Biography
Larry Nozero mastered multiple roles as a saxophonist, flutist, bandleader, composer, producer, and educator. His approach to phrasing and tone absorbed the distinct approaches of Art Pepper on saxophone, Richie Cole on bass, and Frank Wess on flute. Growing up in the Detroit area, he collaborated across decades with Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie (occasionally alongside Detroit-born pianist Michael Longo), Stan Getz, Sergio Mendes, and Henry Mancini. Additional session dates at Motown encompassed the Supremes, Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, while further dates linked him to Motor City guitarist Dennis Coffey, guitarist Ron English, and keyboardist-composer Eddie Russ. His own discography comprises Time, the last title issued on Detroit’s Strata imprint, Sphere’s Inside Ourselves on Strata, Island Fever, Up to Your Neck, Four for Three: The Music of Eddie Russ, Grand Hotel, Kaleidoscopin’, Street of Dreams, Warm, and Live at the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival.
Born in Detroit to Joseph and Maria Nozero, he shared his childhood with two siblings. Paternal grandparents had emigrated from Poland; maternal grandparents originated in Italy. His father worked in construction and his mother managed the household; that environment shaped his later musical outlook. Following the path of earlier reed players, he began on clarinet, advanced to saxophone, and ultimately studied flute at Detroit’s Larry Teal School of Music, an institution also attended by Yusef Lateef, Joe Henderson, and Bennie Maupin.
In 1964 he participated in the founding of Detroit’s Artist Workshop as a member of Charles Moore’s Detroit Contemporary 5. Drafted the next year, he performed with the Army Band, an experience that furnished lasting musical training and ignited a lifelong focus on bossa nova, above all the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim; the centerpiece of his 1975 debut Time presented Jobim’s “Chronicle of the Murdered House” in two sections. Returning to Detroit, guitarist Dennis Coffey, then among Motown’s Funk Brothers, secured studio assignments for him at the label, resulting in dates with the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and the Four Tops. During 1971 he contributed the renowned soprano saxophone solo on the title track of Marvin Gaye’s conceptual soul album What’s Goin’ On.
The reception accorded Gaye’s recording opened further opportunities beyond Detroit. Nozero married Rachelle in 1972. He appeared on Eddie Russ’s 1974 album Fresh Out and helped establish the Detroit jazz collective Sphere, whose sole release, Inside Ourselves, came out on Strata. That same year he recorded on Sonny Stitt’s Tornado, cut in Detroit and Grand Rapids with local musicians including bassist Ron Brooks and Russ.
Charles Moore produced Nozero’s Time, co-credited to arranger-composer-keyboardist Dennis Tini and featuring Brooks, percussionist Muruga Booker billed as Muruga Shama, and strings; the album closed the Strata catalog and earned favorable notice both locally and in Europe. In 1975 Nozero recorded on Gaylord & Holiday’s Second Generation. The following year he joined Russ’s studio ensemble for See the Light, which also included trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and bassist Larry Rhodes. As part of the Motor City Horns he performed on Denise La Salle’s Here I Am Again (1975) and Second Breath (1976), the latter employing the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and pianist Earl Van Dyke.
During 1976 Nozero joined the short-lived Mixed Bag alongside Brooks, drummer Dan Spencer, guitarist Jerry Glassel, and keyboardist Gaff Dunsun; the group issued Mixed Bag’s First Album on Tribe Records, collectively owned by Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, and Belgrave, with co-production credited to Bud Spangler and Brooks. The remainder of the decade kept him active on Coffey’s Back Home and A Sweet Taste of Sin, the self-titled platinum-certified debut by Detroit vocal group the Floaters (fronted by James Mitchell and Marvin Willis of the Detroit Emeralds), which reached number ten on the Billboard 200, number one on the R&B chart, and registered in seven countries, as well as Philippe Wynne’s Starting All Over, C.J. & Company’s 1977 Westbound release Devil’s Gun, Eddie Kendricks’s 1978 album Slick, the Floaters’ follow-up Magic, RJ’s Latest Arrival’s debut, and the sole albums by Beverly & Duane, Wilson Williams (Up the Downstairs), Dee Edwards (Heavy Love), Sweet Cream (Sweet Cream & Other Delights), and Hott City (Ain’t Love Grand).
At the first Montreux Detroit International Jazz Festival in 1980 (later renamed the Detroit Jazz Festival) he appeared in multiple configurations, including his own band, alongside Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, and additional jazz figures; he performed at nearly every subsequent edition until his death. Island Fever, issued on MSI in 1981, received strong critical notice. In 1982 he joined the faculty of Detroit’s Wayne State University, remaining until the end of his life; saxophonist Rick Margitza studied with him there. His 1983 quartet album Up to Your Neck presented hard bop with electric keyboards. Two years later he recorded Bess Bonnier and Other Jazz Birds with Detroit-born pianist Bess Bonnier, Detroit-born baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, and Sir Roland Hanna. Kaleidoscopin’, released in 1992 on Dominic Records, paired him with bassist Paul Keller, who wrote half the tracks while the balance consisted of covers.
Nozero’s 1990 quintet album Street of Dreams, issued on Suncoast, gathered standards and ballads. In 1991 an all-star big band of Michigan musicians recorded Grand Hotel live in Mackinaw City in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He entered the Legends of Jazz International Hall of Fame in 1997 and received a Spirit of Detroit award recognizing his contributions to the city. Warm, recorded in 2001, contained interpretations of film themes, bossa classics, and works by Jobim, Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand, Quincy Jones, and the Beatles. Live at the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival appeared in 2002. During 2003 he participated in sessions for Kid Rock’s self-titled album, which featured guest vocals from Hank Williams, Jr. and Sheryl Crow; that year his quintet also recorded and released Four for Three: The Music of Eddie Russ (who had died in 1996) with bassist Kurt Krahnke, pianist-keyboardist Cliff Monear, drummer Enix Buchanan, and trumpeter Don Swindell.
After a lung cancer diagnosis he recorded a final collection of American and Brazilian bossa standards with vocalist, producer, and arranger Shahida Nurullah, his duo partner since 1999. They had intended to develop the Jobim Project devoted exclusively to Jobim’s music; several performances took place before Nozero died in February 2005. The Detroit Artists Workshop honored his life and work that year. His last appearances occurred at the Workshop’s 40th anniversary concert in 2004; afterward Nurullah presented the Jobim Project with former student Margitza on saxophone and flute.
P-Vine, Japan’s leading reissue label, released the previously unissued Strata session Fish Feet in 2009, featuring Nozero with guitarist Ron English, pianist and Strata founder Kenny Cox, alto saxophonist Norma Jean Bell, organist Lyman Woodard, drummers Spencer and George Davidson, percussionist Leonard King, and bassist Ed Pickens. In 2011 DJ Amir (Abdullah) obtained rights to the Strata catalog, oversaw remastering and necessary remixing with assistance from Barbara Cox (widow of Kenny Cox and subsequent label owner), and reissued Fish Feet. Great Britain’s BBE label re-released Time digitally in 2021 and in physical formats in 2024.
Born in Detroit to Joseph and Maria Nozero, he shared his childhood with two siblings. Paternal grandparents had emigrated from Poland; maternal grandparents originated in Italy. His father worked in construction and his mother managed the household; that environment shaped his later musical outlook. Following the path of earlier reed players, he began on clarinet, advanced to saxophone, and ultimately studied flute at Detroit’s Larry Teal School of Music, an institution also attended by Yusef Lateef, Joe Henderson, and Bennie Maupin.
In 1964 he participated in the founding of Detroit’s Artist Workshop as a member of Charles Moore’s Detroit Contemporary 5. Drafted the next year, he performed with the Army Band, an experience that furnished lasting musical training and ignited a lifelong focus on bossa nova, above all the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim; the centerpiece of his 1975 debut Time presented Jobim’s “Chronicle of the Murdered House” in two sections. Returning to Detroit, guitarist Dennis Coffey, then among Motown’s Funk Brothers, secured studio assignments for him at the label, resulting in dates with the Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and the Four Tops. During 1971 he contributed the renowned soprano saxophone solo on the title track of Marvin Gaye’s conceptual soul album What’s Goin’ On.
The reception accorded Gaye’s recording opened further opportunities beyond Detroit. Nozero married Rachelle in 1972. He appeared on Eddie Russ’s 1974 album Fresh Out and helped establish the Detroit jazz collective Sphere, whose sole release, Inside Ourselves, came out on Strata. That same year he recorded on Sonny Stitt’s Tornado, cut in Detroit and Grand Rapids with local musicians including bassist Ron Brooks and Russ.
Charles Moore produced Nozero’s Time, co-credited to arranger-composer-keyboardist Dennis Tini and featuring Brooks, percussionist Muruga Booker billed as Muruga Shama, and strings; the album closed the Strata catalog and earned favorable notice both locally and in Europe. In 1975 Nozero recorded on Gaylord & Holiday’s Second Generation. The following year he joined Russ’s studio ensemble for See the Light, which also included trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and bassist Larry Rhodes. As part of the Motor City Horns he performed on Denise La Salle’s Here I Am Again (1975) and Second Breath (1976), the latter employing the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and pianist Earl Van Dyke.
During 1976 Nozero joined the short-lived Mixed Bag alongside Brooks, drummer Dan Spencer, guitarist Jerry Glassel, and keyboardist Gaff Dunsun; the group issued Mixed Bag’s First Album on Tribe Records, collectively owned by Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, and Belgrave, with co-production credited to Bud Spangler and Brooks. The remainder of the decade kept him active on Coffey’s Back Home and A Sweet Taste of Sin, the self-titled platinum-certified debut by Detroit vocal group the Floaters (fronted by James Mitchell and Marvin Willis of the Detroit Emeralds), which reached number ten on the Billboard 200, number one on the R&B chart, and registered in seven countries, as well as Philippe Wynne’s Starting All Over, C.J. & Company’s 1977 Westbound release Devil’s Gun, Eddie Kendricks’s 1978 album Slick, the Floaters’ follow-up Magic, RJ’s Latest Arrival’s debut, and the sole albums by Beverly & Duane, Wilson Williams (Up the Downstairs), Dee Edwards (Heavy Love), Sweet Cream (Sweet Cream & Other Delights), and Hott City (Ain’t Love Grand).
At the first Montreux Detroit International Jazz Festival in 1980 (later renamed the Detroit Jazz Festival) he appeared in multiple configurations, including his own band, alongside Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, and additional jazz figures; he performed at nearly every subsequent edition until his death. Island Fever, issued on MSI in 1981, received strong critical notice. In 1982 he joined the faculty of Detroit’s Wayne State University, remaining until the end of his life; saxophonist Rick Margitza studied with him there. His 1983 quartet album Up to Your Neck presented hard bop with electric keyboards. Two years later he recorded Bess Bonnier and Other Jazz Birds with Detroit-born pianist Bess Bonnier, Detroit-born baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, and Sir Roland Hanna. Kaleidoscopin’, released in 1992 on Dominic Records, paired him with bassist Paul Keller, who wrote half the tracks while the balance consisted of covers.
Nozero’s 1990 quintet album Street of Dreams, issued on Suncoast, gathered standards and ballads. In 1991 an all-star big band of Michigan musicians recorded Grand Hotel live in Mackinaw City in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He entered the Legends of Jazz International Hall of Fame in 1997 and received a Spirit of Detroit award recognizing his contributions to the city. Warm, recorded in 2001, contained interpretations of film themes, bossa classics, and works by Jobim, Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand, Quincy Jones, and the Beatles. Live at the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival appeared in 2002. During 2003 he participated in sessions for Kid Rock’s self-titled album, which featured guest vocals from Hank Williams, Jr. and Sheryl Crow; that year his quintet also recorded and released Four for Three: The Music of Eddie Russ (who had died in 1996) with bassist Kurt Krahnke, pianist-keyboardist Cliff Monear, drummer Enix Buchanan, and trumpeter Don Swindell.
After a lung cancer diagnosis he recorded a final collection of American and Brazilian bossa standards with vocalist, producer, and arranger Shahida Nurullah, his duo partner since 1999. They had intended to develop the Jobim Project devoted exclusively to Jobim’s music; several performances took place before Nozero died in February 2005. The Detroit Artists Workshop honored his life and work that year. His last appearances occurred at the Workshop’s 40th anniversary concert in 2004; afterward Nurullah presented the Jobim Project with former student Margitza on saxophone and flute.
P-Vine, Japan’s leading reissue label, released the previously unissued Strata session Fish Feet in 2009, featuring Nozero with guitarist Ron English, pianist and Strata founder Kenny Cox, alto saxophonist Norma Jean Bell, organist Lyman Woodard, drummers Spencer and George Davidson, percussionist Leonard King, and bassist Ed Pickens. In 2011 DJ Amir (Abdullah) obtained rights to the Strata catalog, oversaw remastering and necessary remixing with assistance from Barbara Cox (widow of Kenny Cox and subsequent label owner), and reissued Fish Feet. Great Britain’s BBE label re-released Time digitally in 2021 and in physical formats in 2024.
Albums
