Bio
Kent Engelhardt holds a BM and MM from Youngstown State University and a MA and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the Society for Ethnomusicology, and Jazz Education Network. Kent is an active performer, composer, arranger, editor, scholar, author, and educator. His Charlie Parker research, including two books, is published by VDM, Oxford University Press, and the IAJE. He can be heard on recordings by his group Madd For Tadd, Paul Ferguson Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and Blossom Festival Band. Kent is a Conn-Selmer Artist.
Kent was awarded YSU Research Professorships in 2011-2012 for “The ‘Head’ Arrangements of the Count Basie Orchestra 1937-1939,” in 2012-2013 for “Musical Contextualization of Charlie Parker’s Solos with The Jay McShann Orchestra,” and CCAC re-assigned time in 2013-2014 for “The Music of Tadd Dameron for Harlan Leonard and his Rockets.” Kent received a Research Professorship for 2016-2017 for “Tadd Dameron: The Magic Touch” which was completed for the centennial of Tadd Dameron’s birth in Cleveland and performed at the TRI-C Jazz Fest. “Tadd Dameron: The Magic Continues” was recorded by Madd For Taddä on Tighten Up
Records and can be heard on most internet music services. The double CD “Madd For Tadd: Central Avenue Swing & Our Delight” was released in January 2023 on Tighten Up Records and contains 22 of Kent’s new editions and arrangements of Tadd Dameron’s music. Liner notes were contributed by jazz journalist, author, broadcaster, artistic director of the DC Jazz Fest, and former artistic director of the TRI-C Jazz Fest Willard Jenkins. In all, Kent has created 47 critical editions and arrangements of Dameron’s music, and he has plans to create even more. In all, Kent has created 47 critical editions and arrangements of Dameron’s music. In the near future, he plans to seven addition Dameron compositions and several originals to the group’s repertoire. Madd For Taddä has performed at the TRI-C Jazz Fest, the Kaleidoscope Festival at Slippery Rock University, the Lakeland Jazz Festival, Cleveland’s Bop Stop, and BLU-Jazz. Recently, Kent performed the music of Tadd Dameron with the Orlando Jazz Orchestra and at the University of South Florida.
Research Interests
Kansas City Jazz, Charlie Parker, Tadd Dameron, Jazz Composition, Jazz Arranging, Performance, Improvisation, Ensemble Leadership, Music Production
Teaching Interests
Jazz Studies: Improvisation, Composition/Arranging, Ethnomusicology, Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Piano, Ensemble Leadership, Musical Theater
-
Education
-
2001
Ph D, Ethnomusicology/Jazz
University of Pittsburgh
-
2001
-
1999
MA, Ethnomusicology/Jazz
University of Pittsburgh
-
1999
-
1993
Other, Performance/Clarinet
Youngstown State University
-
1993
-
1986
Other, Performance/Jazz
Youngstown State University
-
1986
-
Awards and Honors
-
2024
The New York City Jazz Review
Review
Central Avenue Swing & Our Delight (The Music of Tadd Dameron)Madd For Tadd (Tighten Up)
by George Kanzler
In honor of Tadd Dameron’s centennial in 2017, Kent Engelhardt and Steve Enos put together a big band, Madd for Tadd, in Dameron’s hometown of Cleveland, OH, and gave a concert later released in 2018 on the album The Magic Continues. Now, a two- disc release is a continuation of their exploration and reclamation of Dameron’s music, including pieces written for bebop combos repurposed and adapted for big band. according to Engelhardt, who wrote or adapted all the arrangements, Dameron “had a profound gift of melody, like George Gershwin and Duke Ellington. He created melodies that instantly stuck, and his harmonic inventions brought colors to the music that just hadn’t been heard before, foreshadowing what was to come.” Engelhardt, inspired by Dameron’s work, expanded and enhanced them in exhilarating charts that inspired sparkling solos.
The two discs reflect very different aspects of Dameron’s career. The first, Central Avenue Swing, features engelhardt’s adaptations of nine tunes Dameron wrote and arranged in 1940 for the Kansas City band Harlan Leonard & His rockets. The title tune is an Engelhardt original. “Heaven’s Doors are Open Wide”, a song Dameron wrote for Kay Penton to sing with Miles Davis in 1949, is also included. Dameron’s 1940 pieces, especially swingers such as “Dameron Stomp”, “400 Swing” and “Rock and Ride”, rival the best of more well-known Swing era bands including the likes of Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie and Benny Goodman. Two ballads, the tenor saxophone-led “A La bridges” and the baritone saxophone-led “My Dream”, reveal an audible Ellingtonian flare. (The former, memorably limned by tenor saxophonist Mike Tomaro, also echoes the standard “Memories of you”.)
Our Delight places Engelhardt and Enos’ band squarely in the pantheon of ensembles like John Beasley’s MONK’estra and the many iterations of Charles Mingus tribute bands, as musicians who engage in cross-generational ferment and collaboration. Madd for Tadd expands and reimagines Dameron’s bebop combo for jazz big band in exciting ways. Enos steps out on two tracks originally written for trumpeter Blue Mitchell’s combo sessions: “A Blue Time” and “Smooth as the Wind”. On the former, his open horn is wrapped in singing high saxophone passages; on the latter his tightly muted horn duels with ensemble shout interludes. Dameron charts for John Coltrane are expanded with worthy orchestrations, Engelhardt stepping out of his lead alto role to solo on “Soultrane” and “Handy andy (Gnid)”. “Mating Call” is turned into an anthemic, afro-Latin-inflected romp with bravura solos from both trombonist Michael Dease and tenor saxophonist Dave Kana.
These two discs make for a stirring introduction to (or reminder of) the importance of the jazz contributions of Tadd Dameron, born 107 years ago this month (and passing away almost six decades ago. He was only 48).
For more info visit maddfortadd.com
-
2023
Rick Anderson
CD Hotlist New Releases for Libraries
-
2023
Scott Yanow on Facebook
Top 25 Jazz Recordings of 2023
-
2023
Cadence Magazine: The International Journal for Jazz
Top 10 Critics Poll in Cadence Magazine
-
2023
Madd For Tadd
Reviews of Central Avenue Swing and Our Delight recording
Mark Myers – Jazz Wax August 2023
Scott Yanow – LA Jazz Scene October 2023
Jack Bowers – All About Jazz Review – September 2023
Jim Hynes - Making A Scene Review August 2023
Joe Lang – Jersey Jazz Magazine September 2023 – New Jersey Jazz Society
Steven Cerra – JazzProfiles Blogspot Review September 2023
George Harris - Jazz Weekly November 2023
Rick Anderson – CD Hotlist New Releases for Libraries – October 2023
Tom Hull – Best Jazz Albums of 2023 - Honorable Mention November 2023
-
Professional Positions
-
2017 - 2023
Madd For Tadd
Transcriber/Editor/Composer/Arranger/Performer/Soloist/Co-Leader/Producer
-
2003 - 2005
IAJE
Vice President
-
1997 - 1999
Youngstown State University Summer Jazz Camp
Instructor
-
1994 - 2023
Youngstown State University
Faculty
-
1993 - 1994
Cleveland School of the Arts
Instructor
-
1993 - 1993
Lakeland Community College
Instructor
-
1991 - 2011
Cleveland Jazz Orchestra
section leader, saxophone, clarinet, flute, piccolo, arranger
-
1986 - 1991
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra conducted by Buddy Morrow
saxophone, clarinet, flute, arranger
-
1986 - 2023
Freelance Musical Activities
saxophones, clarinets, flutes, piccolo
