Charlie Mariano


Carmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz saxophonist who focused on the alto and soprano saxophone. He occasionally performed and recorded on flute and nadaswaram as well.

Biography

Mariano was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Italian immigrants, John Mariano and Mary Di Gironimo of Fallo, Italy. He grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, enlisting in the Army Air Corps after high school, during World War II. After his service in the Army, Mariano attended what was then known as Schillinger House of Music, now Berklee College of Music. He was among the faculty at Berklee from 1965 to 1971. Mariano moved to Europe in 1971, settling eventually in Köln (Cologne), Germany, with his third wife, the painter Dorothee Zippel Mariano.
He played with one of the Stan Kenton big bands, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Charles Mingus, Eberhard Weber, the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, Embryo and numerous other notable bands and musicians.
His unusual application of the nadaswaram, a classical wind instrument from Tamil Nadu, was a notable occasional feature of his work in the 1970s.
Mariano had six daughters, including four with his first wife, Glenna Gregory Mariano: Sherry, Cynthia, Melanie, and Celeste, and was step-father to Glenna's son, Paris Mariano. Mariano is father to musician Monday Michiru with his second wife, Toshiko Akiyoshi. His youngest daughter is Zana Mariano. Mariano had seven grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters. Mariano died of cancer on June 16, 2009, at the age of 85.

Discography

As leader

  • Charlie Mariano With His Jazz Group
  • The New Sounds From Boston
  • Charlie Mariano Boston All Stars reissued on CD with New Sounds
  • Charlie Mariano Sextet
  • Charlie Mariano
  • Beauties of 1918/''Something for Both Ears – co-led with Jerry Dodgion
  • A Jazz Portrait of Charlie Mariano
  • Charlie Mariano & Sadao Watanabe
  • Mirror
  • Cascade
  • Reflections
  • Helen 12 Trees
  • October
  • Mariano
  • Swingin' with Mariano
  • Boston Days
  • Seventy
  • Deep in a Dream''

As co-leader

With Osmosis
With United Jazz + Rock Ensemble
  • Live im Schützenhaus
  • Teamwork
  • The Break Even Point
  • Live in Berlin
  • United Live - Opus Sechs
  • Round Seven
  • ''Na endlich! - Live in Concert''

As sideman

With Embryo
With Wolfgang Dauner
  • Meditation on a landscape-Tagore
With Stan Kenton
With Shelly Manne
With Charles Mingus
With Eberhard Weber
With others