Hep Records, jazz in depth from the 1930's to the present day.


ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES


Herb Geller (Alto Sax, Soprano Sax, Flute, Vocals)1928- Herb Geller was born in Los Angeles on 2 November 1928. His first professional job was at an L.A. club called Mike Riley's Mad House in 1945. Thereafter he became part of veteran jazz fiddler Joe Venuti's band before finding himself in New York with the Claude Thornhill Band at a time when there was still an active jazz performing and recording scene. here he met and married jazz pianist Lorraine Walsh. Then it was back west to be part of the expanding "west coast jazz" school in and around Los Angeles composed of Shorty Rogers, Art Pepper, Chet Baker, and Shelley Manne. Geller also played in an early edition of Maynard Ferguson's Orchestra. He and his wife Lorraine co-led a successful quartet until her tragic early death in 1958. This was a personal watershed and he left for a period of revaluation in Brazil before finally setting sail for Europe. In 1962 he worked for the Berlin Radio Orchestra before securing a permanent post with the NDR Orchestra in Hamburg where he remained for over twenty five years. Financially this was good but the confines of a radio orchestra do not always allow freedom of expression. He had meantime remarried and settled in Hamburg. In 1990 he made his first jazz combo album since leaving the United States. He retired from the NDR Orchestra in 1993 and was free to undertake tours back in the U.S., Europe and the UK. In recent times he has recorded with some younger musicians in his adopted city Hamburg (I'll Be Back CD 2074) and also in the U.S. he has recorded for VSOP, Fresh Sound, and "The Al Cohn Songbook" (HEP CD 2066). During a short tour of the U.K. in 1998 he encountered the fabulous Scots pianist Brian Kellock and the following year in London recorded an album with Kellock entitled "The Hollywood Portraits" (HEP CD 2078). This was a suite of original music celebrating some of Hollywood's legends such as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Ingrid Bergman and Greta Garbo. As always Herb's playing combines the essence of Benny Carter's singing alto style plus the exciting departures originated by Charlie Parker. Herb is truly the last in the great tradition of jazz alto players who can also compose and whose knowledge of the structure of standards is second to none. There is more to come. Available now on Hep: CD 2066 1994 Plays The Al Cohn Songbook Review: "... an imaginative sample of Al's capacious catalogue of tunes. The addition of multi-instrumentalist Ranier adds a whole range of colours and allows a reprise of Cohn's writing for Zoot Sims... A fine record, and a fitting tribute to a great jazz composer." The Penguin Guide To Jazz O n CD, Richard Cook and Brian Morton, Penguin Books, 2000, p.559. CD 2074 1998 I'll Be Back Review: "The line-up on I'll Be Back was the working group of the mid '90s, and Herb's communication with his young players is consistently impressive." The Penguin Guide To Jazz O n CD, Richard Cook and Brian Morton, Penguin Books, 2000, p.560. CD 2078 1999 (With Brian Kellock) Hollywood Portraits Top
Back

Three labels covering jazz in depth from 1930 to the present.

Hep Jazz, P.O. Box 50, Pitlochry, UK. PH16 5YL