O saxofonista de jazz e bandleader George Holmes Tate, mais conhecido no mundo do jazz como Buddy Tate, nasceu no 22 de fevereiro de 1913 . Seu fraseado era simples porem, com o mais completo senso dinamico do swing.
No começo dos anos 30 juntou-se a banda de Count Basie em Kansas City. Ausentou-se por uns tempos, mas anos depois, com a saida do saxofonista Hershel Evans, retornou e permaneceu com Basie por mais de dez anos.
Buddy passou alguns anos na obscuridade e fez retorno triunfal na noite do Harlem, aproveitando a 'New Wave" nos anos 50 e 60, que trouxe a onda do swing de volta.
Entre as suas mais famosas e significativas composições destaque para "Rock-a - bye Basie, "Stay Cool", "Boogie Woogie"e "Leave Me".
Buddy Tate foi um dos poucos músicos de sua época que atravessou triunfalmente, com sua musicalidade ímpar, os anos 80 e 90.
Buddy Tate faleceu em Chandler, Arizona em 2001 aos 87 anos de idade.
Buddy Tate "Born to Swing"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quQHeQ4wH6M
Swingin Texas tenorman George Holmes Tate, aka, Buddy Tate, was born on February 22,1913 in Sherman, Texas and was one of the great tenor saxophonists of the swing era.Tate was a Basie Star. His playing drew on both of the great models of the day, combining elements of Lester Young’s understated, liquid economy with the robust, hard blowing attack of Coleman Hawkins. Tate had the big, mightily swinging sound of the “Texas tenor” school, exemplified by players like Illinois Jacquet and Arnett Cobb, but was equally adept at building an emotionally weighted solo out of the most minimal elaborations.
He adhered to the dictum that a jazz solo should tell a story, and had no time for bravura displays of empty blowing. At the same time, he was ready to experiment across the whole range of his horn, pushing into areas of sound and timbre which would later be explored by more modern movements in jazz. Even in his most abandoned, flat out playing, his control of both the horn and the music remained total, and was always purposefully directed.
He began his professional career playing in “territory” bands which toured the southwest in the late 1920s, led by the likes of Terrence Holder and the better-known Andy Kirk. That was a common apprenticeship in the pre-war era, and brought him into contact with his most famous employer, Count Basie. At the time of their first association, Basie was still a relative unknown, and the band Tate joined in 1934 lasted only a short time. In 1939, however, the death of saxophonist Herschel Evans, a good friend of Tate’s, created an opportunity to renew the partnership.
Tate later told writer Stanley Dance that he had an eerie premonition of the event: “I dreamed he had died,” Tate said, “and that Basie was going to call me. It happened within a week or two: I still have the telegram.” Tate brought his own sound to the band, forming a partnership with Lester Young which was every bit the equal of the earlier Young-Evans team.
He remained with Basie for almost ten years, and made his reputation as a powerful and inventive improviser. The post-war economic pressures which quickly eroded the big bands in the late-1940s saw Basie drop his group to a sextet, and Tate decided to leave and look for opportunities which would keep him closer to home in New York, rather than maintain the constant touring schedules which had been the lot of the big bands.
He worked with band leader Lucky Millinder, trumpeter Hot Lips Page and ex-Basie singer Jimmy Rushing in the early 1950s, then secured a residency for his own band at The Celebrity Club, on 125th Street in Harlem. Tate held that residency at the club for 21 years, until his brand of hard swinging jazz was eventually ousted by the demand for rock acts in 1974. Tate made many recordings during those years, and occasionally went on the road with trumpeter Buck Clayton. When he left The Celebrity Club, he found himself in demand as a guest soloist in both the USA and on the burgeoning festival circuit in Europe, often in the company of another ex-Basie star, trombonist Al Grey. Tate always delivered good value, whether working with an all-star package or a local rhythm section.
In the mid-1970s he co-led a band with saxophonist Paul Quinichette at New York’s West End Cafe, and led another group with drummer Bobby Rosengarden at the Rainbow Room. He worked with Benny Goodman, and continued to record regularly throughout the 1970s and 1980s, releasing albums on labels like Muse, Sackville, Concord Jazz and Reservoir. He was badly scalded in a hotel shower in 1981, but soon recovered. He worked with saxophonist Jim Galloway, pianist Jay McShann, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, a band with Illinois Jacquet billed as The Texas Tenors, and the Statesman of Jazz, among others, and remained active well into the 1990s.
His final appearance on disc came at the invitation of the rising saxophone star James Carter, who duetted with Tate on two tunes on his CD "Conversin’ With The Elders" in 1996, including a version of ‘Blue Creek’ which featured Tate on clarinet.
Buddy Tate passed away in 2001 in Chandler, Arizona. He was 87.
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