Richie Kamuca

Richie Kamuca (July 23, 1930 – July 22, 1977) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Musical career
Kamuca was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and, like many players associated with West Coast jazz, grew up in the East before moving West around the time that bebop changed the prevailing style of jazz. His early playing, in what is generally considered the Lester Young style, was done on tour with the big bands of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman, where he became a member of the later line-ups of Herman's Four Brothers saxophone section with Al Cohn and Bill Perkins.

Kamuca stayed on the West Coast, playing with the smaller groups of Chet Baker, Maynard Ferguson, Shorty Rogers, and others. He was one of the Lighthouse All-Stars in 1957 and 1958, and recorded with Perkins, Art Pepper, Jimmy Rowles, Cy Touff and many others in those years, as well as leading recording sessions in his own right.

Kamuca was a member of the group Shelly Manne and His Men from 1959 through 1962, when he returned East and settled in New York. Here he worked with Gerry Mulligan, Gary McFarland, and Roy Eldridge, before returning to the West Coast in 1972, where he recorded in the studios and performed with local groups.

Less well known to the general public than saxophonists like Stan Getz, who played in a similar Lester Young-derived style, Kamuca died of cancer, in Los Angeles, California, just before his 47th birthday.

Selected discography
With Manny Albam With Chet Baker and Bud Shank With Chet Baker and Art Pepper With Herb Ellis and Jimmy Giuffre With Maynard Ferguson With Terry Gibbs With Woody Herman With Stan Kenton With Gary McFarland With Herbie Mann With Shelly Manne With the Modern Jazz Quartet With Mark Murphy With Shorty Rogers With Frank Rosolino With Zoot Sims
 * The Brothers! (RCA Victor, 1955) with Al Cohn and Bill Perkins
 * Cy Touff and Richie Kamuca, Octet & Quintet (Pacific Jazz, 1955)
 * Bill Perkins, Richie Kamuca Tenors Head-on (Pacific Jazz, 1956)
 * Richie Kamuca Quartet (Mode, 1957)
 * Jazz Erotica (HiFi Records 1957), reissued as West Coast Jazz in Hi-Fi (Contemporary, 1959; With Bill Holman, Conte Candoli and Frank Rosolino)
 * Roy Eldridge - Richie Kamuca Quintet, Comin' Home Baby (Recorded 1965–66, released 1978 on Pumpkin Productions)
 * Richie Kamuca Richie (Jazzz, 1976; reissued by Concord Jazz)
 * Richie Kamuca Drop Me Off In Harlem (Concord, 1977)
 * Richie Kamuca Richie Kamuca's Charlie (Concord, 1977 [1979])
 * The Jazz Greats of Our Time, Vol. 2 (Coral 1957)
 * Theme Music from "The James Dean Story" (Pacific Jazz, 1956)
 * The Route (Pacific Jazz 1956)
 * Herb Ellis Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve, 1959)
 * Live at Peacock Lane 1956–1957 (Live in Los Angeles, with Kamuca in the band; Fresh Sound CD apparently unreleased on LP in lieu of Birdland recordings of 1957.)
 * The Exciting Terry Gibbs Big Band – reissued as Dream Band, Vol. 4: Main Stem'' (Contemporary, 1961)
 * Explosion! (Verve 1961, Contemporary, 1987 as Dream Band vol 5)
 * Big New Herd At The Monterey Jazz Festival (Atlantic, 1959)
 * Popular Favorites by Stan Kenton (Capitol, 1953)
 * Sketches on Standards (Capitol, 1953)
 * The Kenton Era (Capitol, 1940–54, [1955])
 * Kenton with Voices (Capitol, 1957)
 * Back to Balboa (Capitol, 1958)
 * The Ballad Style of Stan Kenton (Capitol, 1958)
 * Kenton Live from the Las Vegas Tropicana (Capitol, 1959 [1961])
 * Point of Departure (Impulse!, 1963)
 * My Kinda Groove (Atlantic, 1964)
 * Our Mann Flute (Atlantic, 1966)
 * Son of Gunn!! (Contemporary, 1959)
 * At the Black Hawk 1 (Contemporary, 1959)
 * At the Black Hawk 2 (Contemporary, 1959)
 * At the Black Hawk 3 (Contemporary, 1959)
 * At the Black Hawk 4 (Contemporary, 1959)
 * At the Black Hawk 5 (Contemporary, 1959 [1991])
 * Ruth Price with Shelly Manne & His Men at the Manne-Hole (Contemporary, 1961) with Ruth Price
 * Live! Shelly Manne & His Men at the Manne-Hole (Contemporary, 1961)
 * Shelly Manne & His Men Play Checkmate (Contemporary, 1961)
 * Jazz Dialogue (Atlantic, 1965)
 * This Could Be the Start of Something (Capitol, 1958)
 * With Anita O'Day
 * Cool Heat (Verve, 1959)
 * Cool Heat (Verve, 1959)
 * Portrait of Shorty (RCA Victor, 1957)
 * Chances Are It Swings (RCA Victor, 1958)
 * The Swingin' Nutcracker (RCA Victor, 1960; with Holman, Perkins and Art Pepper, Kamuca was part of the saxophone section on Rogers' big-band jazz version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.)
 * Frank Rosolino Quintet (Mode 1957)
 * Hawthorne Nights (Pablo, 1977)

Filmography

 * Kings Go Forth (1958) - Jazz Musician: Tenor Sax (uncredited)
 * Adventures in Paradise (1961, TV Series) - Moody Simmons (final appearance)