Artists
Althoug this web site is about Gary Sugal’s 3D printed mouthpieces none of it would be possible today without mentioning the generous support this writer recieved over the past three and half decades from literally hundreds of semi-professional and professional musicians.
Over the past three and half decades we have had the honor to meet and work with thousand of players who have played and endorsed our mouthpieces.
While the list is to long to mention in this post I feel obligated to say thank you to a small group of legendary musicians who were there when we first started in 1988.. Each one of the musicians belo has made my life long dream of making mouthpieces a success and the journey awesome .
Dave Liebman
Biography :
David Liebman was born in 1946 into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. As a child in 1949 he contracted polio. He began classical piano lessons at the age of nine and saxophone by twelve. His interest in jazz was sparked by seeing John Coltrane perform live in New York City clubs such as , the Village Vanguard and the Half Note he began to seriously devote himself to the full-time pursuit of being a jazz artist.
Awards and honors:
- 2013: Jazz Educators Network (JEN) Legends of Jazz
- 2011: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Masters of Jazz
- 2011: First place Soprano Sax category Jazz Times and Downbeat Critics’s Poll
- 2011: DL Group – Best Live Performance All About Jazz and NY Jazz
Kirk Whalum
Biography:
Kirk Whalum was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Melrose High School and Texas Southern University, where he was a member of the renowned Ocean of Soul Marching Band. In addition to singing in his father’s church choir, Whalum learned to love music from his grandmother, Thelma Twigg Whalum, a piano teacher, and two uncles, Wendell Whalum and Hugh “Peanuts” Whalum, who performed with jazz bands around the country. He told John H. Johnson‘s magazine Ebony Man in a 1994 profile, “The music I like to play and write encompasses the four elements I grew up with: Memphis R&B, gospel, rock, and jazz. The emphasis, though, is on melody, period.”[1]
In 1986, he performed at Jean Michel Jarre‘s giant concerts Rendez-Vous Houston and Rendez-Vous Lyon. At each concert, he performed the track “Last Rendez-Vous,” also known as “Ron’s Piece,” in place of Jarre and Whalum’s mutual friend, saxophonist and astronaut Ron McNair, who died in the Challenger disaster.
Awards and honors:
Whalum recorded a duet with R&B singer, Jevetta Steele called “Love Is A Losing Game” in 1993.
Whalum has worked on a number of film scores, including for The Prince of Tides, Boyz n the Hood, The Bodyguard, Grand Canyon, and Cousins (film).
In 2005 Whalum recorded the Babyface Songbook (2005) with R&B icon Babyface‘s best songs of the past 15 years, including “Exhale (Shoop Shoop),” “I’ll Make Love to You,” “When Can I See You,” and others. Joining in the intimate and stylish proceedings are other smooth jazz notables, including trumpeter Rick Braun, soprano saxophone player Dave Koz, and guitarists Norman Brown and Chuck Loeb among others. That same year, he also performed a cover “Any Love” on the album Forever, For Always, For Luther, which included other smooth jazz greats, like the aforementioned Dave Koz, bassist Marcus Miller, tenor saxophonist Richard Elliot and alto saxophonist Mindi Abair covering
NOTE:
While attending Berklee College of Music Gary Sugal studied with Jerry Bergonzi and became close friends.
Jerry helped visited the Sugal factory more than a dozen times and helped designe the very first Sugal CNC metal mouthpiece. He was responsible for converting critical measurements from inches to gcode. and created many of tables (facings) -interior chambers used today in the Sugal mouthpiece line .
The SUPER GONZ model was named after Jerry’s cat called the “GONZ” .. the rest is history.
Jerry Bergonzi
Biography :
Bergonzi first gained recognition as he became a frequent guest-artist on several Dave Brubeck ensemble tours and recordings during the 1970s, and he held the saxophone chair in the Dave Brubeck quartet from 1979 – 1982.[3] He recorded nine albums with Brubeck, from 1973 to 1981.[4]
Bergonzi teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.[1]
He is the author of Inside Improvisation, a multi-volume series of instructional books with play-along CDs and videos, and another series of books about improvisation published by Advance Music. He is also the author of the book/CD set Sound Advice, published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz.
He has recorded on the Blue Note, Red, Not Fat, Concord, Atlantic, Label Bleu, Enja, Columbia, Deux Z, Denon, Canyon, Cadence, Musidisc, Ram, Ninety One, Freelance and Savant recording labels.[2] He has recorded extensively for Double-Time Records.
Awards and honors:
Bergonzi is also a professional level pianist and bass guitarist.
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Mark Rivera
Biography :
Rivera’s first national exposure came with the band Tycoon in the mid 1970s. From this venture he met the legendary producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Lange, as part of an association with Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, introduced Rivera to the “big leagues” of rock music, recording and performing.
Over the years, Rivera has worked with Hall & Oates, Tycoon, Peter Gabriel on his groundbreaking So album – where Rivera played on “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time”, Simon & Garfunkel, John Lennon, Billy Ocean, and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh.
Awards and honors:
Rivera has played with Billy Joel and his band since 1982, replacing Richie Cannata.
In 1995, Rivera joined Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, with which he would continue for several tours.
In 2014, Rivera released his first solo album, Common Bond, which includes appearances by Joel, Starr, Nils Lofgren and Steve Lukather. The song “Money Money Money” was a finalist for 2014’s Coolest Song in the World on Little Steven’s Underground Garage.
Euge Grove
Biography:
Born Steven Eugene Grove in 1962 in Hagerstown, Maryland, he began playing piano in the second grade and turned to the saxophone around age nine. His teacher gave him a classical education on the instrument, which he continued at the University of Miami’s School of Music, where he became interested in jazz. Upon graduation, he remained in Miami doing sessions and playing in bands such as Expose, where he can be heard on the group’s 1987 number one single “Seasons Change.”
Awards and honors:
Euge Groove’s best-known solo hits include “Sneak a Peek,” “Slam Dunk,” “Rewind,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” “Livin’ Large” and “XXL.” His most recent hits include “Get ‘Em Going”, “Chillaxin’, and “S7ven Large”. Albums include: S7ven Large (2011), Born 2 Groove (2006), Livin’ Large (2004) and Play Date (2002).
He has recently released another album, titled “Sunday Morning.” In 2008 he went on tour with Tina Turner.
Gerald Albright on a KW II
Biography :
Born in Los Angeles, Albright grew up in its South central neighborhood. He began piano lessons at an early age, although he professed no interest in the instrument. His love of music picked up when he was given a saxophone that belonged to his piano teacher. It further reinforced when he attended . Locke High school After high school, he attended the Univercity of red lands where he received a degree in business management with a minor concentration on music. He switched to bass guitar after he saw Louis johnson in concert.
Awards and honors:
- Best R&B Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist)- Nominated
- Best R&B Instrumental Performance-Nominated.
- Albright plays a signature series model of saxophone made by cannonball musical Of the two necks that are furnished with the Cannonball saxophones, he usually uses the “Fat Neck” with the octave vent tube on the bottom of the neck, a design similar to some vintage Conn 6M models.
