Biography
Greg Abate has earned recognition as a dynamic jazz saxophonist whose approach draws deeply from hard bop. He first gained notice in the 1980s by leading ensembles across New England, then secured wider acclaim through a series of respected releases in the 1990s, among them Straight Ahead from 1993 and Bop Lives! from 1996. Shaped by his long association with Phil Woods, Abate has shared recording projects with the jazz legend, including the 2012 album The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods. In addition to issuing further recordings such as Road to Forever in 2016 and Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron in 2021, he remains an established figure in his home state of Rhode Island, where his 2016 induction into the Rhode Island Hall of Fame coincided with his ongoing role as an adjunct professor of jazz studies at Rhode Island College.
Abate entered the world in 1947 in Fall River, Massachusetts, and spent his formative years in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, taking up the clarinet during fifth grade. Following high school he refined his technique at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, completing his studies there in 1972. Two years of touring with Ray Charles’ band followed, after which he returned to Rhode Island. Local performances soon led him to form Channel One in 1978; the group produced only one album, Without Boundaries, in 1980 before disbanding. During those same years Abate appeared with Tony Giorgianni’s Sax Odyssey, performed regularly alongside Duke Bellair’s Jazz Orchestra, and contributed to the Artie Shaw Orchestra while it operated under Dick Johnson’s direction. Engagements with Jerome Richardson and Red Rodney also occurred, and he began teaching at Rhode Island College, an affiliation that continues to the present.
Abate launched his solo career on Candid with the 1991 release Bop City: Live at Birdland. Subsequent post-bop sessions for the same label included Straight Ahead in 1993 and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde in 1995. The following year brought Bop Lives!, which incorporated work from trumpeter Claudio Roditi, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Rufus Reid, and drummer Ben Riley. He closed the decade with the quintet recording Happy Samba.
Evolution, recorded in 2002, united Abate with pianist James Williams, bassist Harvie Swartz, and drummer Billy Hart. Two years afterward he reunited with trumpeter Roditi for Horace Is Here, a tribute to Horace Silver that also featured pianist Hilton Ruiz (who passed away the next year), bassist Marshall Wood, and drummer Artie Cabral. Monsters in the Night surfaced in 2006.
A 2012 collaboration with longtime mentor and saxophonist Phil Woods yielded The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods on Posi-Tone Records. The quartet session Motif followed in 2014, succeeded by the live recording Kindred Spirits: Live at Chan’s, which spotlighted Phil Woods and the Tim Ray Trio. Road to Forever, issued in 2016 with the Tim Ray Trio shortly after Abate’s Hall of Fame honor, preceded Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron, a 2021 homage to the renowned pianist.
Abate entered the world in 1947 in Fall River, Massachusetts, and spent his formative years in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, taking up the clarinet during fifth grade. Following high school he refined his technique at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, completing his studies there in 1972. Two years of touring with Ray Charles’ band followed, after which he returned to Rhode Island. Local performances soon led him to form Channel One in 1978; the group produced only one album, Without Boundaries, in 1980 before disbanding. During those same years Abate appeared with Tony Giorgianni’s Sax Odyssey, performed regularly alongside Duke Bellair’s Jazz Orchestra, and contributed to the Artie Shaw Orchestra while it operated under Dick Johnson’s direction. Engagements with Jerome Richardson and Red Rodney also occurred, and he began teaching at Rhode Island College, an affiliation that continues to the present.
Abate launched his solo career on Candid with the 1991 release Bop City: Live at Birdland. Subsequent post-bop sessions for the same label included Straight Ahead in 1993 and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde in 1995. The following year brought Bop Lives!, which incorporated work from trumpeter Claudio Roditi, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Rufus Reid, and drummer Ben Riley. He closed the decade with the quintet recording Happy Samba.
Evolution, recorded in 2002, united Abate with pianist James Williams, bassist Harvie Swartz, and drummer Billy Hart. Two years afterward he reunited with trumpeter Roditi for Horace Is Here, a tribute to Horace Silver that also featured pianist Hilton Ruiz (who passed away the next year), bassist Marshall Wood, and drummer Artie Cabral. Monsters in the Night surfaced in 2006.
A 2012 collaboration with longtime mentor and saxophonist Phil Woods yielded The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods on Posi-Tone Records. The quartet session Motif followed in 2014, succeeded by the live recording Kindred Spirits: Live at Chan’s, which spotlighted Phil Woods and the Tim Ray Trio. Road to Forever, issued in 2016 with the Tim Ray Trio shortly after Abate’s Hall of Fame honor, preceded Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron, a 2021 homage to the renowned pianist.
Albums
Positive Energy
2025
Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron
2021
Road to Forever
2017
Birds of a Feather
2016
Motif (feat. John Lockwood, Mark Walker & Tim Ray)
2014
First Encounter
2012
Horace Is Here : A Tribute to Horace Silver
2011
Live
