Noel Pointer (December 26, 1954 – December 19, 1994) 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 ...
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
ist and
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
, whose life inspired a music foundation.
Career
Pointer made his solo debut at the age of 13, performing
Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
with the
Symphony of the New World,
followed by guest solo appearances with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music d ...
.
He began playing jazz on the violin while a student at
The High School of Music and Art
The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the Hig ...
in New York City. While attending college at
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...
, Pointer earned a reputation as a
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
. By age 19, his experience as a freelance musician included the
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...
Orchestra, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, the
Westbury Music Fair
The NYCB Theatre at Westbury (originally known as the Westbury Music Fair) is an entertainment venue located in the hamlet of Jericho, outside of Westbury, New York. Constructed as a theatre in the round style with seating for 2,870 that was orig ...
Orchestra, the
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...
Symphony, the
Love Unlimited Orchestra
The Love Unlimited Orchestra was a 40-piece string-laden orchestra formed by American singer Barry White, and serving as a backing unit for White and for female vocal trio Love Unlimited. From the early 1970s on, they also recorded several sing ...
(US Tour), the
Dance Theater of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...
Orchestra, the Symphony of the New World, and the
pit orchestra
A pit orchestra is a type of orchestra that accompanies performers in musicals, operas, ballets, and other shows involving music. The terms was also used for orchestras accompanying silent movies when more than a piano was used. In performances ...
s of several Broadway shows, including ''
Guys and Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...
'' and ''
Dreamgirls
''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others,Gro ...
''.
[ (subscription required)]
From 1977 to 1981, Pointer recorded seven solo albums, four of which reached the top five jazz albums listed on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' jazz chart. His debut album, ''Phantazia'', went
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
[ and won the No.1 New Male Jazz Act award in '']Record World
''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...
'' magazine. He was the guest soloist on Milira's ''Mercy, Mercy, Me (The Ecology)'' and Dianne Reeves
Dianne Elizabeth Reeves (born October 23, 1956) is an American jazz singer.
Biography
Dianne Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan, into a musical family. Her father sang, her mother played trumpet, her uncle is bassist Charles Burrell, and h ...
's ''The Tracks of My Tears''. His albums ''All My Reasons'' (1981) and ''Direct Hit'' (1982) were nominated for Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
s.[ He also wrote music for the Joyce Trisler Danscompany and the Inner City Ensemble Theater and Dance Company.][
Pointer received special citations from the United States Congress, the US ]Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce ...
, and the African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
(ANC). He served as a music advisory panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
(NEA) and the United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill C ...
(USIA) and was among the youngest people to have held those positions.[ In 1992 he founded the National Movement for the Preservation of the Sacred African Burial Grounds of New York City.][
In 1993 he released ''Never Lose Your Heart'', which turned out to be his final album; he died of a stroke on December 19, 1994, at age 39.][
]
Personal life
Pointer was married to Chinita and had two daughters and a son; he lived in Brooklyn.
After his death, Chinita Pointer founded the Noel Pointer Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing string music education to inner-city students, which is located in Bedford Stuyvesant
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...
, Brooklyn, New York.[Noel Pointer Foundation "About Us" http://www.noelpointer.org/#!about-us/c1x1t]
Discography
Albums
* 1977: ''Phantazia''
* 1978: ''Hold On''
* 1979: ''Feel It''
* 1980: ''Calling''
* 1981: ''All My Reasons''
* 1982: ''Direct Hit''
* 1993: ''Never Lose Your Heart''
Singles
* 1977: "Living for the City"
* 1978: "Stardust Lady"
* 1979: "For You (A Disco Concerto) Part 1" / "For You (A Disco Concerto) Part 2"
* 1981: "Classy Lady"
* 1981: "All the Reasons Why" (released in the Philippines)
* 1981: "East St. Louie Melody" (released in the Philippines)
* 1982: "Direct Hit"
References
External links
* Noel Pointer
Noel Pointer (December 26, 1954 – December 19, 1994) was an American jazz violinist and record producer, whose life inspired a music foundation.
Career
Pointer made his solo debut at the age of 13, performing Vivaldi with the Symphony of the N ...
at Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pointer, Noel
American jazz violinists
American male violinists
Musicians from Brooklyn
1954 births
1994 deaths
GRP Records artists
20th-century American violinists
The High School of Music & Art alumni
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians