Gary Smulyan

Gary Smulyan, a baritone saxophonist whose improvisations display both command and warmth, produces a full, resonant tone and a supple, propulsive swing that descends from the Pepper Adams lineage. Born in Bethpage, New York in 1956, he began on alto during his teenage years and accumulated early playing experience alongside saxophonist Lee Konitz, trumpeter Chet Baker, violinist Ray Nance, and other notables. After high school he pursued further training at SUNY-Potsdam and Hofstra University until Woody Herman’s Big Band summoned him to occupy its baritone chair. Without prior acquaintance with the larger horn, Smulyan bought an instrument at once and joined the road itinerary.

During most of the late 1970s he traveled with Herman’s orchestra, sharing the bandstand with saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer John Riley. Although he had long regarded himself as an alto specialist, the Herman years shaped a personal identity on baritone, which by the early 1980s had become his principal voice. Smulyan settled in New York City in 1981 and rapidly became a sought-after section player, appearing regularly with the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the Mingus Big Band, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra; those affiliations eventually secured his enduring place in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Additional work has placed him alongside Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Stan Getz, Chick Corea, Ray Charles, Tito Puente, B.B. King, and many others. Beyond performance, he teaches as a faculty member at Amherst College and serves as artistic director of the Berkshire Hills Music Academy in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

His first album as leader, The Lure of Beauty, appeared on Criss Cross in 1991 and featured pianist Mulgrew Miller and trombonist Jimmy Knepper. Also released that year on the same label was Homage, which starred pianist Tommy Flanagan. Further Criss Cross sessions followed: Saxophone Mosaic in 1993 with saxophonist Dick Oatts, With Strings in 1996, and Blue Suite in 2000, the last presenting his brass ensemble of trumpeters Scott Wendholt and Greg Gisbert, French horn player John Clark, tubist Bob Stewart, and trombonist John Mosca. In 2000 he reunited with longtime associate Joe Lovano for 52nd Street Themes on Blue Note.

Smulyan led the hard-swinging quintet date Real Deal in 2003 with trumpeter Joe Magnarelli and pianist Mike LeDonne. Hidden Treasures, recorded with bassist Christian McBride, followed in 2006. Three years later he saluted the late singer Frankie Laine on High Noon: The Jazz Soul of Frankie Laine. He again collaborated with LeDonne, this time on Hammond B-3, and guitarist Peter Bernstein for the soul-inflected Smul’s Paradise in 2012. The Italian-themed Bella Napoli, featuring Sopranos-actor/singer Dominic Chianese, appeared the next year. In 2017 Smulyan issued the live album Royalty at le Duc, documenting his quartet at Le Duc des Lombards in Paris.