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| Harry Allen "Party for Mat" at Feinstein's Monday, November 5th Harry Allen "Party for Mat" at Feinstein's, Monday, November 5th. Harry Allen Quartet with Rossano Sportiello (pno), Joel Forbes (bass), Chuck Riggs (drums) and special guests: Bucky Pizzarelli, Ken Peplowski, John Allred, Bill Allred will perform before the Open Jam Session with Sherrie Maricle, Warren Vache, Tony Monte, Anat Cohen, Howard Alden, Grant Stewart, James Chirillo. In commemoration of Mat Domber, Arbors Records Founder, who passed on September 19, 2012. Label was launched in 1989 to preserve the sound of classic jazz By Jeff Tamarkin Mat Domber, the founder and president of the jazz label Arbors Records, died in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Sept. 19, as the result of cancer. Domber was 84. According to JazzTimes contributor Ken Franckling, Domber, who was a lawyer, created Arbors in 1989 and began recording classic jazz artists—from Dixieland to mainstream swing—"who weren't getting the attention they deserved. Over the next 20-plus years, they found a welcome home on his Clearwater, Fla.-based label. What began as a labor of love for Mat and his wife/business partner Rachel, evolved into a significant force on the jazz scene." Mat Domber Domber released over 300 recordings on the label, by a diverse roster of artists including Ruby Braff, Kenny Davern, Bob Haggart, Dick Hyman, Dave McKenna, Bucky Pizzarelli, Flip Phillips, Ralph Sutton, Johnny Varro and Bob Wilber to Howard Alden, Harry Allen, Dan Barrett, Scott Hamilton, Rebecca Kilgore, Nicki Parrott, Ken Peplowski, Daryl Sherman, Rossano Sportiello and Aaron Weinstein. The label's first release, in 1990, was by Rick Fay's Hot Five. Trombonist/cornetist Dan Barrett, represented on approximately 50 Arbors CDs, is the label's most recorded artist. Said Harry Allen, "Mat Domber was profoundly kind, gentle and generous. His love of jazz was unparalleled. Through his countless recordings, many festivals and other ventures like the Statesmen of Jazz, he greatly improved the lives of jazz musicians and jazz fans all over the world. He was a great man." "In many cases, " wrote Franckling, "Arbors was a career revivalist for many significant elder statesmen of jazz and a career nurturer for younger players who loved and felt most comfortable in the classic jazz style." Domber became interested in jazz as a teenager, when his father took him to Greenwich Village to hear Pee Wee Russell and Muggsy Spanier. Domber's wife Rachel, his partner at the company, was with him at the time of his death. About Harry Allen: Gene Lees writes, "Stan Getz was once asked his idea of the perfect tenor saxophone soloist. His answer was, 'My technique, Al Cohn's ideas, and Zoot's time.' The fulfillment of that ideal may well be embodied in thirty-year-old Harry Allen." Swing Bros. recording artist Harry Allen has over thirty recordings to his name. Three of Harry's CDs have won Gold Disc Awards from Japan's Swing Journal Magazine, and his CD Tenors Anyone? won both the Gold Disc Award and the New Star Award. His recordings have made the top ten list for favorite new releases in Swing Journal Magazine's reader's poll and Jazz Journal International's critic's poll for 1997, and Eu Nao Quero Dancar (I Won't Dance), the third Gold Disc Award winner, was voted second for album of the year for 1998 by Swing Journal Magazine's reader's poll. The Harry Allen - Joe Cohn Quartet won the New York Nightlife Award for Outstanding Jazz Combo Performance of 2006 and was nominated for Best Jazz Combo by the Jazz Journalists Association for the same year. Harry has performed at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide, frequently touring the United States, Europe and Asia. He has performed with Rosemary Clooney, Ray Brown, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Flip Phillips, Scott Hamilton, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, John Pizzarelli, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gus Johnson, Jeff Hamilton, Terry Gibbs, Warren Vache, and has recorded with Tony Bennett, Johnny Mandel, Ray Brown, Tommy Flanagan, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Barron, Dave McKenna, Dori Caymmi, Larry Goldings, George Mraz, Jake Hanna, and Al Foster, among others. Harry is featured on many of John Pizzarelli's recordings including the soundtrack and an on-screen cameo in the feature film The Out of Towners starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. He has also done a series of commercials for ESPN starring Robert Goulet. Harry was born in Washington D.C. in 1966, and was raised in Los Angeles, CA and Burrillville, RI. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music in 1988 from Rutgers University in New Jersey, and currently resides in New York City. write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |