Gerard Badini
b. 16 April 1931, Paris, France. After training as a classical singer, Badini began playing clarinet in 1950. He worked in his native France and in other parts of Europe in various traditional jazz bands, including those led by Michel Attenoux and Claude Bolling. By the end of the '50s he had switched to tenor saxophone. Through the '60s and on into the '70s he worked extensively both as leader of his own small groups, which included Swing Machine, and teamed with visiting Americans, notably Helen Humesand several ex-members of Duke Ellington's band. He lived in New York for several years at the end of the '70s, but returned to France in 1982. Two years later he formed an exciting big band which he named the Super Swing Machine. Badini plays with a gutsy driving style on up-tempo pieces but is at his best playing ballads, where his warm, breathy, emotion-packed tone is reminiscent of Ben Webster.