|
Howard Alden (born 10) is an American jazz guitarist born in Newport Beach, California. He has recorded a long series of albums for Concord Records. His performances were dubbed over Sean Penn as 'Emmet Ray' in the 1999 Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown. Howard has produced several albums with George Van Eps.
Biography Early life Howard Alden was born in Newport Beach, California in 1958. He began playing the 4-string tenor guitar and [1]] at age ten. After hearing recordings of Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhart and other jazz guitar greats, he got a six-string guitar and started teaching himself to play that as well. As a teenager he played both instruments at various venues in the Los Angeles area. He studied guitar with Jimmy Wyble when he was 16. By 1977 he was studying jazz guitar at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, California with Howard Roberts.
Career Alden moved to New York City in 1982 to play an extended engagement at the Café Carlyle with jazz pianist/songwriter Joe Bushkin. Soon afterward, he was discovered by Joe Williams and Woody Herman. In 1983 he was already collaborating with Dick Hyman, when he appeared with him and a host of other musicians at Eubie Blake's one-hundredth birthday concert. In 1985 Alden signed with Concord Jazz record label, and has since recorded many albums with them.
Personal life Alden lives in Manhattan.
Other endeavors He taught actor Sean Penn to play guitar for his role as the legendary (but fictional) jazz guitarist "Emmett Ray" in the Woody Allen film "Sweet and Lowdown"
. Alden also performed most of the music for the film along with Bucky Pizzarelli on rhythm guitar, with the music arranged by pianist Dick Hyman.
Awards - 1990 - "Best Emerging Guitar Talent" poll winner in JazzTimes
- 1992 - "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" from Downbeat
- 1993 - "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" from Downbeat
- 1995 - "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" from Downbeat
- 1996 - "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" from Downbeat
Discography
Copyright Citations
This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Howard Alden
|
