Alan Raph

Alan Raph was born in New York City to Marion McGuire and Ted Raph.New York, New York, Births, 1910-1965 Ancestry.com His maternal grandparents were Irish. His grandfather Mathew A. McGuire was born in Ballyhaunis, Mayo, Ireland.[https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBC/1891/3346/0222&parentid=GBC/1891/0023152355 1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census] His paternal grandparents were born in Russia and emigrated to the United States in 1893.[https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/31111_4330089-01178?pId=11315141 1910 United States Federal Census]. Hyde Park Town, Norfolk, Massachusetts. 16 April 1910. Enumeration District 112, Sheet 3 His paternal grandfather Nachman Raffiewitz (anglicized as Nathan Raph) was Jewish, from near Nezhin, Ukraine, Russia.[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6W2S-6GV?i=144&cc=1469062 Register of births, marriages, deaths, 1901-1905] His father Ted was a jazz trombonist in the 1920s and 1930s. Raph married Theresa Capp on October 5, 1957.'Marriage Licenses' The South Bend Tribune 8 Oct 1957, Page 27 and had two children. In 1978 he married musician Mary Ann O'Connor and had a child. {{citation| title=1959-77 Connecticut Marriage File|location= Hartford, Connecticut |publisher=Connecticut Department of Public Health}}{{cite web|title=Alan Raph interview 1 of 8| website=YouTube | date=5 September 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNY8IGzx5zc|accessdate=31 July 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://fishersisland.net/fi-school-music-students-receive-gift-instruments/|title=FI School Music Students Receive the Gift of Instruments|first=Jane|last=Ahrens|date=August 19, 2014}}

Raph died in a traffic incident on December 8, 2023, at the age of 90.{{Cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newstimes/name/alan-raph-obituary?id=53804454|title=Alan Raph Obituary (2023) - New Haven, CT - The News-Times|website=Legacy.com}}

Raph graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education. He then studied at Teachers College Columbia University where he received a Masters of Arts degree. He has studied privately with Nadia Boulanger, John Mehegan, Simon Karasick, and Gabriel Masson.{{cite news |last1=Fenster |first1=Jordan Nathaniel |title=CT jazz trombonist who played with some of music's best known names dies at 90 |url=https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/alan-raph-obituary-ct-jazz-music-18551881.php |website=CT Insider |access-date=2 January 2024 |date=16 December 2023}}

Raph was a professor at the Teachers College of Columbia University in New York City, as well as instructor and associate professor at Queens College of the City University of New York. He got his start in the 1955 when he was hired by Les Elgart, whose orchestra played dance band music.

Raph was a charter member of the American Symphony Orchestra for which he played the bass trombone. He was for many years the bass trombone and tuba player on first call with most New York City recording studios. He was the editor of the Arban Method for Trombone, originally written by Charles Randall and Simone Mantia, and re-published in 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.carlfischer.com/o23x-method-for-trombone.html|title=Method for Trombone|website=www.carlfischer.com}}Randall, Charles L., (Jean Baptist) Arban's Famous Method for Slide Trombone, Carl Fischer, New York, 1936 (reprinted as "Arban's Famous Method for Slide Trombone, Valve Trombone and Baritone" into the 21st century)

He performed under the direction of Leopold Stokowski with the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band and the Chamber Brass Players. As a freelance trombonist, Raph recorded albums with artists including Quincy Jones, Don Sebesky, Philip Glass, the NBC Opera Company, Eugene Ormandy, Paul Whiteman and his Palais Royale Orchestra, the Ballet Bolshoi Theatre, Diana Ross, Lena Horne and Mel Torme. He toured with Frankie Avalon to Bermuda.

Raph also recorded music for many movies and television shows including Sesame Street, The Cosby Show, Name That Tune, The Godfather, The Producers, Midnight Cowboy, Hamburger Hill, Bananas, Kundun, Fog of War, Secret Window, and Taking Lives.{{cite web|title=Alan Raph|url=https://www.kendormusic.com/store/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=474|website=Kendor Music Inc.|accessdate=1 August 2016|archive-date=16 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816172717/https://www.kendormusic.com/store/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=474|url-status=dead}}

He founded the Danbury Brass Band in 1983. The ensemble is composed of trumpets, cornets, French horns, trombones, euphoniums, and tubas. He composed and arranged many pieces for the band and continued as its music director and conductor until his death. {{cite web|title=The Palace Danbury|url=http://www.thepalacedanbury.com/index.php?view=details&id=13%3Adanbury_brass_band&option=com_eventlist|accessdate=1 August 2016}}{{cite news|title=Danbury Brass Band makes music Down Under|url=http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Danbury-Brass-Band-makes-music-Down-Under-71572.php|newspaper=The News-Times|accessdate=1 August 2016|date=September 15, 2004 |last1=Ct) |first1=News-Times }} The band has performed abroad in Australia, Bermuda, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.{{cite web |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~araph/ |title=Alan Raph |accessdate=September 23, 2016 |archive-date=January 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117030909/http://home.earthlink.net/~araph/ |url-status=dead }}

Raph composed for the Joffrey Ballet Company. He also arranged several songs for the Broadway musical Rockabye Hamlet (1976). He was a member of ASCAP.{{Cite news|url=http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Danbury-Brass-Band-parties-the-night-away-4275281.php|title=Danbury Brass Band parties the night away|website=NewsTimes| date=14 February 2013 |access-date=2016-05-02 |last1=Stribula |first1=Jan }}

Raph was known for his low range playing.{{cite web|title=Beyond Boundaries|url=http://www.ejazzlines.com/beyond-boundaries-by-alan-raph-and-dave-steinmeyer|accessdate=1 August 2016}} He was awarded the Most Valuable Player award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

• Variations on a Theme by Handel, for trombone and band
• Fantasy on a Theme by Purcell, for flute and band

• Trinity, premiered in 1970 by the Joffrey Ballet Company
• Sacred Grove on Mt. Tamalpais, premiered in 1971 by the Joffrey Ballet Company

• Burlesque, for trombone ensemble (ca. 1956, per the composer)

• Bel Canto Vocalises for Bass Trombone
• Beyond Boundaries
• Diversified Trombone Etudes
• Arban Trombone
• Melodious Etudes
• Recital Pieces for Unaccompanied Trombone
• The Double Valve Bass Trombone
• Trombonisms

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxRG3fbDPBs Alan Raph: trombone tips - warmups]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4QO5apEMTs Alan Raph: trombone tips - high notes]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn13Yl2LkjE Alan Raph: trombone tips - Bumble Bee]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNgZ1TK0h8Y Alan Raph: trombone tips - very low notes]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGxxw6gMRms Alan Raph: trombone tips - The Bartok glissando]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn3SC6R_zNo Alan Raph: trombone tips - staccato & legato]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11PpFZG-Dds Alan Raph: trombone tips - double (& triple) tonguing]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp8R1-AGqxs Alan Raph: trombone tips - Reading jazz notation]

• Dance Band Reading and Interpretation, Alfred Music Publishers, 2002. 44 p., {{ISBN|978-0-757-92625-9}}
• "Le" Trombone, AR Publishing Co., 1983. {{ISBN|978-0-9705815-0-1}}
• Trombonisms, Carl Fischer, Inc., 1983. {{ISBN|978-0825803420}}
• "Les" Brass, AR Publishing Co., 1984. {{ISBN|978-0970581518}}
• "L" Orchestra, AR Publishing Co., 1986. {{ISBN|978-0970581525}}

With J. J. Johnson

• Goodies (RCA Victor, 1965)

With Lee Konitz

• Chicago 'n All That Jazz (Groove Merchant, 1975)

With Gerry Mulligan

• Walk on the Water (DRG, 1980)
• The Concert Jazz Band

With Jerome Richardson

• Groove Merchant (Verve, 1968)

• Michael Cuscuna, Michel Ruppli: The Blue Note label : a discography, Revised and expanded edition, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001, 913 p.
• :de:Wolfgang Suppan, :de:Armin Suppan: Das Neue Lexikon des Blasmusikwesens, 4. Auflage, Freiburg-Tiengen, Blasmusikverlag Schulz GmbH, 1994, {{ISBN|3-923058-07-1}}
• Michel Ruppli, Ed Novitsky: The Mercury labels : a discography, Vol. V: record and artist indexes, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1993, 882 p.
• E. Ruth Anderson: Contemporary American composers - A biographical dictionary, Second edition, Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982, 578 p., {{ISBN|978-0-816-18223-7}}
• Jaques Cattell Press: ASCAP biographical dictionary of composers, authors and publishers, Fourth edition, New York: R. R. Bowker, 1980, 589 p., {{ISBN|0-835212-83-1}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://home.earthlink.net/~araph/ Official homepage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117030909/http://home.earthlink.net/~araph/ |date=2010-01-17 }}
• [http://www.trombone-usa.com/raph_alan_bio.htm Biography from Trombone Page of the World]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160509181629/http://www.conn-selmer.com/en-us/artist-information/centerstage/artist-roster/alan-raph/ Conn-Selmer Artist's Page]

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Category:1933 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:American jazz trombonists

Category:American male trombonists

Category:American jazz composers

Category:Musicians from New York City

Category:New York University alumni

Category:Teachers College, Columbia University alumni

Category:Teachers College, Columbia University faculty

Category:Jazz musicians from New York (state)

Category:21st-century trombonists

Category:American male jazz composers

Category:21st-century American male musicians