J. R. Monterose (January 19, 1927 – September 16, 1993), born Frank Anthony Peter Vincent Monterose, Jr., 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 ...

saxophonist, playing mainly

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

and occasionally

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

Early life

Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, United States, J.R. or JR (derived from Jr.) Monterose grew up in

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the fo ...

, where his family moved a few months after his birth. He began formal

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...

studies at thirteen, but was largely self-taught as a tenor saxophonist, which he took up at the age of 15 after hearing

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forc ...

band soloist Tex Beneke. Monterose's earliest influences were

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 ...

and Chu Berry, but, as he told critic Leonard Feather, he also found harmonic inspiration in pianists, citing

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of mode ...

and the instruction of Utica-based guitarist and pianist Sam Mancuso, in helping him learn how to use chord changes.

Professional career

Monterose's first professional experience was playing in upstate New York territory dance bands (1947–49). In 1950, he joined Henry "Hot Lips" Busse's touring orchestra. After a brief return to Utica, he joined the

Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, ...

big band in late 1951. Though the band had some excellent bop-oriented musicians (Rich, Dave Schildkraut,

Allen Eager Allen Eager (January 10, 1927 – April 13, 2003) was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist who also competed in auto racing and took part in LSD experiments. Early life Allen Eager was born in New York City on January 10, 1927. He grew up ...

and Philly Joe Jones), Monterose soon left, citing the lack of soloing opportunities. "After six months I was drugged with my own playing," he declared in a 1956 interview, "and I went back home and spent the next couple of years working in little joints but with good men." In New York City in the mid- to late 1950s, Monterose was a featured soloist with Claude Thornhill's orchestra, and with vibraphonist Teddy Charles's modernist groups,

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...

's Jazz Workshop and

Kenny Dorham McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention or public ...

's short-lived Jazz Prophets. Dorham, Monterose told critic Mark Gardner in 1975, "was one of the greatest leaders and players I ever played for....A wonderful musician." He also recorded two sessions as leader: '' J. R. Monterose'' (Blue Note, 1956), produced by

Alfred Lion Alfred Lion (born Alfred Löw; April 21, 1908 – February 2, 1987), was an American record executive who co-founded the jazz record label Blue Note in 1939. Lion retired in 1967, having sold the company, after producing recordings by leading musi ...

with liner notes by Leonard Feather, and ''The Message'' (JARO, 1959), produced by Manny Albam, with Nat Hentoff providing commentary. The record of Monterose's life thereafter, however, is one of sparsely documented itinerancy, pursuing his evolving craft in small-time U.S. venues and during extended stays (late 1960s through the mid-1970s) in Belgium, The Netherlands and Denmark, with occasional low-profile recordings (''In Action'', ''Body and Soul'') recorded in such places as

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. I ...

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

, and

Wageningen Wageningen () is a municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a population of in , of which many ...

, The Netherlands. His preference for small-group work in out of the way places would shape much of his subsequent career, contributing to the musical growth but relegating him to obscurity. The last decade and a half of Monterose's life was spent at upstate New York venues, including the Lark Tavern in Albany. Live recordings at the Lark and other upstate New York venues, such as

Opus 40 ''Opus 40'' is a large environmental sculpture in Saugerties, New York, created by sculptor and quarryman Harvey Fite (1903—1976). It comprises a sprawling series of dry-stone ramps, pedestals and platforms covering of a bluestone quarry. '' ...

, have been released by Croscrane Records. His visit to play

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

's Jazzhuz in 1988, recorded by Danish Broadcasting, has been released by Storyville under the title ''T.T.T.'' Other live recordings from his final years, when he was in less than robust health, are available on the Croscrane specialty label.

Influence and legacy

While Monterose considered himself an underground artist, his work, both as player and composer, remains esteemed by musicians, critics and aficionados of classic jazz. He never denied having been influenced by

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

and

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raise ...

, but refused to be pigeonholed in any particular style. "I've tried all my life to avoid copying. If I can't be myself, there's no point being in jazz." It was this uncompromising insistence on going his own way, both musically and geographically, that moved jazz historian and writer David Brent Johnson to describe Monterose as "The Best Tenor You Never Heard".

Discography

As leader

*1956: '' J. R. Monterose'' ( Blue Note) *1959: ''The Message'' ( JARO, re-issued also as ''Straight Ahead'') with

Tommy Flanagan Thomas Lee Flanagan (March 16, 1930 – November 16, 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. ...

*1963: ''Live at the Tender Trap'', ( Fresh Sound) with

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R ...

*1970: ''Body and Soul'' (Munich) *1980: ''Live In Albany'', ( Uptown Records) *1981: '' ...And a Little Pleasure'' ( Uptown Records) with Tommy Flanagan *1988: ''T. T. T.'' ( Storyville)

As sideman

With

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

*''

'' (Blue Note, 1956), on one track from the Kenny Dorham Café Bohemia recording With Eddie Bert *''

Encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pre ...

'' (Savoy, 1955) *'' Montage'' (Savoy, 1955) With Teddy Charles *''Teddy Charles N. D. Quartet Introducing J. R. Montrose'' ( New Jazz, 1955, reissued as ''

Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

'' in 1957) *''The Teddy Charles Tentet'' (Atlantic, 1956) With Freddie Deronde *''Spontaneous Effort'' (Igloo, 1990), with Philip Catherine and

Michel Herr Michel Herr (born 16 February 1949 in Brussels) is a Belgian jazz pianist, composer and arranger. In addition to releasing jazz albums, composing for jazz ensembles and touring widely as a performing musician, he has also composed scores for ...

With

*''Kenny Dorham and the Jazz Prophets, Vol. 1'' (ABC-Paramount, 1956) *'' 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1–3 10 inch, Vol 1-2 12 inch'' (Blue Note, 1956) With Jon Eardley *''Hey There'' ( Prestige, 1955) With

*'' Pithecanthropus Erectus'' (1956) With the René Thomas Quintet *''Guitar Groove'' ( Jazzland, 1960) With the

George Wallington George Wallington (October 27, 1924 – February 15, 1993) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Wallington was born Giacinto Figlia (some sources give "Giorgio") in Sicily, and then moved to the United States (New York) with ...

Quintet *''The Prestidigitator'' ( East-West, 1958)

Notes

References

Discography
retrieved on November 23, 2007.

retrieved on November 23, 2007. *Allen, Clifford, ''Heavy Soul Music'' by Hans Dulfer and J. R. Monterose (Review of "J. R. Monterose is Alive in Amsterdam Paradiso 969), Paris Transatlantic, January 2006, reprinted a
SoundStage! Vinyl Word - Found on Vinyl: J.R. Monterose, Johnny Griffin, and Roy Orbison (7/2003)
retrieved on November 23, 2007. *Crosset, John, "J. R. Monterose (Reissue review)" ''Vinyl Word'', reprinted a

retrieved on November 23, 2007. *Leitch, Peter, Liner Notes to "J. R. Monterose, Tommy Flanagan/A Little Pleasure," Reservoir CD, 109. *Pujol, Jordi, Liner Notes to "J. R. Monterose/Jaywalkin'", Fresh Sound, CD 430 *Vacher, Peter, Liner Notes to "J. R. Montrose ic.T.T.T.", Storyville, CD 8291. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Monterose, J.R. 1927 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American saxophonists American jazz saxophonists American male jazz musicians American male saxophonists Blue Note Records artists Reservoir Records artists Storyville Records artists Uptown Records (jazz) artists