Anthony Robert "Tony" Ortega (June 7, 1928 – October 30, 2022) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

clarinetist, saxophonist, and flautist.

Early life

Ortega was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. He began to play the saxophone at age 14 and studied the instrument under Lloyd Reese.Anthony Ortega: Encinitas reedman calls himself a ‘lucky man’
''

The Coast News ''The Coast News'' is an American, English language weekly newspaper published in Encinitas, California. It covers community news, events, and city government in North San Diego County. Founded in 1987 by independent publisher Jim Kydd, the comp ...

'', April 5, 2012. He was heavily-influenced by and introduced to musicians by his cousin,

Ray Vasquez Ray Vasquez (12 February 1924 – 25 January 2019), also known as Ray Victor, was an American singer, musician, trombonist and actor, and a significant influence on the Latin jazz scene from 1940 through 2019. Early life Ray Moreno Vasquez wa ...

Career

In 1947, Ortega played with

Earle Spencer Robert Earle Spencer (born 26 June 1925 Welborn, Kansas – 19 September 1973 Fillmore, Utah) was an American trombonist and leader of a progressive swing big band bearing his name — Earle Spencer and His Orchestra. He formed the band in 1946 ...

. From 1948 to 1951, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. He became a member of Lionel Hampton's group, which toured Europe; while there he also recorded with

Gigi Gryce Gigi Gryce (born George General Grice Jr.; November 28, 1925 – March 14, 1983), later Basheer Qusim, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator. While his performing career was relatively short, ...

, Art Farmer, and

Milt Buckner Milton Brent Buckner (July 10, 1915 – July 27, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and organist, who in the early 1950s popularized the Hammond organ.Arwulf ArwulfMilt Buckner biography All Music. He pioneered the parallel chords styleFeathe ...

, as well as with Norwegian players while in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

in 1954. He also met his future wife, pianist and vibraphonist Mona Ørbeck, at the Penguin jazz club in Oslo; they married later that year. Upon his return to southern California, he put a band together and worked briefly in Los Angeles, but relocated to New York City in 1955, playing with

Nat Pierce Nathaniel Pierce Blish Jr., known professionally as Nat Pierce (July 16, 1925 – June 10, 1992) was an American jazz pianist and prolific composer and arranger, perhaps best known for being pianist and arranger for the Woody Herman band from 195 ...

for two years. In 1958, he returned to Los Angeles, where he worked with

Paul Bley Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ...

, Claude Williamson, and the Lighthouse All Stars. In the 1960s, he played mostly in the Southwest and California, and worked on film soundtracks such as ''

The Pawnbroker ''The Pawnbroker'' (1961) is a novel by Edward Lewis Wallant which tells the story of Sol Nazerman, a concentration camp survivor who suffers flashbacks of his past Nazi imprisonment as he tries to cope with his daily life operating a pawn sh ...

'' (1964). Ortega recorded the soundtrack for the movie '' Gloria'' (1980) starring

Gena Rowlands Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands (born June 19, 1930) is an American retired actress, whose career in film, stage, and television has spanned seven decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations w ...

. He can be heard playing throughout the movie with Tommy Tedesco on guitar. He worked with

Don Ellis Donald Johnson Ellis (July 25, 1934 – December 17, 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of time signatures. Later in his lif ...

and

Gerald Wilson Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. In addition to being a ...

in 1965 and with Lalo Schifrin in 1968. In the early-1970s, he toured internationally with

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

and continued working with Wilson into the 1980s. He toured and recorded in Paris several times in the 1990s. As of October 2021, he was still performing actively at Mr. Peabody's in

Encinitas, California Encinitas ( Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and about south ...

Discography

*''A Man and His Horns'' (1956) *''Chamber Music for Moderns'' with the

Quintet (

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

, 1957) *''Jazz for Young Moderns (And Old Buzzards, Too)'' (

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

, 1958?) *''New Dance'' (

Revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

, 1967) *''Permutations'' (Revelation, 1968) *''A Delanto'' (Jazz Chronicles, 1976) *''Rain Dance'' (

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

, 1978) *''On Evidence'' ( Evidence, 1992) *''Neuf'' (Evidence, 1996) *''Bonjour'' (

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''harm ...

, 2001) *''Scattered Clouds'' ( hatOLOGY, 2001) *''Afternoon in Paris'' (hatOLOGY, 2007)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega, Anthony 1928 births 2022 deaths American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American jazz flautists American jazz clarinetists Musicians from Los Angeles 21st-century American saxophonists Jazz musicians from California 21st-century clarinetists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 21st-century flautists