Rebert Greene

Actor Lorne Greene enjoyed a brief recording career in the mid-'60s, when he was at the height of his popularity thanks to his role as Ben Cartwright on the long-running Western series "Bonanza". In the meantime, NBC, hoping to capitalize on the series' popularity, brought several cast members into the recording studio. Greene released his first album in 1963, and the following year he scored a surprise number one smash with "Ringo", a Western story song he narrated rather than sang. Greene charted a couple more times with 1965's "The Man" and 1966's "Waco", and released a total of five albums on RCA Victor from 1963 to 1966.

Saxophonist Chris Greene is the leader of this quartet which features Damian Espinosa on piano/keyboards, Mark Piane on double bass, and Tyrone Blair on drums/percussion. Merge is his 2009 album, featuring songs by Billy Strayhorn ("Lotus Blossom"), Madonna ("Borderline"), Black Eyed Peas ("Let's Get It Started)" and some originals, including a selection by pianist Espinosa. Single Malt Recordings gave us this treasure.

On 2020's While Looking Up, saxophonist Jimmy Greene offers more of his deeply spiritual and joyful post-bop jazz. The album arrives after Greene's two previous releases, 2014's Beautiful Life and 2017's Flowers: Beautiful Life, Vol. 2, both of which found him working through his grief over the death of his six-year-old daughter in the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012. While often emotionally heavy to listen to, those albums found Greene tapping into a deep well of love for his daughter and transforming his sadness into hope for the future.

Daniel E. Greene, N.A. is a former instructor of painting at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York. He is the author of "Pastel" that was in print for 25 years and "The Art of Pastel," which were published in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. In 1969, Mr. Greene was elected to the National Academy of Design.