Charlie Mariano


Carmine Ugo Mariano was an American jazz alto saxophonist and soprano saxophonist.

Biography

Mariano was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Italian immigrants, Giovanni Mariano and Maria Di Gironimo of Fallo, Italy. He grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, enlisting in the Army Air Corps after high school, during World War II. After his service in the Army, Mariano attended what was then known as Schillinger House of Music, now Berklee College of Music. He was among the faculty at Berklee from 1965–1971. Mariano moved to Europe in 1971, settling eventually in Köln, Germany, with his third wife, Dorothee Zippel.
He played with one of the Stan Kenton big bands, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Charles Mingus, Eberhard Weber, the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, Embryo and numerous other notable bands and musicians.
He was known for his use of the nadaswaram, a classical wind instrument from Tamil Nadu.
Mariano had five daughters, including three with his first wife, Glenna Gregory Mariano, and became the father to musician Monday Michiru with his second wife, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and also had his youngest daughter, Zana Mariano, with Charlotte Mariano. He had six grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. He died of cancer on June 16, 2009.

Discography

As leader

With Stan Kenton
With Shelly Manne
With Charles Mingus
With Eberhard Weber
With others