Greg Abate is performing
January 7, 2024
Greg Abate
Greg gives credit to two key turning points in his career - playing lead alto saxophone with the Ray Charles Orchestra in the mid 70’s, and a collaboration with the great Phil Woods as my guest on 2 recordings. However, it was a trip to Montreal from Boston in a blizzard that catapulted his early career, when one of only 7 people in the club that night opened opportuntities to NYC, producers at Candid Records, and his eventual recording at Birdland with James Williams, Rufus Reid, and Kenny Washington.
Greg Abate, jazz saxophonist, flutist, and composer, tours internationally as a Jazz/Recording Artist 225 days a year.
Greg’s newest release Gratitude, with the Tim Ray Trio, has received glowing reviews and a lot of international airplay.
Greg is also an adjunct professor of Jazz Studies at Rhode Island College and is also a very active jazz clinician with co-sponsorship from the Conn-Selmer Instrument Co., conducting workshops and master classes through the U.S and abroad.
Greg was inducted into the RHODE ISLAND MUSIC HALL OF FAME in 2016.
“High-energy jazz doesn’t describe the full feeling of listening to hard bop saxophonist Greg Abate in live performance because so much intensity and idea-making fuels his music. But it comes close. Even his approach to ballads and sambas have that lilt. They start out breezy or laid-back, but they are certain to have their burning moments. Count on it.”