Doug Munro (born July 9, 1953) is an American musician, arranger, producer, composer, author, and educator specializing in jazz, bebop, Brazilian jazz, jazz fusion, and gypsy swing. Since 1986 he has released over fifteen albums as a band leader and has appeared on over 75 recordings as a guitarist, sideman, producer, and arranger.[1] He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and was the recipient of two NAIRD Awards by the American Association of Independent Music.[2]
In 1993 Munro founded the Purchase College Jazz Studies program and served as director from 1993–2002.[2] He is on a faculty member and Director Emeritus of the Jazz Studies program at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College.[2] He has written four books on jazz guitar improvisation techniques for Alfred Music, including Swing to Bebop.
His preferred guitars are the Gibson ES175 Herb Ellis model, Godin Multiac Nylon Duet, Dell'Arte Legend 503, Martin D-35, and the Fender Telecaster.[3]
Early life
Douglas Anthony Munro was born July 9, 1953, in Yonkers, New York. He started his musical studies at age seven, taking drum lessons. By age fourteen, he was playing dances in Yonkers and New York City.[4] At age 20, Munro broke his back in a gymnastics accident, which ended his career as a drummer. in 1977 at age 24, he underwent a successful back surgery, after which he began playing guitar as a way to pass the time during recovery.[3][5]
Career as a guitarist
After his recovery from spinal surgery, became a guitarist, performing locally and teaching guitar lessons.[3] In 1986 he released the LP Courageous Cats. The album included Marshall Toppo on bass and John Jones III on drums. In the late 1980s Munro met record producer Joe Ferry, and the two would have a professional relationship for over 25 years.[6]
In 1990 Joe Ferry introduced Munro to David Drozen, owner of Optimism Records. Optimism released Munro's album When Dolphins Fly, which was recorded with Bob Berg, Charles Blenzig, Joe Bonadio, Will Lee, Al Orlo, Ken Ross, and Marshall Toppo. Based on the success of the album, Munro received a contract to record a second album, Autumn in Blues, with Jeff Andrews, Rob Aries, Charles Blenzig, Joe Bonadio, Tony Cimorosi, Alex Foster, Adam Nussbaum, Lew Soloff, and Marshall Toppo. Optimism went out of business before releasing the album, resulting in a legal dispute over the master recordings. The album was released in 1993 by the Chase Music Group.[4] In 1995 Munro returned to his trio roots with the album Blue Lady.[7] The album featured Will Lee and Will Calhoun.
Munro divided his career into arranging, performing, teaching, and producing with friend and collaborator Joe Ferry. In 1999 he taught in a study abroad program sponsored by Purchase College.[2] in Burgos, Spain. He performed with flamenco guitarist Mariano Mangas. They toured Europe and recorded the album Jazz/Flamenco Guitars on the Purchase College label.[2]
In 2000 Munro recorded the first of two albums with his organ group II-V-I. The first album, Blueness, was recorded with Jerry Z, Mike Thompson, Alana Alexander, and Ken Gioffre. The second, Up Against It, featured Jerry Z and Jason Anderson. In 2004 he started a series of four Boogaloo recordings for Scufflin' Records. The first, Boogaloo to Beck[8] featured Lonnie Smith, David "Fathead" Newman, and Lafrae Olivia Sci.
In 2004 and 2007, respectively, Munro released two Brazilian jazz albums with his group Big Bossa Nova. The first, Big Boss Bossa Nova, featured Ray Vega, Javon Jackson; Richie Morales, and Michael Goetz. Big Boss Bossa Nova 2.0 featured Michael Goetz, Jason Devlin, and Jason Anderson. These would be the last two recordings Munro would do for Chase Music Group.
In 2010, following the appearance of Napster and the easy accessibility of recorded music, he formed his record label GotMusic. In 2010 he released Alone But Not Alone Vol. 1, an album of a solo guitar that used loops. During the next year, he released A Very Gypsy Christmas with his gypsy swing group La Pompe Attack featuring Cyrille Aimée, Howie Bujese, Michael Goetz, Ken Peplowski, and Ernesto Pugliese.
In 2014 he released the enhanced DVD Loop-Mania!, which included six original compositions performed and filmed live using loops. It also included a section where he breaks down what he is playing and how he is using the technology on each song. There are downloadable mp3's of the music and downloadable .pdf files of the charts for each song.
The fourth album on GotMusic was Doug Munro and La Pompe Attack: The Harry Warren Songbook.[6] This is a sixteen-track tribute Munro's great uncle, Harry Warren.[4] There are fourteen compositions by Warren and two by Munro. The album was recorded with Howard Alden, Vic Juris, Vinny Raniolo, Ted Gottsegen, Ernesto Pugliese, Andrei Matorin, Howie Bujese, Matt Dwonszyk, and Michael Goetz.
La Pompe Attack’s third recording is Putt Lake Toodleloo (Got Music Records, GMR-1005, copyright 2022). It contains 14 tracks, featuring Doug Munro on guitar and vocal, saxophonist Albert Rivera, guitarists Ben Wood, Ernie Pugliese, Ted Gottsegen, Vinny Raniolo, bassist Michael Goetz, and drummers Ian Carroll, and Jon Doty. [9]
In 1992 Munro co-produced and arranged a series of recordings for Shanachie Records called The Soul of R&B (Vol 1, 2, 3). The series culminated in a live album and film recorded at the Lonestar Roadhouse in New York City.[11] Musicians on the album included Cissy Houston, Chuck Jackson, Lani Groves, Johnny Kemp, Billy Vera, Cornell Dupree, Will Lee, Richard Tee, Dave Weckl, and the Uptown Horns.
In 1993 Munro and Ferry did two more tribute albums for Shanachie, People Get Ready: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield[12] and Back to the Streets: Celebrating the Music of Don Covay.[13]
From 1993–1995 Munro continued to work with Joe Ferry as co-producer and arranger for Bluesiana Hot Sauce,[14] and Bluesiana Hurricane[15] which was recorded with Ray Anderson, Joe Bonadio, Michael Brecker, Will Calhoun, Eddie Gómez, Paul Griffin, Chuck St. Troy, Toots Thielemans, and Allen Toussaint. The Bluesiana recordings were the last recordings co-produced and arranged by the Munro/Ferry duo and the last for Shanachie.
In 1994 Munro joined the ska band The Skatalites as co-producer and arranger for 1994's Hi-Bop Ska and 1996's Greetings from Skamania.[16][17] The albums were produced by Ferry and recorded by the original Skatalites, Lloyd Brevett, Lloyd Knibb, and Tommy McCook, with guest appearances by Nathan Breedlove, Prince Buster, Devon James, David Murray, Bill Smith, Steve Turre, and Bobby Watson. Both albums received Grammy nominations. Munro and Ferry co-wrote the song "Skalloween" from Greetings from Skamania.[16]
In 1997 Munro added orchestrations to the original motion picture soundtrack for the Muhammad Ali documentary When We Were Kings[1] which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film.
In 2002 he started a nearly ten-year collaboration with Vitamin Records.[18][19] The year also marked the start of a collaboration with producer and engineer Eric Helmuth. They worked on over 40 recording albums. Munro wrote string arrangements for over 300 songs on 34 different recordings for Vitamin Record's String Quartet Tribute albums. The first album was a tribute to Pink Floyd,[18] the last (34th) was a tribute to Star Wars. The prominent featured players were Dave Keen, Deborah Assael-Migliori, and Michael Goetz (bass). Munro wrote compositions for the recordings, sometimes collaborating with Joe Ferry.
Since 2010 Munro has done arranging for Vitamin Records.[18] He has also produced lessons for Just Jazz Guitar, Premier Guitar, and TrueFire.com.
Author and educator
Munro founded the jazz studies program in the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in 1993,[2] and served as the director of the program from 1993-2002.[2] He retired in 2019 as Professor Emeritus and Director Emeritus of the Jazz Studies program at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College.[2]
In addition to his career as a musician and educator, Munro has authored four books about jazz guitar technique, published by Alfred Music and he is the producer and director of an interactive guitar instructional DVD entitled Loop-Mania!
João Gilberto was a Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world, he was often called "father of bossa nova"; in his native Brazil, he was referred to as "O Mito".
Getz/Gilberto is an album by American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, featuring pianist and composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, who also composed many of the tracks. It was released in March 1964 by Verve Records. The album features the vocals of Astrud Gilberto on two tracks, "Garota de Ipanema" and "Corcovado". The artwork was done by artist Olga Albizu. Getz/Gilberto is a jazz and bossa nova album and includes tracks such as "Desafinado", "Corcovado", and "Garota de Ipanema". The last received a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and started Astrud Gilberto's career. "Doralice" and "Para Machucar Meu Coração" strengthened Gilberto's and Jobim's respect for the tradition of pre-bossa nova samba.
Jazz Samba is a bossa nova album by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd released by Verve Records in 1962. Jazz Samba signaled the beginning of the bossa nova craze in America. Stan Getz was the featured soloist and the tracks were arranged by Charlie Byrd, who had first heard bossa nova during a tour of Brazil in 1961.
Charlie Lee Byrd was an American jazz guitarist. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, he collaborated with Stan Getz on the album Jazz Samba, a recording which brought bossa nova into the mainstream of North American music.
Lisa Ono is a Brazilian Japanese bossa nova singer.
David "Fathead" Newman was an American jazz and rhythm-and-blues saxophonist, who made numerous recordings as a session musician and leader, but is best known for his work as a sideman on seminal 1950s and early 1960s recordings by Ray Charles.
Laurindo Almeida was a Brazilian guitarist and composer in classical, jazz, and Latin music. He and Bud Shank were pioneers in the creation of bossa nova. Almeida was the first guitarist to receive Grammy Awards for both classical and jazz performances. His discography encompasses more than a hundred recordings over five decades.
"Meditation" is a bossa nova and jazz standard song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Newton Mendonça. The English version has lyrics by Norman Gimbel. In Finland, the song was recorded in 1963 by Olavi Virta with lyrics by Sauki under the title "Hymy, flower and love". Erkki Liikanen recorded the song in 1967 with lyrics by Aarno Raninen under the title "Taas on hiljaisuus".
Charles Blenzig is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator.
Roberto Menescal is a Brazilian composer, record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and pioneer of bossa nova. In many of his songs there are references to the sea, including his best-known composition "O Barquinho". He is also known for work with Carlos Lyra, Nara Leão, Wanda Sá, Ale Vanzella, and many others. Menescal has performed in Latin music genres such as Música popular brasileira, bossa nova, and samba. He was nominated for a Latin Grammy for his work with his son's bossa group Bossacucanova in 2002 and received the 2013 Latin Recording Academy Special Awards in Las Vegas in November 2013.
Jean-Jacques "Babik" Reinhardt was a French guitarist and the younger son of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt by Django's second wife, Naguine. His elder half-brother Lousson, who was Django's son by his first wife, Bella, was also a guitarist, but the two grew up in different families and rarely met. He was christened Jean-Jacques but generally known by his family nickname, Babik.
Dr. Joe Ferry is an American record producer, author, bassist, guitarist and educator.
Bluesiana Triangle is an album by Art Blakey, as well as the name of the short-lived American jazz, blues and funk group that recorded it, consisting of Blakey (drums), Dr. John and David "Fathead" Newman.
Bossa Nova Bacchanal is an album by American saxophonist Charlie Rouse recorded in 1962 and released in 1963 on the Blue Note label. It was the only album Rouse recorded as a leader for Blue Note. The CD reissue includes a bonus track recorded in 1965.
Dorado Schmitt is a French guitarist and violinist in Gypsy jazz.
"Pensativa" is a bossa nova jazz standard by American pianist/composer/arranger Clare Fischer, first recorded in 1962 by a quintet under the joint leadership of Fischer and saxophonist Bud Shank, and released that year as part of an album entitled Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, comprising music in this style, as per its title, all of it arranged by Fischer, and, with the exception of Erroll Garner's "Misty", composed by him as well. In retrospect, this would prove to be just the first of countless forays by Fischer into various areas of Latin music. This particular song was one of the first, and almost certainly the most famous, of all the foreign-born - i.e. non-Brazilian - bossa novas. Its form, though extended (64 mm.), is standard A-A-B-A, with each section consisting of 16 measures instead of eight.
Big Band Bossa Nova is a 1962 album by saxophonist Stan Getz with the Gary McFarland Orchestra. The album was arranged and conducted by Gary McFarland and produced by Creed Taylor for Verve Records. This was Getz's second bossa nova album for Verve following Jazz Samba, his very successful collaboration with guitarist Charlie Byrd.
Bossa Nova Stories is the nineteenth studio album by Brazilian jazz artist Eliane Elias, released on 24 June 2008 by Blue Note Records. The album is a tribute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bossa nova music style.
Bossa Nova is an album by American jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger Shorty Rogers, released on the Reprise label in 1962.
Bluesiana II is an album by Bluesiana Triangle, led by pianist/vocalist Dr. John and saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, that recorded in 1991 and released on the Windham Hill label.
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