Dennis Mackrel
Dennis Mackrel ( born April 3, 1962 in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz drummer who has emerged as a composer and arranger as well as a music teacher. He became internationally known through his first collaboration with the Count Basie Orchestra. He is also regarded as "one of the most complete studio specialists of the scene. "
Life and work
Mackrel began to play the drums at the age of two years; the age of ten in stage orchestra with a theater production in Anchorage. At the University of Nevada, he studied jazz with Frank Gagliardi, but worked next to the Revue orchestras of Las Vegas. After moving to New York City in 1981, he first worked in Broadway theaters and starred in productions such as The First or A Chorus Line. 1983 brought him into his Count Basie Orchestra, which he belonged until 1987, even after the death of the leader ( under Thad Jones and Frank Foster) and for which he also arranged. He belonged to the Mel Lewis Big Band, from 1990, the then headed by him Vanguard Jazz Orchestra was formed. In addition, he regularly worked with Carla Bley, Slide Hampton, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Grover Mitchell. Later he acted in other big bands like his Manhattan Symphony Jazz Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Maria Schneider. Since September 2010 he has been the successor to Bill Hughes, the Count Basie Orchestra. As a studio musician he has participated in recordings of, among others, Diane Schuur, George Shearing, Randy Sandke, Carol Sloane, Hank Jones, Jerome Richardson, Natalie Cole and Quincy Jones. In 2001, he was on tour with the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Stars, 2002 with the trio of Bill Charlap, the Grady Tate accompanied.
As a composer and arranger he received in 1983 a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He wrote ( four arrangements for the excellent Grammys albums The Turning Point and Journey ), the WDR Big Band Cologne, Danish Klüver's Big Band and the RIAS Big Band for McCoy Tyner.
Lexical entries
- Martin Kunzler: Jazz Encyclopedia. Volume 2 Rowohlt, Reinbek 2002 ( 2nd edition ); ISBN 3-499-16513-9