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A brilliant improviser and prodigious technician who has bridged the swing and bebop eras, Buddy DeFranco was born in Camden, New Jersey, and raised in South Philadelphia, and began playing the clarinet at age nine. At 14, he won a national Tommy Dorsey Swing Contest and appeared on the Saturday Night Swing Club with Gene Krupa. Johnny "Scat" Davis soon tapped him for his big band, inaugurating DeFranco's road career in 1939. DeFranco subsequently played in the bands of Gene Krupa (1941) and Charlie Barnet (1942-43) and in 1944 became a featured soloist with Tommy Dorsey. Meanwhile, the modern jazz revolution was in progress, led by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Excited by the improvisatory freedom of their music, DeFranco became the first jazz clarinetist to make his mark in the new idiom of bebop. In 1950, DeFranco joined the famous Count Basie Septet. He toured Europe with Billie Holiday in 1954, led a quartet for three years with Art Blakey, Kenny Drew, and Eugene Wright, and then joined with Tommy Gumina in a quartet that explored polytonal music, further solidifying his reputation as a "musician's musician." His other notable concert and recording appearances have included dates with Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Lenny Tristano, Billy Eckstine, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Mel Torme, Louie Bellson, Oscar Peterson, and the John Pizzarelli Trio, as well as several Metronome All-Star sessions. He was a featured artist in numerous Jazz at the Philharmonic tours of Europe, Australia, and East Asia. In 1966, he became the leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, a post he maintained until 1974. Since the mid-1970s, DeFranco has combined a busy teaching career with extensive touring and recording. His numerous television performances have included appearances on The Tonight Show with both Steve Allen and Johnny Carson. He was a featured soloist on Stars of Jazz; had his own program on public television, The DeFranco Jazz Forum; and with his longtime musical colleague, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, shared the spotlight on a segment of the PBS series Club Date. DeFranco has played at concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina. To date, he has recorded more than 160 albums, has won the Down Beat All Stars award 20 times, and the Metronome poll 12 times. The University of Montana, Missoula, now hosts The Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival each April. Selected Discography Mr. Clarinet, Norgran, 1953 National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal
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