John LaPorta was a Philadelphia-born jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 clarinetist and saxophonist. LaPorta's sound has been compared to that of fellow jazz experimenter Jimmy Giuffre

Jimmy Giuffre

James Peter Giuffre was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry,...

. He is usually considered a member of the "Cool" school

Cool jazz

Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...

 in jazz and his improvisations identify him as a well-schooled, thoughtful player.

LaPorta began studying clarinet at the age of nine and studied methods at the Mastbaum School in Philadelphia, where one of his classmates was fellow clarinettist Buddy DeFranco

Buddy DeFranco

Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco is an American jazz clarinet player.-Biography:DeFranco began his professional career just as swing music and big bands — many of which were led by clarinetists like Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman — were fading in popularity...

. He also studied classically with Joseph Gigliotti of the Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

, and, later, Leon Russianoff at the Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan School of Music

The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...

.

LaPorta also developed his sense of jazz from such prominent figures as Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

, Lester Young

Lester Young

Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....

 and Herschel Evans

Herschel Evans

Herschel "Tex" Evans , was a tenor saxophonist who worked in the Count Basie Orchestra. He had also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton...

. He picked up both alto

Alto

Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...

 and tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

. As a teenager he played with Philadelphia bands alongside such players as Charlie Ventura

Charlie Ventura

Charlie Ventura was a tenor saxophonist and bandleader.Ventura was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He had his first successes working with Gene Krupa. In 1945 he won the Down Beat readers' poll in the tenor saxophone division...

 and Bill Harris

Bill Harris (musician)

Bill Harris was a jazz trombonist.-Biography:Early in his career, Harris performed with Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Eddie Condon. He is renowned for his broad, thick tone and quick vibrato that remained for the duration of each tone. He went on to join Woody Herman's First Herd in 1944...

.

In the early 1940s he joined the Bob Chester Band

Bob Chester

Bob Chester was an American jazz and pop music bandleader and tenor saxophonist.Chester's stepfather ran General Motors's Fisher Body Works. He began his career as a sideman under Irving Aaronson, Ben Bernie, and Ben Pollack. He formed his own group in Detroit in 1939, with a Glenn...

, then later joined Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

's First Herd (second alto). Following this, LaPorta settled in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and began to study with Lennie Tristano

Lennie Tristano

Leonard Joseph Tristano was a jazz pianist, composer and teacher of jazz improvisation. He performed in the cool jazz, bebop, post bop and avant-garde jazz genres. He remains a somewhat overlooked figure in jazz history, but his enormous originality and dazzling work as an improviser have long...

.

He taught at the Parkway Music School, then at public schools on Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

, followed by Manhattan School of Music, and, ultimately, at Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

 in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. Along with guitarist Jack Petersen, LaPorta helped fashion the Berklee curriculum. Specifically, the pair pioneered the use of Greek modes

Musical mode

In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...

 for teaching chord-scales, a technique which has become the standard for teaching music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

 worldwide.

In the 1990s John and his wife, Virginia, retired in Sarasota, Florida, where he wrote his autobiography, "Playing It By Ear" (ISBN 1-881993-38-8). In retirement, LaPorta performed with the Sarasota Jazz Club, and as guest artist with the Fred Williams Trio.

LaPorta died from complications of a stroke on May 12, 2004, in Sarasota.

As sideman

With Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

• The Jazz Experiments of Charlie Mingus
  The Jazz Experiments of Charlie Mingus
  The Jazz Experiments of Charlie Mingus is an album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus released on the Bethlehem label. The album is a compilation of tracks originally released by Period Records as two 10-inch LP's entitled Jazzical Moods and co-credited to John LaPorta.-Reception:The...
  
  (Bethlehem, 1954)
• Jazz Composers Workshop
  Jazz Composers Workshop
  Jazz Composers Workshop is an album featuring jazz bassist Charles Mingus. It combines the earlier album Moods of Mingus with a Wally Cirillo session released earlier on the album Wally Cirillo & Bobby Scott...
  
  (Savoy, 1954-55)