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Charlie Mariano

His career can easliy be divided into two. Early on he was a fixture in Boston, playing with Shorty Sherock (1948), Nat Pierce (1949-50) and his own groups. After gigging with a band co-led by Chubby Jackson and Bill Harris, Mariano toured with Stan Kenton's Orchestra (1953-55) which gave him a strong reputation. He moved to Los Angeles in 1956 (working with Shelly Manne and other West Coast jazz stars), returned to Boston to teach in 1958 at Berklee and the following year had a return stint with Kenton. After marrying Toshiko Akiyoshi, Mariano co-led a group with the pianist on and off up to 1967, living in Japan during part of the time and also working with Charles Mingus (1962-63).

The second career began with the formation of his early fusion group Osmosis in 1967. Known at the time as a strong bop altoist with a sound of his own developed out of the Charlie Parker style, Mariano began to open his music up to the influences of folk music from other cultures, pop and rock. He taught again at Berklee, traveled to India and the Far East and in the early '70s settled in Europe. Among the groups Mariano has worked with have been Pork Pie (which also featured Philip Catherine), the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble and Eberhard Weber's Colours. Charlie Mariano's airy tones on soprano and the nagaswaram (an Indian instrument a little like an oboe) fit right in on some new agey ECM sessions and he also recorded as a leader through the years for Imperial, Prestige, Bethlehem, World Pacific, Candid (with Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1960), Regina, Atlantic, Catalyst, MPS, CMP, Leo and Calig among others.

Photo Credit
Oskar Henn

Stan Kenton: Salute!

by Jack Bowers
February 16, 2023

Stan Kenton, one of the most renowned and influential bandleaders of the twentieth century, died on August 25, 1979. Fortunately—for the sake of history in general and creative music in particular—Kenton's remarkable legacy lives on, and in a perceptive and open-minded world would endure forever. Even to this day, small but devoted groups of enthusiasts share a wish that some previously hidden array of his material might come to light, satisfiying for the moment their craving for more memorable music ...

Album Review

Stan Kenton and His Orchestra: In a Lighter Vein

Read "In a Lighter Vein" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 13, 2020

Stan Kenton was a man of many moods, as was his intrepid and popular orchestra, which endured until his passing in August 1979 and whose renown is kept alive even today by the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra. Kenton dons his carefree hat on In a Lighter Vein, an assortment of straight-ahead themes from the orchestra's jazz library, preserved in five concert performances from 1953-55 beneath the umbrella of NBC radio's All Star Parade of Bands. Original compositions ...

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Album Review

Charlie Mariano: The Great Concert

Read "The Great Concert" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
February 15, 2010

When expat American woodwind multi-instrumentalist Charlie Mariano passed away in the summer of 2009 at the age of 85, his death--like much of his life--seemed sadly lost in the shuffle in North America. The expat American--who relocated to Europe in the early 1970d-- should have cemented an international reputation with his early alto work with Stan Kenton and pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi; all the more his tenure in German bassist Eberhard Weber's Colours group and Pork Pie, a fusion group with ...

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Extended Analysis

Eberhard Weber: Colours

by John Kelman
January 14, 2010

As the jazz-rock fusion movement gained ground from its early years in the late 1960s through its glory days in the early-to-mid-1970s—blending the more sophisticated harmonies of jazz with rock music's rhythmic power and high volume—all too often it was about muscular chops and complex writing for the sake of it. Little attention was paid to nuance and understatement. While guitarist John McLaughlin's high octane Mahavishnu Orchestra and keyboard player Chick Corea's guitar-centric incarnation of Return to Forever were tearing ...

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Multiple Reviews

Charlie Mariano: Silver Blue, The Door Is Open & The Great Concert

by Fred Bouchard
October 3, 2009

Charlie Mariano with Cholet-Kanzig-Papaux Trio Silver Blue Enja2008 Julian F. Thayer / Charlie Mariano / Klaus Suonsaari The Door Is Open KSJazz2008 Charlie Mariano with Philip Catherine & Jasper van't Hof The Great Concert: Stuttgart Enja2009 On what are likely some of Charlie Mariano's final dates ...

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Extended Analysis

Charlie Mariano: Silver Blue

by Nicholas F. Mondello
April 17, 2008

Charlie Mariano Silver Blue Enja Records 2008

There is much that is unique about the alto saxophone sound, the “voice," of Charlie Mariano. The word that perhaps best describes Mariano's sound is intimate. Not intimate in the erotic sense--although the intensely romantic treatment on this album of standards such as “My Funny Valentine," “Theme From Black Orpheus" and “My Foolish Heart" might support that meaning--but intimate in the way the listener experiences ...

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Album Review

Charlie Mariano: Helen 12 Trees

Read "Helen 12 Trees" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
March 18, 2008

Of labels awaiting first-time release on CD, Germany's MPS is the undisputed holy grail. With plans to release fifteen of its 400+ titles in carefully remastered and beautifully designed mini-LP sleeve packages each year, Promising Music is righting a wrong in the best possible way. Always eclectic, MPS ran the gamut from free jazz to fusion and everything in-between, and Promising Music's first six titles demonstrate the full breadth of this historically significant label.Lacking sufficient international distribution, MPS' ...

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