Paul gonsalves biography

Paul Gonsalves  ( tenor saxophonist ) was born on July 12, in Brockton, Mass.

Paul gonsalves - cookin

Paul gonsalves - cookin

Paul Gonsalves died at a relatively young age (53) some 36 years ago leaving a wife and four children.

Paul gonsalves gettin' together

Paul Gonsalves was an American jazz tenor saxophonist best known for his association with Duke Ellington.

Paul Gonsalves was born on 12 July 1920, in Boston, Massachusetts, which is where he had his first professional engagement.

and passed away on May 15, in London, England at the age of

Born to Cape Verdean parents, Gonsalves’ first instrument was the guitar, and as a child he was regularly asked to play Cape Verdean folk songs for his family.

He grew up in New Bedford, Massachusetts and played as a member of the Sabby Lewis Orchestra. His first professional engagement in Boston was with the same group on tenor saxophone, in which he played before and after his military service during World War joining Duke Ellington’s orchestra in , he had also played with the big bands of Count Basie (–) and Dizzy Gillespie (–).

By the time of his sixth year with Ellington, Gonsalves had experienced the ups and downs of playing with a big band.

Gonsalves was building a reputation as a consummate balladeer and also as a crowd pleaser thanks to Ellington’s choice of him as the soloist to bridge the opening and closing sections of ‘Diminuendo