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Gary Windo

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Gary Windo
Born(1941-11-07)7 November 1941
Brighton, England
Died25 July 1992(1992-07-25) (aged 50)
New York City
GenresJazz, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentSaxophone
Years active1960s–1992

Gary Windo (7 November 1941, in Brighton, England – 25 July 1992, in New York City) was an English jazz tenor saxophonist.[1][2]

Career

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Windo came from a musical family in England. By age six he took up drums and accordion, then guitar at twelve and saxophone at seventeen. He lived in the United States during the 1960s but returned to England in 1969. In the early 1970s, his career grew as he founded the Gary Windo Quartet and worked with Carla Bley, Brotherhood of Breath, Centipede, Matching Mole, The Running Man, and Nick Mason.

Sonny Stitt heard Windo play at the Berlin Jazz Festival and asked him to join the band, which he declined. He worked outside jazz, with the Psychedelic Furs, Robert Wyatt, NRBQ, and for the comedy television show Saturday Night Live. He taught music lessons with his friend Eric Peralli.

Windo could play many reed instruments, including soprano sax and bass clarinet. His time in America exposed him to all types of jazz, and he was at home in any idiom. He used harmonics often and could split a note into its components using his prodigious technique and a metal mouthpiece with a wide lay and a hard reed. He died from a drug overdose in 1992. He is survived by his wife Siobhan Hunter.[3]

Discography

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As leader

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  • Dogface (Europa, 1982)
  • Deep Water (Antilles, 1988)
  • His Master's Bones (Cuneiform, 1996)
  • Anglo American (Cuneiform, 2004)
  • Avant Gardeners (Reel, 2007)
  • Steam Radio Tapes (Gonzo, 2013)

As sideman

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With Hugh Hopper

  • 1984 (CBS, 1973)
  • Hopper Tunity Box (Compendium, 1977)
  • A Remark Hugh Made (Shimmy Disc, 1994)

With Chris McGregor

With NRBQ

  • Grooves in Orbit (Bearsville, 1983)
  • Lou and the Q (Rounder, 1985)
  • Honest Dollar (Rykodisc, 1992)
  • Message for the Mess Age (Forward, 1994)

With Robert Wyatt

  • Rock Bottom (Virgin, 1974)
  • Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (Virgin, 1975)
  • Theatre Royal Drury Lane 8th September 1974 (Hannibal, 1981)
  • Flotsam Jetsam (Rough Trade, 1994)
  • His Greatest Misses (Domino, 2004)
  • Different Every Time (Domino, 2014)

With others

References

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  1. ^ "Gary Windo". www.calyx-canterbury.fr. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  2. ^ Marsh, Peter. "BBC - Music - Review of Gary Windo - Anglo-American". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Saxophonist and Robert Wyatt collaborator Gary Windo biography published - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
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