Born and raised in a community ( New York ) known for producing the very best international artist
one of the finest saxophonist from the Big Apple has an unceasing hunger to bring the most soothing soulful sound to the saxophone realm .
Mainly studying under Bill Ellington ( Nephew of Duke Ellington ) and John Percel . Then moving on to a brief partnership with the music major program at Cheyney state collage in pennsylvania . Realizing his foundation was solidly formed Koran joined forces with friends he grew up with in the internationally known group " ATLANTIC STARR " 
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to complete his professional status .
Active with Atlantic Starr ( A&M records ) Koran also recorded with such well know names as THE TEMPTATIONS ,LONNIE LISTON SMITH and DR SUN RA as a section player as well as a soloist .
Later as time passed he began to find his range of expression . To further its width a temporary break away from the group was needed to connect with NORMAN CONNORS trumpeter DUKE JONES . Trumpeter Duke Jones an original member of the group before it became Atlantic Starr was in good form . Taking a very finely tuned group on tour to asia , Duke brought Koran on board for the trek to the east .
As well as experiencing a new culture ( Japan ) Koran `s prime directive was to learn and incorperate the Jazz form Be Bop into his already solid R&B skills .
Joining forces now within the asian music industry he could see the market was not as competitive as the american market. However , he quickly realized Japan has a selective amount of Artist on the same level as american artist . Without trying to search them out one of there best found him, in the form of the great Japanese blues artist MASAKI UEDA ( photo above ) . Being that Blues is so close to R&B the professional relationship between Masaki and himself quickly materialized into a longtime friendship . Working together as much as there individual schedules will permit them to .
Also Joining up with other Tokyo based Japanese star`s such as NANASE AIKAWA , OGURO MAKI , and LYRICO . Names unknown to the west but quite hot in the Asian music industry .
Experiencing the east with more vocabulary he rejoins forces with his old time friends ATLANTIC STARR when they bring there tour to asia.
Performing high profile concerts in Japan with the likes of BOBBY WATSON (original bassist from CHAKA KAHN ) , TOMMY CAMPBELL , PAUL JACKSON ( origianl bassist from HERBIE HANCOCK ) and others such as Jazz great STAN GILBERT and TOM PIERSON , pop artist such as SWING OUT SISTER , r&b artist JANET KAYE and DIANA KING and the Huge reggae household name SLY & ROBBIE ( photo below ) .
He hand picked a specially formed Smooth Jazz quartet to perform for the grand opening at the BILLBOARD LIVE in Tokyo and has graced other venues such as the OSAKA BLUE NOTE and the COTTON CLUB. in tokyo .
He takes a humble yet powerful position as a smooth saxophonist blending R&B and Be Bop Jazz together to win the hearts and souls of both the younger generation and the mature old school audience . As he musically lives by the familiar Duke Ellington phrase in one of his songs :
"It sure aint that thing if it aint got that swing" .
Mp3 `s below
