Buddy DeFranco

Born: February 17, 1923

Buddy DeFranco has the unprecedented distinction of winning twenty Downbeat Magazine Awards, nine Metronome Magazine Awards, and sixteen Playboy All-Stars Awards as the number one jazz clarinetist in the world.

Buddy is generally credited with leading the way for jazz clarinetists from the exciting era of swing to the exhilarating age of bop. Along the way he has set the example for all jazz musicians for technical brilliance. Improvisational virtuosity and creative warmth. He is one of the most imaginative clarinetists playing today.

Born in Camden, New Jersey, Buddy was raised in South Philadelphia and began playing the clarinet at age nine. By age fourteen he had won a national Tommy Dorsey Swing contest, and appeared on the Saturday Night Swing Club, sharing the spotlight with Gene Krupa. He was soon discovered by Johnny "Scat" Davis and began his road career with him in 1939. He joined Gene Krupa in 1941, Ted FioRito and Charlie Barnet 1942-43, Tommy Dorsey 1944-45, Boyd Raeburn 1946, Tommy Dorsey again in 1947-48. In 1950 he joined the famous Count Basie Septet.Buddy was appointed leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra 1966-1974. Since then he has resumed his jazz career and has done countless clinics: Tri-State Festival, Stan Kenton Clinics, North Texas State Teachers College, Clinician and Soloist with the N.O.R.A.D. Band and Air Men of Note. Buddy has brought his clarinet and jazz groups to many famous clubs. His concert appearances include Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Ravinia Park with Tony Bennett, Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, Kool Jazz Festival, Aurex Jazz Festival in Japan, Bern Festival in Switzerland, Radio Cologne with Bill Holman and the Radio Cologne Orchestra, Dutch Radio with Rob Pronk & Metropole Orchestra, European Tours, the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, South Africa, and Argentina ... wherever good jazz is played!

Jazz Musician of the Day: Sonny Clark

July 21, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Sonny Clark's birthday today! Conrad Yeatis “Sonny" Clark was an American jazz pianist who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Contents Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town southeast of Pittsburgh. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh. When visiting an aunt in California at ...

George Russell Remembered

by Duncan Heining
June 21, 2023

How is it that one of the most significant figures in modern jazz is so often overlooked when histories of the music are written? And how come one of its most important composers is not immediately acknowledged when jazz is discussed? Therein hang a number of tangled tales. The centenary of composer, musician, bandleader, ...

John Pizzarelli Live at Scullers Jazz Club

by Doug Hall
June 9, 2023

John Pizzarelli Scullers Jazz Club Debut of new album Stage & Screen Cambridge, MA June 2, 2023 With an evening dedicated to the American Songbook, acclaimed jazz guitarist and vocalist, John Pizzarelli, performed with his jazz trio at the intimate cocktail-lounge setting of Scullers Jazz Club for a small but ...

Jazz Musician of the Day: Buddy DeFranco

February 17, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Buddy DeFranco's birthday today! Buddy DeFranco has the unprecedented distinction of winning twenty Downbeat Magazine Awards, nine Metronome Magazine Awards, and sixteen Playboy All-Stars Awards as the number one jazz clarinetist in the world. Buddy is generally credited with leading the way for jazz clarinetists from the exciting era of swing ...

Backgrounder: Buddy DeFranco & Tommy Gumina

October 7, 2022

In 1960, clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and accordionist Tommy Gumina got together with bass and drums to record the first of five albums��Pacific Standard (Swingin') Time. It was on Decca. The next four were on Mercury, including their first for the label��Presenting the Buddy DeFranco/Tommy Gumina Quartet, recorded in 1961. The tracks on Presenting were When Lights ...

Jazz Musician of the Day: Buddy DeFranco

February 17, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Buddy DeFranco's birthday today! Buddy DeFranco has the unprecedented distinction of winning twenty Downbeat Magazine Awards, nine Metronome Magazine Awards, and sixteen Playboy All-Stars Awards as the number one jazz clarinetist in the world. Buddy is generally credited with leading the way for jazz clarinetists from the exciting era of swing ...

Coltrane's Progeny: Giant Steps for Late Beginners

by Richard J Salvucci
January 16, 2022

For many listeners, the name John Coltrane is synonymous with the tune “Giant Steps." Whether or not you happen to agree with the proposition that this was the “greatest" or most important composition Coltrane ever recorded—for some, it would be “My Favorite Things," and for still others, “A Love Supreme." This is not an attempt, largely ...

Lee Morgan & Ulysses Owens Jr.

by Joe Dimino
September 19, 2021

From one of the most powerful drummers in jazz today who is has released a big band album, we start the 717th Episode of Neon Jazz with Ulysses Owens, Jr. and a tune off his latest CD Soul Conversations. As is the case with all Neon Jazz shows, we trace the history of influences for each ...

Norman David: Forty-Year Wizard of The Eleventet

by Victor L. Schermer
August 4, 2021

A few years ago, a musician friend suggested I go hear a band that was playing at a place in Bella Vista, Philadelphia, a neighborhood with a significant jazz history (violinist Joe Venuti and guitarist Eddie Lang lived there and are honored with several plaques and a mural) -but not much current music to speak of. ...