Cello Players

Lucien Schmit (1898-1976) Schmit first performed publicly at the age of 7 in Paris and became a member of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra at 13. He was a native of Louvaine, Belgium, but migrated to the US in 1909. He became first cellist in the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1921 under Walter Damrosch. During the 1930's he was active in radio musical programmes. He was musical director of The Royal Typewriter Hour and for 20 years was featured on such programs as The Telephone Hour, the Firestone Show, the Longines Symphonette programme and The Prudential Family Hour.

George Koutzen (1926-2009) Pick up a random Charles Mingus recording and chances are good you will hear Koutzen on the cello. This versatile musician also had the music of John Blow and Henry Purcell on his resume.

Between 1937 and 1954, he was a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. In 1954, he appeared on the live album, Marian McPartland at the Hickory House. He fittingly was included in the 1957 compilation, Modern Jazz Hall of Fame. A recording he made with Bill Harris and Jack Nimitz in the 1950s, entitled The ABC Paramount Harris-Nimitz Sessions, was never released, although there are murmurs that it may be released on CD one day.

In 1961, George returned to his classical roots in a performance at Judson Hall in New York for a programme consisting of J S Bach’s “Trio Sonata” from his Musical Offering.

In 1963, he took up the conductor’s reins for the Rockland Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 1974. In between, he still managed to record Who Can I Turn To with Tony Bennett in 1964 and perform live with the New York String Quartet. In 1972, he recorded Morning Star with Hubert Laws. It was around the time his tenure with the RSO ended that he played on Tabernakel.

In 1975, he performed a trio concert with Inez and Nadia Koutzen. In 1979, he was one of myriad session pros on Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy. He stepped into the movie studio in the early eighties for soundtrack work on an early Demi Moore film entitled Choices.

It should be of little surprise that he is on a variety of Charles Mingus CDs. Other CDs on which you can hear George’s cello stylings nclude a pair of Rupert Holmes anthologies, as well as classical fare such as Purcell and Blow.

Jesse Levy Levy is a primarily New York-based cellist who performed on multiple Sesame Street albums in the 1970s. He has backed up George Benson, Peggy Lee, Bette Midler, Barbara Cook, Carly Simon, Lou Rawls, Paul Simon, Lena Horne, and Gloria Estefan. He performed on film soundtracks for Fame, The Wiz, Pocahontas, and Everyone Says I Love You. Levy made an on-camera appearance in Small Time Crooks as a church cellist.

George Ricci (d 2010) Ricci was one of the great American cellists, and, like many great musicians, his family was musical. His brother was the great violinist Ruggiero Ricci and his sister Emma was a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera.

Born in California and raised by Italian immigrants, George and Ruggiero performed together as child prodigies. A wonderful recording of Brahms’ “Double Concerto in A minor” for violin, cello and orchestra features the two brothers with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur. They also performed the concerto at Carnegie Hall.

George Ricci resided for a great part of his life in New York City and was one of the most in-demand cellists in the concert and movie industry. Early on he won a scholarship to study with Alfred Wallenstein, principal cello of the New York Philharmonic. Next, his journey continued with the famed cello teacher Dirian Alexanian, who was assistant to Pablo Casals. In 1937, Alexanian moved to New York and taught in New York City. Among his prize students was Ricci.

Ricci’s versatility was outstanding. In addition to being a classical virtuoso, he was a cellist in the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra when the young Frank Sinatra first came on board. “In fact, George was frequently mistaken for Sinatra by the young girls who would wait at the stage door after their gigs,” wrote his friend Greg Zayia. Ricci was also the cellist on many other Sinatra recordings.

Ricci became principal cellist with the ABC Orchestra in New York. In the heyday of recordings, spectacular players were needed who could sight-read new scores and sound tremendous on the first take. Ricci was such a virtuoso. He was legendary and his scintillating technique is still talked about by many great musicians who knew and heard him.

With cigarette in hand he would dazzle even the greatest of violinists, playing their works at breakneck speed with tremendous accuracy of intonation and artistic beauty on the more cumbersome cello. In fact, he could also pick up a violin, turn it upright like a miniature cello, and bedazzle everyone around him by playing virtuoso violin parts.

Ricci and the great violinist Arnold Aidus formed Stradivari Recordings, essentially for the preservation and distribution of their art. This kind of self-sustained recording venture was really ahead of its time.

Kermit Moore (1929-2013) A cellist, conductor and composer Moore was of African American heritage and was born in Akron, Ohio. While still in high school, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In Manhattan, Moore studied the cello with Felix Salmond at the Juilliard while simultaneously studying for a master's degree in composition and musicology at New York University.

Moore was one of the founders of the Symphony of the New World, the first racially integrated orchestra in the US. Together with his wife Dorothy Rudd Moore and others, he founded the Society of Black Composers. He was also a member and board member of the Musicians Club of New York.

Violinists - the other six

Carmel Malignaggi  Malignaggi has worked with B B King and several others.

Arnold Eidus (1922-2013) Eidus's father was a Jewish immigrant from Latvia and a violinist. His mother who was born in New York, played piano. A child prodigy, Eidus made his performance debut at Carnegie Hall aged 11. He studied at the Juilliard under Louis Persinger (who also taught Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern and Ruggiero Ricci). He met his future wife, piano student Doris Dresher, at Juilliard.

Eidus was a versatile session accompanist who recorded and performed in the classical, jazz, pop, rhythm & blues and Latin genres. He recorded with Perry Como, Coleman Hawkins, Lena Horne, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Patti Austin, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Edgar Winter and countless others over a career that spanned six decades. In 1945, as part of the American Broadcasting Corporation's orchestra, he was a featured soloist in a New York recording of Paul Whiteman's re-orchestration of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He recorded his classical repertoire for the RCA Victor, HMV, Phillips, and Stradivari record labels.

In 1946 Eidus became the first American violinist to win the coveted Jacques Thibaud Award in Paris. In the 1950s, he emerged as one of the most sought-after commercial violinists in New York, working in TV, radio and films, on the concert stage and in recording sessions. His classical repertoire included works by Kodály, Beethoven, Elgar, Copland, de Falla, Sibelius, Brahms and others.

In the US, Eidus performed as soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, the Chicago Symphony under Izler Solomon, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Antal Dorati. In Europe Eidus performed as soloist with the London Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, the Budapest Radio Orchestra, and at other prestigious venues.

Eidus served as Concertmaster for the American Broadcasting Company, performing on and directing a weekly chamber music series.

In 1950, Eidus and cellist George Ricci founded the Stradivari Records label. 

Guy Lumia (1937-1988) Of Italian heritage Lumia began studying violin at the age of seven. In 1948, he was accepted to study at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 1952, he began his studies at the Eastman School of Music, with André de Ribaupierre and Joseph Knitzer, where he graduated with honours, obtaining both his baccalaureate and master's degrees, along with the certificate of performer. and the artist diploma. He also studied with Raphael Bronstein at the Mannes School of Music in New York.

In the 1950s, he was a member of the first violin section of the Rochester Philharmonic while in Eastman. From 1952 to 1966, Lumia was also active with the Greenwich Piano Quartet. Another chamber music activity of the 1960s was the Long Island Chamber Ensemble. In 1961, he was a Fulbright scholar studying with Rene Benedetti in Paris. Lumia was a finalist in the Paganini Violin Competition in Genoa and a semifinalist in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He later studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He studied more with Yehudi Menuhin in London.

Lumia was a concertmaster with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra . In the early 1970s, he toured Europe as a soloist. In 1973, he joined the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut as a violin professor. In the 1984-1985 season, he was selected as a concertmaster with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where he alternated with Raymond Gniewek. He continued with the Met for four seasons. Then, tragically, he died in New York City at just 51 years old due to complications from Type 1 Diabetes mellitus.

Raoul Poliakin (1917-1981) Poliakin was an Egyptian-born American arranger and conductor of popular orchestral music. He appeared on countless albums, including those of Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Wes Montgomery.

Born in Cairo, he received his musical education at the Sorbonne, where he studied violin with Rene Benedetti and conducted with Pierre Monteux. In 1941, he emigrated to the United States, where he became a member of several major symphony orchestras, playing under Leopold Stokowski, Sir Thomas Beecham, Fritz Reiner, Monteux and Ernst Ansermet.

As assistant conductor to Andre Kostelanetz, Poliakin produced a series of albums for Everest Records in the 1950s. As overall music director, he planned the classical repertoire and supervised the actual recording sessions. In addition, he conducted his own 54r piece orchestra and twenty voice chorale, The Poliakin Orchestra and Chorale, which recorded arrangements of light orchestral music.

In addition, he was a licensed amateur radio (ham radio) operator under the call sign K2AOS.

Gene Orloff (1922-2009) Orloff was a violinist concertmaster, arranger and contractor. The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from the piano and try to play it. He was only three at the time. By the time he was five, he was playing recitals in his home city of Boston. Later, he was playing concerts at venues which included performances at Carnegie Hall and with the Boston Symphony. Having won a scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music, he left due to the schedule and found work as a commercial musician and, on occasion, was working for 15 hours per day.

During his time, the artists that Orloff performed with included Meat Loaf, The Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. His daughter Marcy said that one of his favourites was Van McCoy.

In the late 1940s, he was in Neal Hefti's orchestra on a recording date backing Charlie Parker and with Nat King Cole's trio/The Muleskinners, backing Woody Herman on vocals.

Working under Van McCoy's direction, he handled the arrangements for the horns and strings on the Faith Hope & Charity album by Faith Hope and Charity which was released in 1970. He also played on the Disco Baby album by Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony which was released in 1975 and featured "The Hustle". He was also on Judy Collins Judith (1975).

Harry Cykman (1921-1994) Cykman was a child prodigy, making his debut as a violinist in 1930 (at age 9, but for promotional purposes, a year was shaved from his birth date). Despite his classical roots, as a working session musician, Cykman was often heard on jazz recordings, including those of organist Shirley Scott, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, Billie Holiday, and saxophonist Grover Washington, as well as Judy Collins (1975's Judith), composer Don Sebesky and Rupert Holmes (his 1974 debut album, Widescreen).

Violinists - the first six

Frederick Buldrini Buldrini was a Naumburg competition winner in 1936 and parlayed that early success into a fascinating recording career, often gravitating toward jazz projects and frequently playing with the greats. Some of his early recordings include several Frank Sinatra compilations and one with Sarah Vaughan.

In 1965, he worked on the aptly titled Ruth Brown ’65 and helped Milton Nascimento display Courage in 1968. The end of the decade found him in the studio making Round Trip with Phil Woods.

In 1970, he teamed up with Antonio Carlos Jobim on Stone Flower and Tide. In 1975, he was in the strings section for Joe Beck’s self-titled album Beck. A year later, he was in the strings section for John Tropea’s self-titled album and appeared with Bob James.

He has also played with Maynard Ferguson, Earl Klugh, Jimmy Ponder and, interestingly, Thijs van Leer on Nice to Have Met You. He played violin on the soundtrack of The Wiz.

He opened the 1980s by accompanying Aretha Franklin and then Chaka Khan, as well as appearing on the soundtrack of Fame. Another famous female with whom he recorded during this time was Janis Ian. He played too with Spyro Gyra, Luther Vandross and George Benson. He was involved in two quite different projects - Les Miserables and Philip Glass’s three-act opera Satyagraha.

Lewis Eley (d 1998) Violinist with the Long Island Philharmonic whose career as a session musician stretches at least as far back as Perez Prado’s Exotic Suite of the Americas, recorded in 1962.

In the sixties he often accompanied Sarah Vaughan and Wes Montgomery. He also played with Nina Simone and Walter Wanderley.

He didn’t slow down much in the ’70s, working with Jackie DeShannon, Chet Baker, Hank Crawford, Grover Washington, Jr. Bob James, Ralph MacDonald, Carly Simon and Frank Sinatra.

In the 80's he worked with Chaka Khan, Spyro Gyra, Luther Vandross, Stevie Nicks and Joe Jackson. He appeared on a pair of soundtracks from Spike Lee films in 1988 and 1989. In 1989, he also appeared on the Lenny Kravitz album Let Love Rule. One of his last recordings appears to be B B King’s 1991 release, Love Me Tender.

Kathryn Kienke Kienke has played with Janis Ian, Paul Simon, etc

Rosoff

Joseph Malignaggi (1921-1994) American violinist of Italian origin based in New York. Son of the Sicilian violin maker Paul Malignaggi. He was concertmaster and arranger for Frank Sinatra. He has appeared ion albums with B B King, Aretha Franklin, Rupert Holmes, etc.

Elliot Rosoff Rosoff was a violinist and recording engineer. A graduate of New York's Manhattan School of Music and has performed both as a solo recital artist and as an orchestra member. He was also active as a recording engineer and as a music coordinator for a variety of recordings, concerts and venues.

Norman Carr Carr's early credits include Stan Getz’s Focus, recorded and released in 1961. In 1964, he appeared on a pair of Carmen McRae albums. A year later, he was collaborating once again with Stan Getz on the soundtrack of Mickey One. He was in the string section for Godspell in 1973. The same year, he appeared on what could be deemed his most famous recording, playing violin on Gladys Knight & the Pips’ mega-hit, “Midnight Train to Georgia”, which won a Grammy in 1974.

In 1976 he served as concert master and played violin on Earl Klugh’s album, Living inside Your Love, he was in the strings section on O’Donel Levy’s Windows, recorded two albums with Jimmy McGriff, helped Lonnie Smith and Joe Thomas too.

He also worked with Diana Ross and company on the soundtrack of The Wiz. A year later, he appeared on Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy. In 1980, Earth, Wind & Fire employed his services on Faces. The following year, he re-united with Earl Klugh on Crazy for You. In 1984, he was part of the strings section on the Ramsey Lewis-Nancy Wilson collaboration, The Two of Us.

One of his last recordings appears to be the Prince project, The Family, released in 1985.

French Horn Players

Tony Miranda (1919-2001) Miranda received his bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, and was a student in the opening year of the Tanglewood Berkshire Center in 1940. He served in the armed forces during World War II, was principal horn with the US Army Band in Washington, DC, and was serving in France when the war ended.

He was principal horn with the New York City Opera (for 12 years), the American Symphony under Arturo Toscanini, the New York Chamber Soloists, Musica Aeterna and the Little Orchestra Society, among others. He was also a member of the Long Island Philharmonic. Among his notable performances, Miranda performed the American premier of the Richard Strauss Horn Concerto No. 2 in Town Hall with Thomas Scherman and the Little Orchestra Society. He was a soloist with orchestras and in recitals and festivals across the country.

He also recorded extensively, with conductors including Toscanini, Morton Gould and Leonard Bernstein and musicians such as Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Percy Faith, Perry Como, the Beatles and Miles Davis. He performed on The Coca Cola Hour and The Sid Caesar Show.

James Buffington (1922-1981) Buffington was a busy studio and jazz player. An autodidact as a child, though his father played piano and trumpet he graduated from the Eastman School of Music and began playing in New York City in the 1950s, with Oscar Pettiford among others. He played with Mel Powell in 1954 and Teddy Charles in 1956.

He is perhaps best known for his work with Miles Davis on some of his Gil Evans sessions for Columbia Records. He has done extensive work as a session musician, and has recorded with Moondog, Carly Simon, James Brown, Urbie Green, Jimmy Cleveland, Ernie Royal, Britt Woodman, Don Butterfield, Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, J. J. Johnson, Quincy Jones, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Michel Legrand, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond, Eddie Sauter, Oliver Nelson, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Grover Washington, Jr.. Late in the 1970s he played with Freddie Hubbard, Gato Barbieri and George Benson; in 1980 he played on a Helen Merrill album.

Buffington released some solo work but it is far less well known.

Earl Chapin (1926-1997) A jazz player, Chapin's credits include those with Gil Evans And His Orchestra, Quincy Jones And His Orchestra, The Everest Woodwind Octet and The Quincy Jones Big Band.

Ray Alonge (1924-2000) Jazz player who also played  the alphorn and violoncello. He played with ... Mitch Miller, Stan Freeman, John Barrows, Jim Buffington, Gunther Schuller, etc.

Viola Players

Alfred Brown (1929-2013) Brown was one of the first African-American students ever to be admitted to the Eastman School of Music. He later graduated from Curti, and studied with William Primrose and Karen Tuttle. When he earned a spot in the NBC Radio Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini, he became one of the first professional African-American classical musicians in the US. He was also a founder member of the Symphony of the New World, the first integrated US orchestra, whose mission was to gain equality for African-American musicians on the concert stage. 

As a studio musician and producer, his discography numbers in the hundreds. He won the NARAS Award for Most Valuable Player in 1984.

He produced albums by Lena Horne and Ron Carter, as well as the first studio album for singer/songwriter Cris Williamson. He toured with Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Luther Vandross and Barbra Streisand and played on top TV shows, in Broadway shows, on countless pop and jazz albums and on many of Spike Lee’s film soundtracks.

He contracted musicians for everyone from Hugh Masekela to Britney Spears. He also put together a huge number of orchestras for film scores and TV commercials.

David Sackson (1912-2003) Sackson appears to have played with the original Glen Miller Band but went on to be a New York concert player in various orchestras and doing much session work too with Nina Simone, Janis Ian, etc.

 

Emanuel Vardi (1915-2011) A violinist and composer, Vardi was born in Jerusalem. Both his parents were musicians and he began to play at the age of three. In 1920 the family came to the US via Europe to escape Middle East pogroms. A child prodigy, he studied under Pete Seeger and at the Juilliard.

In 1942, he received the “Recitalist of the Year” award from the New York music critics for the best New York recital following his Town Hall debut. He had the distinction of being asked to perform a solo recital at the White House for President Roosevelt during World War II. He is one of only two violists in the world to have ever given a solo recital in Carnegie Hall.

He taught at the Manhattan School of Music and Temple University. Crossing the musical genres of classical and jazz, he toured and performed with jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Al Hirt.

In the early 1960s, he worked for Audio Fidelity Records in New York as a producer. In 1985, he was featured in a full-length article in Strad Magazine, and in 2003 he was honoured with a lengthy interview in the American Viola Society Journal, with his painting “Homage to a Great Violist” appearing on the front cover.

Due to an accident in 1993, he lost the use of his shoulder, forcing him to retire from the viola. After his accident he continued with his painting and art endeavours.

Richard Maximoff - Maximoff is a member of the Hampton String Quartet, a rock string section heard on many albums. He has played for artist from John Denver to Britney Spears.

Selwart Clarke (1933-1992) Clarke was an arranger, concertmaster, conductor, violinist and violist. His early credits include Ornette Coleman’s Town Hall in 1962. In 1964, he premiered Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s “Viola Concerto” with the Orchestra of America, a piece dedicated to him by the composer, who conducted. He was also a member of The National Orchestra Association and the New York City Ballet. 

He worked on numerous albums throughout the late ‘60s, including albums by Pearls Before Swine, Yusef Lateef, Les McCann, Roberta Flack, Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers, Tamiko Jones, David Newman, Andrew Hill, Joe Zawinul and James Brown.

In 1970, he appeared on a pair of Louis Armstrong albums and others by Roberta Flack, Freddie Hubbard and Jimmy Scott. Other records on which he performed in the early ‘70s include: The Divine Miss M by Bette Midler; Edgar Winter’s White Trash; He’s Coming by Roy Ayers Ubiquity and Wild Flower by Hubert Laws.

In 1974, he featured on Deodato’s Whirlwinds, Janis Ian’s Stars, Don McLean’s Homeless Brother and Only the Best of Les McCann. Other credits include Rhythms of the World by Van McCoy, etc.

In 1977, he played on American Heartbeat by Martha Velez, La Catedral El Toro by Joe Farrell, etc. He ended the ‘70s on albums such as Champagne Charlie by Leon Redbone Z-licious by Zulema.

These appear to be his last original recordings, although the CD era is populated with re-issues and re-masterings bearing his name.

Seymour Berman - Berman was part of The Astral Scene in 1968 for The Astral Projection. He recorded with Tamiko Jones the same year on I’ll Be Anything for You. Around the same time, he also worked with Marlene Ver Planck on A Breath of Fresh Air and Astrud Gilberto on tracks that eventually appeared on Astrud for Lovers. In 1972, he helped Bobby Hutchison create Natural Illusions, switched to violin on Bobbi Humphrey’s Dig This, then back to viola on Marlena Shaw’s Marlena and Lou Donaldson’s Sophisticated Lou.

In 1974, he laid down tracks for Don Minasi’s When Joanna Loved Me, and Janis Ian’s Stars and the next year her Between the Lines. He joined Sister Sledge for Circle of Love and was part of the string section on Joe Thomas’s Masada. He helped Charles Earland on Odyssey and Joe Williams' Feelin’s from Within. In 1978, he was on Carol Douglas’s invitation to Come into My Life, was part of the strings on Horace Silver’s Silver ‘n Strings Play the Music of Spheres, and appeared on the soundtrack of The Wiz. He also appeared on Frank Sinatra’s 1979 boxed set, Trilogy. It was back to the movie studio in 1980 for the soundtrack of Fame.

Trumpeters

Joseph (Benjamin) Wilder (1922–2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer. Wilder was awarded the Temple University Jazz Master's Hall of Fame Award in 2006. The National Endowment for the Arts honoured him with its highest honour in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award for 2008.

Wilder was born into a musical family led by his father Curtis, a bassist and bandleader in Philadelphia. Wilder's first performances took place on the radio program, Parisian Tailor's Colored Kiddies of the Air. He and the other young musicians were backed by such illustrious bands as Duke Ellington's and Louis Armstrong's that were also then playing at the Lincoln Theater. Wilder studied at the Mastbaum School of Music in Philadelphia but turned to jazz when he felt that there was little future for an African-American classical musician. At the age of 19, he joined his first touring big band, Les Hite's Band.

Wilder was one of the first thousand African Americans to serve in the Marines during World War II. He worked first in Special Weapons and eventually became Assistant Bandmaster at the headquarters' band. Following the war during the 1940s and early 50s, he played in the orchestras of Jimmie Lunceford, Herbie Fields, Sam Donahue, Lucky Millinder, Noble Sissle, Dizzy Gillespie and finally with the Count Basie Orchestra.

From 1957 to 1974, he did studio work for ABC-TV, New York City, and in the pit orchestras for Broadway musicals, while building his reputation as a soloist with his albums for Savoy (1956) and Columbia (1959). His Jazz from Peter Gunn (1959), features ten songs from Henry Mancini ("Peter Gunn") TV score in melodic and swinging fashion with a quartet. He was also a regular sideman with such musicians as NEA Jazz Masters Hank Jones, Gil Evans and Benny Goodman. He became a favourite with vocalists and played for Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Johnny Mathis, Harry Belafonte, Eileen Farrell, Tony Bennett, etc.

Wilder earned a BM degree in 1953, studying classical trumpet at the Manhattan School of Music with Joseph Alessi, where he was also principal trumpet with the school's symphony orchestra under conductor Jonel Perlea. In the 1960s, he performed on several occasions with the New York Philharmonic under Andre Kostelanetz and Pierre Boulez and played lead for the Symphony of the New World 1965-1971. He appeared on The Cosby Show episode "Play It Again, Russell" (1986) and played the trumpet in the Malcolm X Orchestra in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992). Since 1991 he returned as a leader and recorded three albums for Evening Star. He died May 9, 2014, in New York City, of congestive heart failure.

Alan Rubin (1943–2011), also known as Mr Fabulous, was an American musician who played trumpet, flugelhorn and piccolo trumpet. Rubin was a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He was a member of the Saturday Night Live Band, with whom he played at the Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games. As a member of The Blues Brothers, he portrayed Mr Fabulous in the 1980 film, the 1998 sequel and was a member of the touring band. Rubin played with an array of artists, such as Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, Duke Ellington, Blood Sweat and Tears, Gil Evans, Eumir Deodato, Sting, Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Frankie Valli, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, B B King, Miles Davis, Yoko Ono, Peggy Lee, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway and Dr John. Rubin died from lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Flutes

Albert Block (1926-2015) A wonderful woodwind doubler, Al had a distinguished career having played with the Sauter-Finegan Band, Benny Goodman, Boyd Raeburn, Artie Shaw, Raymond Scott, among many other big bands. He also participated in several legendary recordings including the Miles Davis/Gil Evans Sketches of Spain and Charlie Parker and Voices; played in numerous Broadway shows including the original productions of West Side Story, Gypsy, Cabaret, Sweet Charity, La Cage Aux Folles, etc; and was regarded as one of the better flute doublers of his generation. Al’s career was a successful one but not radically different from many of his New York colleagues who came along during the last great heyday of the music and recording industry in the 1950s/1960s. Beyond his musical prowess, what distinguished him was his ability to revel in the musical development of younger players and colleagues and to support them in any way possible. He loved being around up and coming doublers, especially those who played flute well and with a classical approach. He would often go to The Juilliard School (not far from his apartment) to hear the flute students give recitals.

Daniel Waitzman (b 1943) is an American flutist and composer. Born in Rochester, New York, Waitzman grew up in New York City, where he graduated from the High School of Music and Art in 1961. At Columbia College (B.A. 1965), he majored in Music. He received his MA in Musicology from Columbia University in 1968. He studied recorder with Bernard Krainis, Baroque Flute with Claude Monteux and Paul Ehrlich and modern flute with Samuel Baron, Harold Bennett, and Harry Moskovitz. He studied composition with Otto Luening, harmony and counterpoint with Charles Walton, Genevieve Chinn and Peter Westergaard, orchestration with Howard Shanet and musicology with Paul Henry Lang.
His professional career began in 1959, when he made the first of several recordings with his teacher, Bernard Krainis, at the age of 15. In 1962, he recorded a Frescobaldi Canzona with Krainis and lutenist Joseph Iodine on the Baroque one-keyed flute. This performance appeared on a recording entitled The Virtuoso Recorder. In 1965, he had a bell key (originally invented by Carl Dolmetsch) fitted to his recorder; and he began to develop a new technique for playing the bell-keyed recorder.He arranged three of J.S. Bach’s Organ Trio Sonatas for bell-keyed recorder and harpsichord,[9] and also arranged Bach’s E Major Violin Concerti for bell-keyed recorder and strings.
It was around this time that he became dissatisfied with the early music movement’s philosophical approach to the performance of the older repertoire, and also with the limitations of the one-keyed “Baroque” flute. Later, he published several critiques of the modern early music movement, including a book entitled Up from Authenticity, or How I Learned to Love the Metal Flute—A Personal Memoir. The original essay on which this book was based served as the subject for a feature article in The New York Times in 1990.
In 1971, Waitzman acquired an antique conical Boehm flute built ca. 1875 by Louis Lot. That same year, he made his formal début in Carnegie Recital Hall as a winner of the Concert Artists Guild Award, at which he performed on recorder, Baroque flute and conical Boehm flute. He has taught flute and recorder at Queens College, CUNY, and at Hofstra University.
In 1973-74, he persuaded the brothers Bickford and Robert Brannen to revive the manufacture of conical Boehm flutes. This project led to the establishment of the flute-making firm of Brannen Brothers. By 1976 Waitzman became convinced that it was possible to play the modern flute in a manner consistent with the aesthetic requirements of the older repertoire, using a type of embouchure very close to that of Boehm, the original inventor of the modern flute. He established himself as a performer on modern flute, and gave numerous recitals illustrating the history of the flute.
He has toured the USA and Canada as soloist and chamber musician. In 1976, he performed several of Vivaldi’s Piccolo Recorder concerti with Amor Artis at Alice Tully Hall. He has served as soloist and chamber musician on flutes and recorders with The Long Island Baroque Ensemble since 1974, and performed several concerts with the Bach Aria Group, including a Telemann Concerto for Recorder and Flute (with his teacher, flutist Samuel Baron).
In 1978, he published The Art of Playing the Recorder, a codification of the technique of both bell-keyed and keyless recorders. He had tried to convince recorder makers to offer a series of bell-keyed recorders expressly designed to take advantage of the bell key and had suggested that they undertake the development of a modernised recorder; and their failure to do so caused him to turn more and more to the Boehm flute, in both their conically-and cylindrically-bored forms, as his primary instrument.
In 1980, he was awarded an International Bach Society Performance Award. In 1987, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Fellowship Grant to give a recital in New York’s Alice Tully Hall. After pondering the current state of contemporary music, and the history of music since the Enlightenment, Waitzman turned his attention to the composition of new music in 1992, in the belief that a revival of what he considered the aesthetic ideals and highly affective approach of the old masters was long overdue.

Harold Bennett (1944-1985) Harold Bennett was principal flutist for the Metropolitan Opera orchestra from 1944 until his retirement in 1965. Raised in Wyoming, he graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1935. For the next two years, he was first flautist of the National Symphony in Washington. He went on to play first flute in the Radio City Music Hall orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony, and, from 1940 to 1944, assistant first flute and piccolo in the Philadelphia Orchestra alongside his teacher, William Kincaid. Bennett also had an extensive teaching career, and joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in 1962.

Walter Kane Bassoon

Wally Kane (1933-2021) was a saxophone player (along with other reed instruments) who was part of the original house band for Sesame Street organised by Joe Raposo. He has been heard on the show and in countless records over the years. He was still part of the band as late as 2007. He also performed tenor sax on longtime Street colleague Jerry Nelson's album Truro Daydreams (2009). Kane has been a jazz and pop musician whose credits include a stint with Doc Severinsen on The Tonight Show, backing Roberta Flack on recordings and the original soundtrack to The Wiz.

Phil Bodner Oboe

Philip L Bodner (1919 - 2008) was an American multi-instrumentalist and studio musician, active in jazz and popular music idioms. Best known as a reedist, he played clarinet, saxophone, oboe, English horn and flute. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and played in the 1940s and 1950s as a sideman for studio recordings in New York City; he did jazz sessions with Benny Goodman in 1958 and with Miles Davis and Gil Evans in 1958. He organised The Brass Ring, a group modeled after Herb Alpert, which had popular success in the mid-1960s, and also played with Oliver Nelson and J J Johnson in that decade. Associations in the 1970s included Oscar Peterson, Yusef Lateef, Peanuts Hucko, Wild Bill Davison and Ralph Sutton. Bodner also played the signature piccolo part on the international disco hit "The Hustle" by Van McCoy. He worked in a swing style with Marty Napoleon, Mel Lewis and George Duvivier in the 1980s, and also played with Maxine Sullivan and Barbara Carroll. He released an album under his own name, Jammin' at Phil's Place, on Jazzmania Records in 1990, with Milt Hinton, Bobby Rosengarden and Derek Smith as sidemen. Other work in the 1970s included playing with Ralph Sutton and Johnny Varro, working with Mingus Epitaph, and arranging Louie Bellson's tribute to Duke Ellington Black, Brown and Beige.

Charles Russo Clarinet

One of the premier clarinetists of his time, Charles Russo (1936-2013) was a distinguished soloist, chamber artist and orchestral musician who played in countless performances, TV broadcasts and recordings. Many of these were historic performances, such as Pablo Casals’s US appearance at the 25th anniversary of the United Nations, with Luciano Pavarotti as part of the 100th telecast of Live from Lincoln Center, and as soloist in Morton Gould’s Derivations for Solo Clarinet for the Aaron Copland tribute.

Russo was a guest artist and soloist with some of the country’s leading string quartets, chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Juilliard, Guarneri, and Emerson String Quartets, New School Concerts, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor and the New York Chamber Symphony.

He also given much 20th-century music its first hearing, both on recordings and in prestigious series and venues for contemporary repertoire. A Grammy nominee, Russo was involved in more than 100 recordings on nearly a dozen labels, from chamber music to full orchestral works.

His critically acclamied CD recordings, released on the Premier Label, include Music for Clarinet and Strings and Strings and Clarinet Allo Cinema. In the Fall of 2004 his recordings of the clarinet quintets of Mozart and Weber were released on the Helicon label.

He performed and recorded with many of the world’s greatest composers and conductors, including Stravinsky, Copland, Stokowski and Bernstein; as well as scores of renowned performers including Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Isaac Stern and Beverly Sills.

In his teaching and master classes across the country, he had an important influence on many young musicians. He served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music for more than 25 years and also taught at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford.

Other appointments were on the faculties of Yale, Vassar and the New England Conservatory of Music.

Russo was also the founder and artistic director of Le Mont Chamber Music Seminar in Nyack, New York.

Trombonists

Bob Alexander (1920-2012), also credited as Robert Alexander, was a trombone player who occasionally played on Sesame Street and albums. On the 1981 album Big Bird Discovers the Orchestra, he played one brief trombone spurt for the character Joan, before soloing for Stan on "Trombone Man." A veteran of the big band era going back to the 1940s, Alexander played with Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman. As a studio musician, he backed Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Teresa Brewer, Frank Sinatra, Eartha Kitt, Sarah Vaughan, Aretha Franklin and Lena Horne. He played behind the The Ray Charles Singers on their 1968 At the Movies album of film songs, and with Bob Haggart on his 1968 album Big Noise from Winnetka. On TV, Alexander played on The Steve Allen Show under Skitch Henderson, went with Skitch to The Tonight Show, and remained in the band under Doc Severinsen. He also played on The Perry Como Show.

Dominick Gravine was also a trombonist. His recording career spanned the ‘60s and ‘70s. His first recording seems to be Jackie Paris’s 1962 album, The Song is Paris. In 1969, he appeared on Nina Simone’s To Love Somebody. He also appeared on Donny Hathaway’s 1973 offering, Extension of a Man, and Ramatam’s In April Came the Dawning of the Red Suns, released the same year. In 1974, he performed on Bo Diddley’s Big Bad Bo and Love is the Answer, with Van McCoy & the Soul City Orchestra. He would continue to collaborate with Van McCoy on albums such as The Real McCoy and Rhythms of the World, both released in 1976. America’s bicentennial also found him teaming up with David Ruffin on Everything’s Coming up Love. In 1977, he re-united with Van McCoy on Van McCoy and His Magnificent Movie Machine. His last recording appears to be Frank Sinatra’s 1979 boxed set, Trilogy.

Stephen Johns Tuba

American Stephen M Johns studied at The Manhattan School, graduating BM and prior to that spent two years at The New England Conservatory of Music. Following his BM he gained an MM degree atThe Juilliard School. Further studies at Columbia University Teachers College earned him his M.Ed. degree.

He began his professional career with the Connecticut Opera Association during his high school years. When he moved to New York, he studied tuba with Herbert Wekselblatt, principal tuba of the Metropolitan Opera. He began substituting at the Met Opera and before long was designated as the associate tuba at the Met. As a freelance musician some of his accounts included, principal tuba of the Joffrey Ballet, The Martha Graham Ballet, The New York Pops, and The Little Orchestra Society. He has been the principal tuba of New York City Opera since 1983, the American Symphony since 1990, and New York City Ballet since 1999.

Russ Savakus Double Bass

Russ Savakus (1925-1984) was an American session bass player (electric and stand-up), violinist and singer. He recorded with numerous artists in and around the 1960s folk and folk-rock movement in New York. Earlier, he had been a part of the rhythm section for the Les Elgart swing band. According to Michael Bloomfield, who met Savakus at a Bob Dylan session: "They had a bass player, a terrific guy, Russ Savakus. It was his first day playing electric bass, and he was scared of that. No one understood nothing." However, Dylan chose to replace Savakus on tour.

Among albums Savakus has played on are Embraceable You, Chet Baker, (1957) Farewell, Angelina, Joan Baez, (1965) Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan, (1965) Many a Mile, Buffy Saint-Marie, (1965) Southbound, Doc Watson, (1966) Fire & Fleet & Candlelight, Buffy Saint-Marie, (1967) Rhymes and Reasons, John Denver, (1969) Don McLean, Don McLean, (1972) Playin' Favorites, Don McLean, (1973). He was also on "Brown Eyed Girl", Van Morrison (1967).

Ray Lucas

Ray Lucas is one of the unsung heroes of American music. An early accomplice of Jimi Hendrix, Lucas spent long hours jamming and performing on stage with the future guitar god. He also backed many of the top R&B and soul artists of the ’60s and ’70s, including Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, and Dionne Warwick. With King Curtis, Lucas opened for the Beatles on their second U.S. tour and backed Otis Redding and the Supremes at the Apollo Theatre. Following his session on Tabernakel he went on to work with George Benson. Later he seemed to disappear  from the scene but has continued to appear on record.

Tim Bogert

John Voorhis "Tim" Bogert III was born August 27, 1944 in New York City and is an American musician. He graduated from Ridgefield Memorial High School in his hometown in 1963. As a bass guitarist and vocalist he is best known for his bass solos. He is a frequent collaborator with drummer Carmine Appice; the duo appeared in such bands as Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice.

Carmine Appice

Carmine Appice was born December 15, 1946. He is an American drummer and percussionist most commonly associated with the rock genre. He has received classical music training, and was influenced early-on by the work of jazz drummers Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice, Rod Stewart, King Kobra and Blue Murder, which also featured John Sykes of Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy fame, and Tony Franklin of The Firm. He was inducted into the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014.

Appice is credited with influencing later rock drummers including Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain, Aerosmith's Joey Kramer, Roger Taylor of Queen, Phil Collins of Genesis, Rush's Neil Peart, Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee, Slayer's Dave Lombardo, Richard Christy, Chris Grainger, David Kinkade, Ray Mehlbaum, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, Ian Paice of Deep Purple, Anvil's Robb Reiner and Eric Singer of Kiss. His best-selling drum instruction book The Realistic Rock Drum Method was first published in 1972 and has since been revised and republished as The Ultimate Realistic Rock Drum Method. It covers the basic subjects of rock rhythms and polyrhythms, linear rudiments and groupings, shuffle rhythms, hi-hat and double bass drum exercises. Of Italian descent, Appice is the elder brother of drummer Vinny Appice by 11 years.

The Chorus

The photo shows Bennett and Mondiago and two shots of Zukof and Levine.

Musicians

Jan Akkerman (Main Performer) - Bass Guitar (1), Acoustic Guitar (8, 10), Electric Guitars (4, 10), Lute (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10), Organ (10), Percussion (4, 10), Synthesizer.
Also Electric Sitar and Sitar (10).

George Flynn (Conductor and arranger) Glockenspiel (8) Harpsichord (8,10) Piano (8)

Carmine Appice (drums) [4,10]

Tim Bogert (bass guitar) [4,10]

Ray Lucas (drums) [1,10]

Frederick Buldrini, Lewis Eley, Kathryn Kienke, Joseph Malignaggi, Elliot Rosoff, Norman Carr, Carmel Malignaggi, Arnold Eidus, Guy Lumia, Raoul Poliakin, Gene Orloff, Harry Cykman (violins)

Seymour Berman, David Sackson, Alfred Brown, Richard Maximoff, Emanuel Vardi, Selwart Clarke (violas)

Lucien Schmit, George Koutzen, Jesse Levy, George Ricci, Kermit Moore (cellos)

Albert Block, Daniel Waitzman, Harold Bennett (flutes)

Charles Russo (clarinet) Phil Bodner (oboe) Walter Kane (bassoon)

Joseph B. Wilder, Alan Rubin (trumpets) Tony Miranda, James Buffington, Earl Chapin, Ray Alonge (French horns) Robert Alexander, Dominick Gravine (trombones) Stephen Johns (tuba)

Russ Savakus (double bass)

Chorus on Lammy
Josephine Mongiardo (soprano)
William Zukof (countertenor)
Lawrence Bennett (tenor)
Elliot Levine (bass)