The All Birthdays Jazz Thread

[patricia]

Greenville NC was the birth place ON July 24, in 1921 of jazz pianist, BILLY TAYLOR.

When Billy was a teenager, he made frequent trips to Harlem, where he became acquainted with some of the great pianists in jazz, such as Art Tatum, Clarence Profit and a very young Thelonius Monk.

In the 1940s he moved to New York and began to work with Ben Webster, Dizzy Gillespie, Stuff Smith and many others.

In 1951 he led the house rhythm section at Birdland and followed that with his own trio all through the 1950s.

Although Billy was an excellent musician, he was probably better known as a writer, radio disc jockey, television musical director and educator.
He wrote a book, Jazz Piano in 1982, which was based on his radio series.
His list of music-related accomplishments is long and impressive. Two of them are:

> He was a committee member of the National Arts Council.

>Co-founder of the Jazzmobile organization, which provides free concerts in Harlem. He recorded a Jazzmobile All Stars album in 1989.

Billy is still active as a player and appeared in the UK for the very first time in 1997.

Billy Taylor's style has eerie echoes of that of Art Tatum, which is not surprising. He was informally tutored by Tatum at the beginning of his career.
There also are influences of Nat King Cole in his rhythmic approach.

Some have gently criticized Taylor's right-hand-lines as being overloaded. But, I tend to think of them as very impressive technically.
Taylor's close-voiced left hand inversions seem to have influenced such current players as Ahmad Jamal and many others.

A very interesting collection which you might want to look for is The Billy Taylor Trio With Candido [1954 Prestige]. I love this album, which is a wonderful pairing with the Cuban percussionist's flamboyant style. My favourite tracks on that album are a great version of Love For Sale and Mario Bauza's Mambo Inn. Check it out.

One of those Latin American combinations of fruit and booze in my glass, raised to the great BILLY TAYLOR!!

[the magnificent goldberg]

It’s Gloria Coleman’s birthday today. Don’t know how old she is; it doesn’t give the year in AMG. Anyway, happy birthday Auntie Gloria!

This is what Pete Fallico has to say about her.

http://www.doodlinlounge.com/Stories/Coleman.html

I was at this gig in Newark in late ’96. There was a lady playing electric piano; with a bass line that grabbed me. I thought, “this has GOT to be Gloria Coleman”, so I went up to her afterwards and asked.

And it was Gloria. She is a very straightforward, business-like lady, but spared me some time to talk. She seems pretty modest; surprised to find people who knew of her work. She talked about how pleased being recognised made her; Pete Fallico had had her on his radio show and surprised her by playing a record she was on that she thought no one would have known about.

She was playing a little Casio keyboard, which she tied onto a suitcase trailer to move about. That impressed me – no false airs to Gloria, just do what’s needed.

When you listen to her play, that’s what you get, too. She swings and wails. What more is needed?

Happy birthday Auntie Gloria!

MG

[the magnificent goldberg]

Ahmet Ertegun is 83 today. Happy birthday Ahmet!

To list the achievements of Atlantic records is impossible and silly.

Ahmet was my first hero. In 1959, at 15, I decided, as much by intuition as evidence, that I could rely on finding great records if I bought ones licensed from Atlantic, whether I knew anything else about them or not. So I started pre-release ordering Atlantic singles and discovered early soul music and Ray Charles.

I thought it was very counter-intuitive that a business should be capable of making records to suit me. I’d been anti-authoritarian since the age of seven and associated big business with that authority. I guessed that the proprietors of Atlantic were people like me - fans and record collectors. If I’d lived in New York, I’d have sat outside Atlantic’s front door until they gave me a job.

As it was, I let Ahmet, Nesuhi and Jerry Wexler educate me.

Happy birthday Ahmet! And many more of them.

MG

[duaneiac]

Today is the 80th birthday of STAN FREBERG!

He may not be a jazz musician, but on his recordings and radio show he collaborated quite often with Billy May, so that's close enough for jazz. So many of his works have become classics: "St. George and the DragonNet", "Day-0 (The Banana Boat Song)" (with the great beatnik musician, "It's too piercing, man! Too piercing!"), "Green Chri$tma$", "Tele-ee-veesion", "Elderly Man River (with the network censor enforcing the first political correctness causing Freberg to sing such lines as "He don't, er, doesn't plant 'taters, er, potatoes...he doesn't pick cotten, er, cotting...and them-these-those that plants them is soon forgotting"), "Yellow Rose of Texas", the Lawrence Welk parody "Wunnerful, Wunnerful" and his masterpiece, "Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America, Volume One". And folks of a certain age will recognize his TV/radio commercial work, such as the Contadina jingle "Who put eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?"

So, Happy 80th to a genuine giant in American comedy.

[the magnificent goldberg]

Originally Posted by duaneiac

Today is the 80th birthday of STAN FREBERG!

He may not be a jazz musician, but on his recordings and radio show he collaborated quite often with Billy May, so that's close enough for jazz. So many of his works have become classics: "St. George and the DragonNet", "Day-0 (The Banana Boat Song)" (with the great beatnik musician, "It's too piercing, man! Too piercing!"), "Green Chri$tma$", "Tele-ee-veesion", "Elderly Man River (with the network censor enforcing the first political correctness causing Freberg to sing such lines as "He don't, er, doesn't plant 'taters, er, potatoes...he doesn't pick cotten, er, cotting...and them-these-those that plants them is soon forgotting"), "Yellow Rose of Texas", the Lawrence Welk parody "Wunnerful, Wunnerful" and his masterpiece, "Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America, Volume One". And folks of a certain age will recognize his TV/radio commercial work, such as the Contadina jingle "Who put eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?"

So, Happy 80th to a genuine giant in American comedy.

I loved his stuff - "John and Marsha" "The old payola roll blues" Sh-boom".

Never realised he was still alive.

Thanks for the reminder, Duaniac.

MG

[the magnificent goldberg]

Arnett Cobb, one of the great Texas Tenors, was born on 10 August, 1918. He’d have been 88 today. Arnett had a difficult career.

Arnett was very much a follower of Illinois Jacquet and worked the Territory bands in the ‘30s, then took Illinois’ place in the steaming Lionel Hampton band in 1942, where he had to learn Jacquet’s solo for “Flyin’ home”. It was while with Hampton that he got a big, and deserved, reputation as one of the greatest honkers on tenor sax.

Arnett left Hamp in 1947 and recorded for Apollo leading his own small band. To judge from the recordings (available on Delmark), there wasn’t a lot of honking in this band, but a lot of very solid playing. After hospitalisation for a back problem in 1948, he got his band back together and continued working, recording for Columbia, then Atlantic. He also did a bit of work on the side with Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, as well as working as a studio musician on Atlantic’s R&B recordings.

In 1956, he was involved in a car smash, which crushed his legs. From then onwards, Arnett played on crutches. And this didn’t stop him! He got a contract with Prestige and produced a series of seven wonderful albums as a sole leader over the next two years. He then returned to Texas and worked regularly there during the sixties.

In the early seventies, like many another big toned tenor player, he became popular in Europe and visited many times, recording mostly for the French label Black & Blue, both as a leader and sideman for a wide variety of musicians and singers.

The late seventies saw a demand for Arnett’s kind of music back in the USA and he began recording for Progressive, and also took part in the great “Jazz at Sandy’s” sessions recorded by Muse. He also renewed his ties with Lionel Hampton and recorded several times with that band, in Europe and America. During this period, he continued to make the occasional record for Black & Blue. Recordings for Beehive, then Fantasy followed. His last recording was for the Italian company, Soul Note, in 1988.

He died in March 1989.

Arnett was a great, forthright, swinger. A man who always lets you know how he feels. And how he feels, despite the crutches, is vigorously joyful, unerringly funky and tenderly romantic. Straight stuff; the essential stuff of Soul Jazz.

MG

[Jazz Purist]

Lorez Alexandria was born Dolorez Turner on August 14, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. Lorez was born into a family of gospel music singers. She began singing gospel music with her family at various churches at the age of 15, then shortly thereafter, began her long career as a jazz songstress by singing at various nightclubs in Chicago.

Lorez was a great interpretor of lyrics and gave a soulful feeling to each song she sang, with subtle improvisation. With the release of several albums for King during 1957-1959, her popularity really began to grow. Not only among listeners, but among critics and musicians as well. In addition to the King label, her earlier recording sessions were for Argo and Impulse, while her later albums were for Discovery and Muse. It was the now legendary Impulse recording, "Lorez Alexandria The Great" which really put her on the map. Despite a long period away from the recording studio (only a few private recordings during the 1965-1976 period), Alexandria survived through the many changes in musical styles and could be heard in excellent form up until she retired in the mid-'90s. Not long after retiring, Alexandria suffered a stroke, and her health declined until her death in May 2001. Alexandria did not garner the exposure of Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan, but in my opinion, she was just as great.

Here's to the lady who possessed one of the greatest musical instruments the jazz world has ever known. Happy birthday to The Great, Lorez Alexandria. She would have been 77 years old today.

[patricia]

Today, August 23, in 1927 in Algiers, the pianist, composer MARTIAL SOLAL was born.
Solal was born of French parents, although it was widely believed that he was Algerian.
Settling in Paris is the late 1940s he worked with many of the expatriot musicians from the U.S. such as Kenny Clarke, Don Byas and he recorded with Sidney Bechet.

Solal started leading his own trio in 1959 and that trio included the fabulous drummer Daniel Humair.
He achieved an international reputation with his visit to New York in 1963 and at the Newport Festival. He also made international appearances as a solo act, as well as in a trio in Europe and from time to time in the U.S.

Marial Solal also led a big band in more recent decades and wrote much film music, including the soundtrack for Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless in 1959, one of my favourites.
The Jazzpar was awarded to him in 1999 and he performed in concert with the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra.

His daughter, Claudia Solal, who was born on March 30, 1971 recorded her first album in 1997.

But, what I find interesting about Martial Solal is his piano style. He at times sounds like Art Tatum, and at other times like Bill Evans.
His personality, according to his friends is either filled with a Gallic wit, or to those who are not his friends a frigid French intellectualism. You can't please everybody.
His quick musical creativity allows him to re-work and re-assemble song standards and make them totally his own. But his real genius lies in his own compositions, oddly haunting I find.

For an example, apart from the soundtrack I mentioned, perhaps check out The Vogue Recordings Vol 2 Trios and Solos[Vogue 1954 - 56]. I consider this collection to be the quintissential collection and its twelve solo standards are probably the most individualistic.

So, today raise a glass of something fresh and sparkley, even champagne, to honour the day that MARTIAL SOLAL was born.

[patricia]

And here we are at the end of August.
August 31, 1907 was the day that EDGAR SAMPSON was born in New York.
Sampson played both baritone and alto saxophone, as well as being a violinist, arranger and a composer.

He played with many New York bands, including Duke Ellington's in 1926, Fletcher Henderson's from 1931 to 1932 and Rex Stewart's in 1933.

Sampson went from there to leading the saxophone section and arranging for Chick Webb for three years, from 1933 to 1936. He was replaced by Louis Jordan when he went freelance, working for Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Red Norvo and many others.

His career took another turn in the forties when he did more regular playing.
Our guy then started writing and playing for the top Latin bands, such as Tito Puente's in the 1950s.

Then he led his own small group but was incapacitated by illness for several years before his death.

Although Sampson was an excellent player, his reputation was mostly based on his arranging and his light, delicate touch with the Webb band.
He was so well thought of by Goodman that Goodman used many of Sampson's charts for his band.

Sampson's work lives on with his compositions, Stompin' At The Savoy, Don't Be That Way, If [When] Dreams Come True, Lullaby In Rhythm,[co-written with Clarence Profit], and Blue Lou.

Check out the Chick Webb album, Rhythm Man to get an idea of Sampson's talent.
Sampson died on January 16, 1973.

Tipple of your choice to honour EDGAR SAMPSON.

[Saundra Hummer]

Originally Posted by patricia

And here we are at the end of August.
August 31, 1907 was the day that EDGAR SAMPSON was born in New York.
Sampson played both baritone and alto saxophone, as well as being a violinist, arranger and a composer.

He played with many New York bands, including Duke Ellington's in 1926, Fletcher Henderson's from 1931 to 1932 and Rex Stewart's in 1933.

Sampson went from there to leading the saxophone section and arranging for Chick Webb for three years, from 1933 to 1936. He was replaced by Louis Jordan when he went freelance, working for Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Red Norvo and many others.

His career took another turn in the forties when he did more regular playing.
Our guy then started writing and playing for the top Latin bands, such as Tito Puente's in the 1950s.

Then he led his own small group but was incapacitated by illness for several years before his death.

Although Sampson was an excellent player, his reputation was mostly based on his arranging and his light, delicate touch with the Webb band.
He was so well thought of by Goodman that Goodman used many of Sampson's charts for his band.

Sampson's work lives on with his compositions, Stompin' At The Savoy, Don't Be That Way, If [When] Dreams Come True, Lullaby In Rhythm,[co-written with Clarence Profit], and Blue Lou.

Check out the Chick Webb album, Rhythm Man to get an idea of Sampson's talent.
Sampson died on January 16, 1973.

Tipple of your choice to honour EDGAR SAMPSON.

Edgar Sampson's compositions alone have given him an immortality to envy.

[patricia]

I agree Saundra. Sampson was never a super-star, front-liner and I think that is his strength. I think of artists like him, talented in other ways including their ability with their instrument as the character actors of jazz. We don't always notice them, but they work all their lives and their work lives after them through other musicians.

.................................................. .

Today, September 1 was the day in 1933 that GENE HARRIS was born in Benton Harbour, Michigan. Harris plays piano and keyboards.

He started out as a self-taught boogie-woogie specialist, moving on to playing in an army band from 1951 to 1954.

He then formed a local group with a bassist, Andy Simpkins and a drummer, Bill Dowdy. This group became known in New York as the Three Sounds.
The group that Harris formed recorded prolifically for Blue Note and other labels from 1956 to 1974.

The group gradually changed their style to a more jazz-funk genre and Harris moved on play with Ray Brown in his trio in Boise Idaho in the 1980s.

Since his sojourn with Brown, Harris has recorded on his own and he led the Philip Morris Super Band, touring Europe and Japan between 1989 and 1991.
In 1991 he formed his own quartet. His band draws on his piano trio and on blues traditions and Harris is known as an effervescent performer.

Please look for his album, Gene Harris Trio Plus One[1985 Concord].
This is an interesting collection and is a renewal of a recording partnership with Stanley Turrentine. This coupling originated 25 years previous and the other personnel are Ray Brown and Mickey Roker, rockin' out at the Blue Note in New York.

A sparkley something in a glass, raised high to honour GENE HARRIS!!

[patricia]

Sept 6, 1877 was a momentous day in New Orleans. It was the day on which the legendary BUDDY [Charles Rich]BOLDEN was born.
Although there is no known recording of Bolden's skill on the cornet, just the mere mention of his name has become legend.

As Jelly Roll Morten described him, Bolden was the first-ever super-star jazz trumpeter with his shirt "busted open to the waist for all the girls to see that red flannel undervest" who used to parade the streets of New Orleans, playing his instrument, with five girls clinging to his arms. He was said to have played with a trumpet sound that could be heard fourteen miles away on a clear night.

Bolden was a colourful figure in New Orleans who was said to have run a scandal sheet, a barber shop and, as the story goes, went spectaculary loopy on a street parade.

However, it's difficult to know just how much of the history of Bolden is true. Like all legends, his story has taken on mythical proportions over the years.
But, the writer, Don Marquis did extensive research and debunked much of the showy biography of one of the most revered of the first jazz musicians.
According to Marquis, Bolden never ran a barbour shop, although his first bandleader, Charlie Galloway did and Bolder was often at the shop.
Bolden apparently worked as a part-time labourer and plasterer.
It's doubtful that any trumpet, even Bolden's, could have been heard for any more than a quarter mile, much less fourteen.

Bolden was raised at 2309 1st Street in New Orleans. This was the time of fabulous brass bands, street hawkers selling their wares, revival meetings, and of course, Ragtime! One of the most famous ragtime leaders of the time was the flamboyant John Robichaux.
Teaching Bolden to play cornet was Manuel Hall, who was a friend of his mother's.
Early in his career he played with Charlie Galloway's band, which was a small dance group and included Albert Glennie on string bass.
Before long, Bolden was leading the band. He kept Galloway on guitar and Frank Lewis on violin. In 1897 Willie Cornish was brought in, playing valve trombone.
This was the year, according to the legend, that the elusive cylinder was made, which has never been traced. Who knows, if it ever existed, where it is now?

So, we really have no way of knowing just how Buddy Bolden's cornet sounded.
Judging by the instruments available at the time, and the development of the art of improvisation, it's been suggested that his playing would have been primitive by today's standards. His creativity would most likely not have extended much beyond primitive, harmonically elementary expressions of what we now know as jazz.

However, Bolden's reputation as a charismatic, crowd-pleasing musical power and his personal charisma has extended to today. So, this was no slouch.

By 1900 Bolden was playing all over New Orleans, saloons, cabarets, dancehalls, even parks.
By 1904 he was known as King Bolden and was working all the time. He didn't dare relax, take a few days off, because there were young, eager players like Freddie Keppard and King Olliver, who collective hot breath he could almost feel on the back of his neck.

Unfortunately, Bolden had developed a giant drinking problem and was prone to bouts of not-so-charming eccentricity. Sadly, during the Labour Day parade in 1906 he was hauled away and it was said that he suffered from dementia. But, soon he was released and lived at home for another year.
Bolden never played again and his fortunes declined, to the point that he had to move his family into a rough area of the city and he took to drinking heavily. Bolden, during one of his heavy drinking bouts was reported in the paper as having attacked his wife and his mother-in-law. The police were called and off Bolden went, first to jail, then to Jackson Mental Institute in New Orleans.
Buddy spent 24 years in the Jackson facility and on November 4, 1931, he died there.

But, the Bolden legend endures, mostly because he had built up his reputation as a totally original, unique and colourful performer of the music which has evolved since to what we now know as JAZZ.

A mint julep my friends, to honour the memory of BUDDY BOLDEN!!

[the magnificent goldberg]

Thanks Patricia - a wonderful thing to write for us.

MG

[patricia]

Originally Posted by the magnificent goldberg

Thanks Patricia - a wonderful thing to write for us.

MG

You're welcome, MG. I certainly couldn't let Bolden's birthday go by and not write something about him. He has facinated me for years. That is mostly because his reputation as a giant in the evolution of jazz has been preserved for decades, clearly on the memory of his personal magnetism and on word-of-mouth, rather than evidenced by recordings of his work. As far as I know, he is unique in that aspect alone.

[Saundra Hummer]

Patricia's Quote "As Jelly Roll Morten described him, Bolden was the first-ever super-star jazz trumpeter with his shirt "busted open to the waist for all the girls to see that red flannel undervest" who used to parade the streets of New Orleans, playing his instrument, with five girls clinging to his arms. He was said to have played with a trumpet sound that could be heard fourteen miles away on a clear night.

Bolden was a colourful figure in New Orleans who was said to have run a scandal sheet, a barber shop and, as the story goes, went spectaculary loopy on a street parade.

However, it's difficult to know just how much of the history of Bolden is true. Like all legends, his story has taken on mythical proportions over the years.
But, the writer, Don Marquis did extensive research and debunked much of the showy biography of one of the most revered of the first jazz musicians.
According to Marquis, Bolden never ran a barbour shop, although his first bandleader, Charlie Galloway did and Bolder was often at the shop.
Bolden apparently worked as a part-time labourer and plasterer.
It's doubtful that any trumpet, even Bolden's, could have been heard for any more than a quarter mile, much less fourteen." from Patricia's post.

It's been said that without noise polution made by cars, airplanes, etc. that we could hear the noises things make much farther off than we do. Lewis & Clark's writings tell us they could hear the Pacific Ocean for miles and miles before ever coming near to it. Seems they said 75 miles off. So, it might be if the accoustics were right that he could be heard a long way off. 14 miles does seem impossible though. But??? Water carries sound, or seems to - like in a covered pool so maybe on a balmy, low cloudy day with little to no wind, perhaps he could be heard over long, what seemed like forever, distances.

Nice posts Patricia.