The Orion Saxophone Quartet was started in the year 1989 by Jeff Benedict and Charles Richard. Both were products a saxophone studio belonging to Harvey Pittel. This studio was situated at the University of Texas. Being ardent fans disciples of Pittel, they wanted to replicated the expansive rich voice of their boss-Pittel in their music. Therefore, they decided to settle in Los Angeles and formed a group to play good music. In their search, they got a perfect match from Adrian Adams and Ken Foerch who had proved a perfect match in music conceptualization and tone matching. Orion Quartet has the aspirations to explore a dynamic range of music as per the song writers’ intention and the trends of the times. However, they would also like to continue and fully exploit the expressive and tonal variation of the Adolphe Sax’s. Orion Saxophone Quartet for quite some time is showing a superb authority of the melodic line.
In their composition, Orion Saxophone Quartet is very focused and its main aim has been to produce a thrilling music without tampering the aim of the composer. They also made sure that their music was in harmony with the songs of the time. This means that they are vigilant not to be irrelevant. In their scope therefore, music is a not only entertain but educator.
Orion saxophone quartet is a stunning and attractively played program of saxophone quartet music. It ranges from elaborate records to the modern shades of blues. For the past four decades, Orion saxophone has been thrilling people with cool music with great vocal works done by Aichinger, Le Jeune and Palestrina. Arrangement of the vocals is done by William Schmidt. Also,Fred Henke is in charge of the and maps the keyboard terrain.
Orion saxophone quartet has four experienced members who are the force behind all its achievements. These members include Jeff Benedict, Charlie Richard, Adrian Williams and Ken Foerch. Jeff Benedict who is a founding member of this quartet has a doctorate in music from University of Texas where he was Harvey Pittel’s student. He has won several awards and also participated in several saxophone performances. He is a talented classical soloist who has championed new works in the saxophone world. He is a credited jazz performer and currently, he works as the director of Jazz studies as well as a saxophone instructor at California State University. Charlie Richard is another founder member is also another frequent performer in Los Angeles. He has appeared in several albums for instance; Dinah Shore, Kevin Mayes Big Band amongst several others. He is also a master graduate from the university of California State University where he studied saxophone with Harvey Pittel. Adrian Williams on unlike Jeff and Charlie joined them in 1994. He was Charlie Richard’s student at Riverside Community College. He has received several awards too from the Music Department (Riverside Community College) amongst others for his exceptional performance as a saxophonist. Lastly, Ken Foerch comes in as the last member and the most recent member of the group. He has a doctoral in music from the University of South California. He has vast experience in saxophone just like the rest.
References
UT Austin, College of Fine Arts: Harvery Pittel Retrieved 17 October 2010http://store.marooncreekmusic.com/orsaqu1.html
