Ike Abrams Quebec (August 17, 1918 – January 16, 1963) 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 major ...

tenor saxophonist. He began his career in the big band era of the 1940s, then fell from prominence for a time until launching a comeback in the years before his death. Critic Alex Henderson wrote, "Though he was never an innovator, Quebec had a big, breathy sound that was distinctive and easily recognizable, and he was quite consistent when it came to down-home blues, sexy ballads, and up-tempo aggression."

Biography

Quebec was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. An accomplished dancer and pianist, he switched to tenor sax as his primary instrument in his early twenties, and quickly earned a reputation as a promising player. His recording career started in 1940, with the Barons of Rhythm. Later on, he recorded or performed with

Frankie Newton Frankie Newton (William Frank Newton, January 4, 1906 – March 11, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter from Emory, Virginia, United States. He played in several New York City bands in the 1920s and 1930s, including those led by Sam Wooding, Chic ...

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Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

and

Coleman Hawkins Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...

. Between 1944 and 1951, he worked intermittently with

Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...

. He began to record for the

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

label in this era, and served as a

talent scout In professional sports, scouts are experienced talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports and determining whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the scou ...

(helping pianists

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and Bud Powell come to wider attention). Due to his exceptional

sight reading In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descri ...

skills, Quebec was also an uncredited impromptu arranger for many Blue Note sessions. Due in part to struggles with

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

addiction (but also due to the fading popularity of the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

s), Quebec recorded only sporadically during the 1950s, although he still performed regularly. He kept abreast of new developments in jazz, and his later playing incorporated elements of

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

, bossa nova, and

soul jazz Soul jazz or funky jazz is a subgenre of jazz that incorporates strong influences from hard bop, blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues. Soul jazz is often characterized by organ trios featuring the Hammond organ and small combos including ten ...

. In 1959, he began what amounted to a comeback with a series of albums on the Blue Note label. Blue Note executive Alfred Lion was always fond of Quebec's music, but was unsure how audiences would respond to the saxophonist after a decade of low visibility. In the mid-to-late 1950s, Blue Note issued a series of Quebec

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

for the

juke box A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

market; audiences responded well, leading to a number of warmly-received albums. Quebec occasionally recorded on piano, as on his 1961 ''

Blue & Sentimental ''Blue & Sentimental'' is an album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' album, where he alternated between tenor and piano, playing the latter behind

Grant Green Grant Green (June 6, 1935 – January 31, 1979) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Recording prolifically for Blue Note Records as both leader and sideman, Green performed in the hard bop, soul jazz, bebop, and Latin-tinged idioms ...

's guitar solos. Quebec's comeback was short-lived; it was ended by his death in January 1963, at the age of 44 from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

. He is buried at

Woodland Cemetery Woodland Cemetery may refer to: * Woodland cemetery, a type of cemetery or it may refer to specific places: in Sweden * Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery) in Stockholm, Sweden in the United States (by state) * Woodland Cemetery (Quincy, I ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.

Discography

As leader

* ''Ike Quebec Tenor Sax'' (

, 1945) * ''

From Hackensack to Englewood Cliffs ''From Hackensack to Englewood Cliffs'' is a compilation album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec, released in 2000 on Blue Note. The album compiles eight jukebox-oriented pieces recorded by Quebec for the label, which, coincidentally, was the ...

'' (

, 1959 el. 2000 * ''

The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions ''The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions'' is a compilation album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec. The album focuses on Quebec's 45 RPMs recorded between 1959 and 1962 and aimed at the juke box market. The songs were successful, marking the star ...

'' (Blue Note, 1959–1962 el. 2005 2-CD set; originally released on Mosaic Records in 1988; also contains 8 of the 10 tracks on ''From Hackensack to Englewood Cliffs''. * '' Heavy Soul'' (Blue Note 84093, 1961

el. 1962 EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...

* ''

It Might as Well Be Spring "It Might as Well Be Spring" is a song from the 1945 film ''State Fair''. which features the only original film score by the songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. "It Might as Well Be Spring" won the Academy Award for Best ...

'' (Blue Note 84105, 1961

el. 1964 EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...

* ''

Blue & Sentimental ''Blue & Sentimental'' is an album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note 84098, 1961

el. 1963 EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

* '' Easy Living'' (Blue Note 84103 (LP), 1962; 46846 (CD), 1987) the CD issue contains all 5 "sextet" tracks that were first released on ''Congo Lament''. * ''

Soul Samba ''Soul Samba'' (aka ''Bossa Nova Soul Samba'') is an album by American saxophonist Ike Quebec recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note 84114, 1962

* ''With a Song in My Heart'' (Blue Note LT-1052 (LP), 1962 el. 1980 collects 9 tracks that later appeared on ''The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions''. * ''Congo Lament'' (Blue Note LT-1089 (LP), 1962

el. 1981 EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

sextet recordings with

Bennie Green Bennie Green (April 16, 1923 – March 23, 1977) was an American jazz trombonist. Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Green worked in the orchestras of Earl Hines and Charlie Ventura, and recorded as bandleader through the 1950s and ...

Stanley Turrentine Stanley William Turrentine (April 5, 1934 – September 12, 2000) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note label from 1960, touched on jazz fusion ...

. * ''The Art of Ike Quebec'' (Blue Note 99178 (CD), 1992) compilation * ''Ballads'' (Blue Note 56690 (CD), 1997) compilation of 9 tracks from ''Easy Living,'' ''Born To Be Blue'' (Grant Green album), ''Heavy Soul,'' ''It Might As Well Be Spring,'' ''The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions,'' ''With A Song In My Heart.''

As sideman

with Cab Calloway And His Orchestra * ''Live At The New Cafe Zanzibar 1944'' (Magnetic Records) with

Sonny Clark Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Early life Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of Pi ...

* ''

Leapin' and Lopin' ''Leapin' and Lopin'' is an album by jazz pianist Sonny Clark, released on Blue Note Records in May 1962. It was Clark's last album as a leader before his death in 1963. It features a guest appearance from sax player Ike Quebec, who was mounting ...

'' (Blue Note, 1961) - on one track only with

* '' Born to Be Blue'' (Blue Note, 1962 el. 1985 * ''

The Latin Bit ''The Latin Bit'' is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note, 1962) - on two CD bonus tracks with

Dodo Greene Dodo Greene, (born Dorthea Hawkins; January 18, 1924 - July 21, 2006) was an American jazz vocalist who performed in clubs and venues in Buffalo, and along the East Coast and Chicago, before releasing two albums in the 1960s, and touring internati ...

*''

My Hour of Need ''My Hour of Need'' is an album by jazz vocalist Dodo Greene featuring performances accompanied by the Ike Quebec Quintet recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note, 1962

With Jimmy Smith *'' Open House'' (Blue Note, 1960) *''

Plain Talk ''Plain Talk'' was an American monthly anticommunist magazine that lasted for 44 months (1946–1950). Its editor-in-chief was Isaac Don Levine. Description ''Plain Talk'' featured articles by many conservative writers of the time, including J ...

'' (Blue Note, 1960)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quebec, Ike 1918 births 1963 deaths American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists Soul-jazz saxophonists Jump blues musicians Hard bop saxophonists Blue Note Records artists Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) Burials in New Jersey 20th-century American saxophonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians The Cab Calloway Orchestra members