Born in Brockton, Massachusetts on July 12, 1920, Paul Gonsalvez was a jazz tenor saxophonist who has been credited as reviving Duke Ellington’s career in the 1950s. As a young boy, Gonsalves focused his attention on the guitar, playing folks songs for his family. He switched to tenor saxophone before his military service during World War II. After the war, he spent two years with Count Basie (1947-1949) and then spent a year with Dizzy Gillespie before joining Duke Ellington’s band in 1950. In 1956, during Ellington’s performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival, it was Gonzalvez’s 27 chorus solo in “Diminuendos and Crescendo in Blue” that garnered praise and plenty of attention, single-handedly revitalizing Ellington’s career. Gonsalvez then went on to record a series of albums under his own name including Cookin’ (1957), Cleopatra – Feelin’ Jazzy (1963), Encuentro (1968) and Humming Bird (1970) – alongside album with Tubby Hayes, Sonny Stitt, Harold Ashby, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, and, on his final album, Paul Quinichette. Just a few days before Duke Ellington’s death, Paul Gonzalvez passed away after a lifetime of alcohol and drug abuse on May 15, 1974.
