American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger, who won the 1955 “New Star Award” from DownBeat magazine and achieved worldwide recognition through his recordings with Clifford Brown. Geller worked in the bands of Louie Bellson and Benny Goodman, among others.
Geller joined the Billy May orchestra in 1952. He worked and recorded with Shorty Rogers, Maynard Ferguson, Bill Holman, Shelly Manne, Marty Paich, Barney Kessel, André Previn, Quincy Jones, Wardell Gray, Jack Sheldon and Chet Baker.
Geller recorded three LPs as a leader for Emarcy plus some with Dinah Washington, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Maynard Ferguson and Kenny Drew.
His wife Lorraine Geller (nee Walsh) died of an acute asthma attack in 1958. Deeply depressed, Herb Geller decided during a tour through Brazil with the Benny Goodman Orchestra not to return to the United States, but instead to stay in São Paulo for six weeks playing Bossa Nova music at a local club and then depart on a ship to Europe.
Arriving in Paris Geller played with Kenny Clarke, Kenny Drew, the French pianist Martial Solal, and Belgian guitarist René Thomas among others.
In 1962 he joined the big band of the Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) station in Berlin, and then played lead alto and also arranged for the big band of NDR in Hamburg for 28 years.
During his tenure at NDR, he learned and performed on other woodwind instruments, including clarinet, flute, alto flute, bass flute, piccolo flute, oboe and English horn.
He composed the music and lyrics to two musicals: Playing Jazz (a musical autobiography) and Jazzy Josie B. (based on the life of Josephine Baker).
Geller died of pneumonia in a hospital in Hamburg, Germany, aged 85, on 19 December 2013.
Link to Wikipedia biography