Ronnie Cuber
Encyclopedia
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...
. He has also played in Latin, pop, rock and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, he has also played tenor sax, soprano sax and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, the latter on an album by Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri , is a Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican pianist, bandleader and musician, best known for combining jazz piano and instrumental solos with Latin rhythms.-Early years:...
. As a leader, Cuber is known for hard bop
Hard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
and Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
. As a side man, he has played with numerous musicians, such as B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King , known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No.3 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. According to Edward M...
, Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
, and Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
. Furthermore, Cuber can be heard on Freeze Frame by the J. Geils Band, and one of his most spirited performances is on Dr. Lonnie Smith 1970 Blue Note album Drives.
Cuber was in Marshall Brown
Marshall Brown
Marshall Brown was a jazz musician and educator. He played trombones and, less often, bass trumpet or euphonium. He played the valve trombone.Brown was little recorded, and devoted most of his career to education...
's Newport Youth Band in 1959, where he switched from tenor to baritone sax. His first notable work was with Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
(1962) and Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...
(1963-1965). Then from 1966 to 1967, Cuber worked with George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
. He was also a member of the Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz
Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
nonet from 1977 to 1979. He can be heard playing in Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's group in the mid-1970s, including the album Zappa in New York
Zappa in New York
Zappa in New York is a live double album by Frank Zappa. It was recorded at a series of concerts at New York City's Palladium in December 1976. It was released by Zappa's DiscReet Records label in 1977, then quickly withdrawn. A second version was re-released in 1978 with changes ordered by...
. He has been a member of the Mingus Big Band
Mingus Big Band
The Mingus Big Band is an ensemble, based in New York City, that specializes in the compositions of the late Charles Mingus. It is managed by his widow, Sue Mingus and represented by Tree Lawn Artists, Inc.. In addition to its weekly Monday night appearance at the Jazz Standard in New York City,...
since its inception in the early 1990s. He was an off-screen musician for the movie Across the Universe
Across the Universe (film)
Across the Universe is a musical romantic drama film directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film's plot is centered around songs by The Beatles. It was released in the United States on October 12, 2007. The script is based on an original...
.
As leader
- 1976: Cuber Libre! (Xanadu RecordsXanadu RecordsXanadu Records was a jazz music record label specializing in bebop throughout the 1970s and 1980s founded by Don Schlitten, recording and issuing recordings by some legendary names in jazz music.-Discography:...
) - 1978: The Eleventh Day of AquariusThe Eleventh Day of AquariusThe Eleventh Day Of Aquarius is a jazz album by baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber, recorded in 1978 and released in 1979 for Xanadu Records.-Track listing:#Klepto #Open Air #Sunburst #Taurus Lullaby #Commit To Memory...
(Xanadu) - 1981: New York Jazz
- 1985: Two Brothers (AMG)
- 1985: Pin Point (PID)
- 1985: Passion Fruit (PID)
- 1986: Live at the[Blue Note (ProJazz)
- 1992: Cubism (Fresh Sounds)
- 1993: The Scene is Clean (Milestone RecordsMilestone RecordsMilestone Records is a United States based jazz record label, founded in 1966 by Orrin Keepnews and Dick Katz in New York City. The company was incorporated into Fantasy Records in 1972, since then it has been used for reissues as well as for new recordings....
) - 1994: Airplay (SteepleChase RecordsSteepleChase RecordsSteepleChase Records is a jazz record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark. SteepleChase was founded in 1972 by Nils Winther, who was a student at Copenhagen University at the time...
) - 1996: In a New York Minute (SteepleChase)
- 1997: N.Y.C.ats (SteepleChase)
- 1998: Love for Sale (with The Netherlands Metropole Orchestra) (Koch)
- 2009: Ronnie (SteepleChase)
As sideman
With George BensonGeorge Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
- It's Uptown (1966)
- The George Benson CookbookThe George Benson CookbookThe George Benson Cookbook is the third album by jazz/soul guitarist George Benson to be produced by John Hammond.-Description:The Hard Bop Homepage says of the album, "This is basically the George Benson quartet, with Smith and Cuber, but trombonist Bennie Green and percussionist Pucho were added...
(1966)
With Grant Green
Grant Green
Grant Green was a jazz guitarist and composer....
- The Main AttractionThe Main Attraction (Grant Green album)The Main Attraction is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1976 and released on the Kudu label.-Reception:...
(1976)
With Idris Muhammad
Idris Muhammad
Idris Muhammad is a jazz drummer. He changed his name in the 1960s upon his conversion to Islam. He is known for his funky playing style. He has released a number of albums as leader, and has played with a number of jazz legends including Lou Donaldson, Johnny Griffin, Pharoah Sanders and Grover...
- House of the Rising SunHouse of the Rising Sun (album)-Track listing:#"The House Of The Rising Sun"#"Baia "#"Hard To Face The Music"#"Theme For New York City"#"Sudan"#"Hey Pock A-Way"#"Pipe Stem" #"I Know You Don't Want Me No More"...
(1976) - Turn This Mutha OutTurn This Mutha OutTurn This Mutha Out is an album by Idris Muhammad.-Track listing:# "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This" – 8:37# "Camby Bolongo" – 3:50# "Turn This Mutha Out" – 6:50...
(1977)
With Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
- The Hardbop GrandpopThe Hardbop GrandpopThe Hardbop Grandpop is an album by jazz pianist Horace Silver released on the Impulse! label in 1996 featuring performances by Silver with Claudio Roditi, Steve Turre, Michael Brecker, Ronnie Cuber, Ron Carter, and Lewis Nash...
(1996)
With Lonnie Smith
Lonnie Smith (jazz musician)
Dr. Lonnie Smith is a jazz Hammond B3 organist and pianist.-Biography:He was born in Lackawanna, New York, into a family with a vocal group and radio program. Smith says that his mother was a major influence on him musically, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz music...
- Move Your HandMove Your HandMove Your Hand is a live album by American organist Lonnie Smith recorded in 1969 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars and stated "Move Your Hand is thoroughly enjoyable, primarily because the group never lets their...
(1969) - DrivesDrives (Lonnie Smith album)Drives is an album by American organist Lonnie Smith recorded in 1970 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Ron Wynn awarded the album 4 stars and stated "Lonnie Smith had the raw skills, imagination, and versatility to play burning originals, bluesy covers of R&B...
(1970)
With Rare Silk
Rare Silk
Rare Silk was an American jazz vocal group. Consisting of the band members Gaile Gillaspie, Marylynn Gillaspie, Todd Buffa and Marguerite Juenemann , they started out as a swing-oriented group in the vein of The Pied Pipers and The Andrews Sisters...
- New Weave (1986)
With Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
- 34th N Lex (2003)