Gabe Baltazar

Gift Baltazar has Filipino ancestors came from Hawaii and arrived mid-1950s to the mainland of the United States, where in 1957 he worked with Paul Togawa and 1960 played with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars. He was known primarily as a soloist in the orchestra of Stan Kenton, where he served from 1960 to 1965. Baltazar appeared in numerous recordings with this time, as Adventures in Blues (1960 /61), Together ( 1960) and Mellophonium Moods (1962). In September 1961, Savoy Records, he recorded an album with Ray Starling, Vinnie Burke and Al Beldini, which was however not published. In 1965, he worked at Terry Gibbs, played in 1965 at the Monterey Jazz Festival in led by Dizzy Gillespie Festival band and collaborated on recordings by Gil Fuller, Johnny Hartman and Oliver Nelson ( 1967) with, before he moved back to Hawaii in 1969. In the 1990s, Baltazar was more common to California, where he worked as a bandleader and 1992 two albums for Fresh Sound Records and VSOP recorded ..

According to the authors Cook and Morton Baltazars hard bop saxophone style is reminiscent of Herb Geller.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Back in Action ( VSOP, 1992) with Tom Rainier, Richard Simon, Steve Houghton
• Birdology ( Fresh Sound, 1992) with Frank Strazzeri, Andy Simpkins, Nick Martinis

Swell

• Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, 8th Edition, London, Penguin, 2006 ISBN 0-14-102327-9