Family of musicians. Their surname appears as both LaBarbera and La Barbera in the literature (and sometimes in the brothers’ own hands), but their birth certificates give LaBarbera.
LaBarbera, Pat [Pascel Emmanuel] (b Warsaw, NY, April 7, 1944)
LaBarbera, John (Phillip) (b Warsaw, NY, Nov 10, 1945...
[Pascel Emmanuel]
Member of LaBarbera family
(b Warsaw, NY, April 7, 1944). American tenor saxophonist and educator. His home town, Mt. Morris, had no hospital, hence he was actually born in the nearby town of Warsaw. He was first taught by his father, the clarinetist Joseph LaBarbera, then attended Potsdam (New York) State Teachers College and the Berklee School of Music (1964–7). While playing with Buddy Rich’s band (1967–74) he gained a reputation as a fine soloist; his style is derived principally from that of John Coltrane (as exemplified by the latter’s recording of Giant Steps), to which he adds his own rhythmic looseness and lyricism. In 1974 he settled in Toronto, where he undertook various engagements and worked for television; the following year he joined Elvin Jones, with whom he performed and recorded extensively until 1985 and again from 1990, after Jones returned from Japan; he appears with the group in the film documentary ...
[Andrew]
(b Wilmington, NC, Nov 3, 1927; d Marietta, GA, Oct 12, 2017). American tenor saxophonist. He moved to Boston in 1945 to enroll in the diploma program at the New England Conservatory. After graduating in 1949 he worked briefly with Roy Eldridge. Drafted in 1950, he served as an instructor in an army band in New Jersey and then, in his second year, as a soldier in the Korean War. Following his discharge in 1952 he took Sam Rivers’s place with the rhythm-and-blues saxophonist Paul “Fat Man” Robinson, whose band was based at the Knickerbocker Cafe in Boston and toured extensively; he remained with Robinson for five years. Between 1957 and 1963 he played for Lionel Hampton, with whom he toured the USA, Europe, and the Far East; among the recordings he made with Hampton is The Many Sides of Lionel Hampton (c1960, Glad Hamp 1001...
(b Gloucester, MA, April 15, 1930; d Gloucester, Aug 11, 2007). Bandleader, trumpeter, and teacher. After studying at the Schillinger House of Music (1950–52) and playing in Boston with Charlie Parker (for one week in June 1953) and Charlie Mariano (later that same year) he toured as a trumpeter with Lionel Hampton (December 1953 – April 1954) and Stan Kenton (September 1954). He then returned to Boston and worked with Serge Chaloff (1954–5). In 1955 he began teaching at Schillinger, which the previous year had taken a new name, the Berklee School of Music. While establishing himself as the cornerstone of this school’s growing jazz program he led a 16-piece swing and bop ensemble that performed regularly at The Stables (1956–60); among its sidemen were Joe Gordon, Jaki Byard (who was then playing tenor saxophone), Boots Mussulli, and later, Mariano and Bill Berry. He was also the leader of another band (...
(b New York, July 18, 1939; d Berkeley, CA, April 13, 2016). American alto saxophonist and educator. His year of birth has been published widely as 1941, but 1939 appears in the New York Birth Index and in his questionnaire for this dictionary. His father, a staff pianist with NBC, played classical violin, and during his childhood Yellin unwillingly took lessons on this instrument for several years. Around 1957, while attending Denver University on a basketball scholarship, he heard a recording by Art Pepper and decided to pursue a career as a saxophonist. After returning to New York he studied music with his father, and shortly afterwards he had private clarinet lessons and attended the Juilliard School, where he learned saxophone; he also received private tuition on the instrument from John La Porta. In the 1960s he worked in the big bands of Lionel Hampton (1961–5) and Buddy Rich, with whom he recorded (...
