My Kind Of Religion (Jazz Excursion, 2000)
- A Tribute to Our Buddies (Fresh Sound, 2004)
- Back on Top (Jazz Excursion, 2005)
- A Piece of History (Jazz Excursion, 2006)
- Rise's Rose Garden (Jazz Excursion, 2006)
- The Man with the Horn (Jazz Excursion, 2007)
- Live at KUVO 2/11/08 (Jazz Excursion, 2008)
- Bebop Express (Jazz Excursion, 2008)
- The KUVO Sessions, Volume 2 (Jazz Excursion, 2009)
- Castle Bop with Emil Viklicky (Multisonic, 2011)
- Vocal Madness with Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet (House Cat, 2014)
- Breakup Madness (Akashic, 2014)
- Mile Hi Madness (Akashic, 2015)
- Pittsburgh (Richie Cole Presents, 2015)
- Plays Ballads and Love Songs (Richie Cole Presents, 2016)
- Have Yourself an Alto Madness Christmas (Richie Cole Presents, 2016)
- The Many Minds of Richie Cole (Richie Cole Presents, 2017)[5][6][7]
- Latin Lover (Richie Cole Presents, 2017)
- Cannonball (Richie Cole Presents, 2018)
- The Keys of Cool with Tony Monaco (Richie Cole Presents, 2019)
As sideman
With Greg Abate
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Candid, 1995)
With Les DeMerle
- You're the Bop! A Jazz Portrait of Cole Porter (Summit, 2001)
With Allan Harris
- The Genius of Eddie Jefferson (Resilience Music Alliance, 2018)
With Jim Holman
- Explosion! (Delmark, 2012)
With Freddie Hubbard
- Back to Birdland (Real Time, 1982; Drive Archive, 1994; West Wind, 2002)
With Eddie Jefferson
- Still on the Planet (Muse, 1976)
- The Main Man (Inner CIty 1977)
- The Live-Liest (Muse 1979)
- Vocal Ease (32 Records, 1999; Savoy, 2003)
With Vic Juris
- Roadsong (Muse, 1978)
With Peter Lauffer
- Keys to the Heart (Peter Lauffer/CD Baby, 2010)
- Extensions (Atlantic, 1979)
- Mecca for Moderns (Atlantic, 1981)
- Vocalese (Atlantic, 1985)
With Karen Marguth
- A Way With Words (Wayfae Music/CD Baby, 2013)
With Mark Murphy
- Bop For Kerouac (Muse, 1981)
With Oliver Nelson
- Swiss Suite (Flying Dutchman/RCA, 1971)
With Anita O'Day
- Big Band at Carnegie Hall (Emily, 2009)
With Don Patterson
- Movin' Up! (Muse, 1977)
With Buddy Rich
- Keep the Customer Satisfied (Liberty 1970)
With Red Rodney
- Home Free (Muse, 1977 [1979])
- Red, White and Blues (Muse, 1978)
- The 3R's (Muse, 1979 [1982]) with Ricky Ford
With Janine Santana
- Soft as Granite (Janine Santana/CD Baby, 2008)
With Sigmund Snopek III
- Virginia Woolf (Gear Fab, 2000)
With Sonny Stitt
- Just in Case You Forgot How Bad He Really Was [live; rec. 1981] (32 Jazz, 1998)
With James Van Buren
- Live at the Kasbah (Van Buren Records and Tapes/CD Baby, 2003)
With Patrice Villastrigo
- Golden Orchid (Skinny Llama/CD Baby, 2010)
DVDs
- From Village Vanguard [includes both the Johnny Griffin Quartet and the Richie Cole Group (a quintet) in two separate sets/performances; recorded 1981] (2004)
- Eddie Jefferson in Concert Featuring Richie Cole: Live from the Jazz Showcase Recorded at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago on May 6, 1979 (50 minutes)
- Jazz Legends Live! – part 9 of 13 in this series, starring Dexter Gordon, Gary Burton, Billy Cobham, Ahmad Jamal, Carmen McRae, and Richie Cole (1 song - "Confirmation" - 4 minutes)
- Cool Summer [includes both the Stan Getz Quartet and Alto Madness (Richie's quintet with Bobby Enriquez) in two separate sets/performances at the Paul Masson Winery in California as part of the "Harvest Jazz" TV series; recorded 1981]
