JOE TEMPERLEY

TEMPERLEY--Joe,

long regarded as one of jazz's leading baritone saxophonists, died on May 11 in New York City. He was 88. Temperley's 60-year career in jazz was highlighted by long stints in both the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. In addition to his own varied discography as a bandleader, and sharing a bandstand with Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, and many more, Temperley was a beloved educator who helped aspiring musicians grow both in the United States and his native Scotland. Temperley was born in the town of Lochgelly, in Fife, Scotland on September 20, 1927. His father was a bus driver - a rarity in a town where most men worked in the coalmines - and his mother took care of the household. For his fourteenth birthday he was given an alto saxophone by his older, trumpet- playing brother Bob. He took to the horn immediately, practicing whenever he wasn't working in a local butcher shop. By age 17, he had switched to tenor saxophone, and his success with an ensemble that won a big band competition in Glasgow landed him a spot in a Glaswegian jazz quintet. Temperley's talent quickly took him to London, where he played with some of Great Britain's leading jazz ensembles. In 1958, he switched to baritone saxophone to perform with trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton's band - widely regarded as one of the best jazz ensembles outside of the United States - and the instrument soon came to be his instrument of choice. Temperley traveled with Lyttelton to America for the first time in 1959. That trip left an indelible impression on him. He decided to get back to the thriving New York City jazz scene as soon as possible. The move finally happened on December 16, 1965 when Temperley boarded the Queen Mary and set sail for the U.S. When he first arrived in New York, he stayed at the Bryant Hotel and sold transistor radios as he looked for gigs. His first regular job, obtained with help from friends pianist Nat Pierce and drummer Jake Hanna, was with famed bandleader Woody Herman's New Thundering Herd. That soon led to a spot in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra as well as gigs with luminaries like Clark Terry, Duke Pearson, and Joe Henderson who appreciated Temperley's lush, soulful sound. "My approach to playing is purely vocal," Temperley once said. "If you can get all the air out singing a note, there's no reason you can't do it on a saxophone." Moving to the U.S. allowed Temperley to befriend one of his heroes, Harry Carney, the long-tenured baritone saxophone chair for Duke Ellington's orchestra. When Carney died in 1974 - just months after Ellington himself passed Temperley was asked to perform at the funeral, where he played the jazz legend's signature "Sophisticated Lady." Soon after, Mercer Ellington Duke's son, who'd stepped into his father's position as bandleaderasked Temperley to take Carney's place in the orchestra. That led to a fourteen-year stint with the world's most storied big band. "My main influence was - and still is - the Duke Ellington Orchestra," Temperley told Smithsonian Magazine in 2011. "That has always been my prime motivation for playing music, for playing jazz." In 1988, a few years after he'd left the Ellington Orchestra to pursue other opportunities, Temperley received another life- shaping call. This time, it was to join Wynton Marsalis and the newly created Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Temperley occupied the JLCO's baritone saxophone chair for the next 28 years, touring the world many times over, serving both as the ensemble's elder statesman and the definitive model for the baritone saxophone's sound. Temperley taught on the faculty of the Juilliard School for Jazz Studies for many years. He was a mentor and co-founder of the FIFE Youth Jazz Orchestra program in Scotland, which now enrolls 70 young musicians, ages 7-17, playing in three full-size bands. He released many albums as a leader including Nightingale (1991), Sunbeam and Thundercloud with pianist Dave McKenna (1996), With Every Breath (1998), and Double Duke (1999). More recently, he released Cocktails for Two (2007) on Sackville and The Sinatra Songbook (2008) on Hep Jazz. His film soundtrack credits include Cotton Club, Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, When Harry Met Sally, and Tune In Tomorrow. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Laurie, his son Dr. Matthew Lurin, his sister Helen, and many nieces and nephews.