Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Anthony Ocaña was born in the Dominican Republic on March 7, 1980 and from an early age discovered his love for music. At age 5 he started taking piano and violin lessons and by 12 he began playing the guitar. He studied at the National Conservatory of Music of the Dominican Republic, received a scholarship to study at Manhattanville College New York in 1998.
While in New York he worked with Elliot Magaziner, the Frank Sinatra Orchestra conductor, and received the “Senior Josephine Morgan Award” for his professional and academic achievements. In 1999 and 2001, he opened for Gonzalo Rubalcaba at the National Theater of the Dominican Republic; in 2001 Anthony recorded his first album titled “A Paso de Cebra” (Zebra’s Pace) and 2002 saw him moving to Madrid to further his study of composition and guitar.
By 2003 he was again at the National Theatre opening for Brazilian guitarist and pianist Egberto Gismonti, integrating percussion into his music. Ocaña has received several awards for composition, has performed over 50 concerts at all the major venues in Spain, in 2006 he released his self-titled sophomore project was released. He continues to perform all over the world playing concerts and festivals in conjunction with composing and recording.
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Jazz In Film
Inside Man is a 2006 film directed by Spike Lee and stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
The Story: From a cell, a man tells us he has planned the perfect bank robbery; he invites us to watch. An efficient gang enters a Manhattan bank, locks the doors, and takes hostages. They work deliberately, without haste. Detective vs. bank president vs. corruption charges vs. power broker vs. hidden agenda as they enter high-stakes negotiations.
The Music: Gold Digger by Kanye West samples Ray Charles’ I Got A Woman; Chaiyya Chaiyya – Bollywood Joint” written by A.R. Rahman, Gulzar, Panjabi MC and “Chaiyya Chaiyya” also written by A.R. Rahman, Gulzar with all Orchestral Arrangement by Terence Blanchard.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles Tolliver was born on March 6, 1942 in Jacksonville, Florida and while still a child received his first trumpet from his grandmother. He attended Howard University in the early Sixties as a pharmacy student, but when he decided to pursue music as a career he moved to New York City.
Coming to prominence in 1964, playing and recording on Jackie McLean’s Blue Note albums, seven years later he and Stanley Cowell founded Strata-East Records. The label was one of the pioneer jazz artist-owned and Tolliver released many albums and collaborations as a leader.
Following a long hiatus, he reemerged in the late 2000 decade, releasing two albums arranged for big band “With Love” that was nominated in 2007 for a Grammy award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble and “Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note” in 2009.
He has recorded with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Gary Bartz, Cecil McBee, Jimmy Hopps, Alvin Queen, Jon Faddis, Charles McPherson, Reggie Workman, John Hicks, Billy Harper, Robert Glasper, Max roach, Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner to name a few. Hard bop, post bop, modern big band, trumpeter Charles Tolliver continues to be a force in the jazz idiom.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wilbur Little was born on March 5, 1928 in Parmele, North Carolina and originally played piano but switched to bass after his military service. Steeped in the hard bop and post bop idioms, he moved to Washington, D.C. in 1949 and played with Sir Charles Thompson, Leo Parker, Margie Day and others. Little was also a member of a trio that supporting visiting jazz musicians like Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
Little’s wider recognition came when he joined J.J. Johnson’s trio from 1955 to 1958 and led to copious freelancing as a sideman with the Tommy Flanagan Trio, Sonny Stitt, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Kenny Burrell, And Clark Terry.
Never leading his own sessions, Wilbur recorded albums with Elvin Jones, Archie Shepp, Bobby Jaspar, Tommy Flanagan, Randy Weston, Dave McKenna, Horace Parlan and Al Haig. In his latter years he worked with Charles Tolliver, Clifford Jordan and Barry Harris.
By 1976 he was in Japan with Duke Jordan, then moved to the Netherlands in 1977, living there for the rest of his life until his passing in 1987 in Amsterdam.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Barbara Jean McNair was born on March 4, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois but grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. Studying music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, her big break came with a win on Arthur Godfrey’s TV show Talent Scouts, which led to bookings at San Francisco’s The Purple Onion and the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles.
She soon became one of the country’s most popular headliners and a guest on TV variety shows The Steve Allen Show, Hullabaloo, The Bell Telephone Hours and The Hollywood Palace. Recording for Coral, Signature, Motown and TEC Recording Studios labels, among her hits were “You’re Gonna Love My Baby” and “Bobby”. In the early 1960s, McNair made several musical shorts for Scopitone, a franchise of coin-operated machines that showed what were the forerunners of today’s music videos.
Translating her singing success to acting she appeared on such show as Dr. Kildare, The Eleventh Hour, I Spy, Mission: Impossible, Hogan’s Heroes and McMillan and Wife. He nude 1968 layout in Playboy produced an equally provocative sequence in the crime drama If He Hollers Let Him Go opposite Raymond St., Jacques. She followed this with a nun’s habit alongside Mary Tyler Moore for Change of Habit, and portrayed Sidney Poitiers wife in They Call Me Mr. Tibbs and The Organization.
McNair would also take on Broadway with The Body Beautiful in 1958, No Strings in 1962, and a revival of The Pajama Game in 1973. In 1969 she one of the first black women to host her own variety series The Barbara McNair Show, and for three seasons till 1972 spotlighted Tony Bennett, Sonny and Cher, The Righteous Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Freda Payne and many more.
With declining offers for acting, McNair continued her singing into her seventies touring occasionally until her passing on February 4, 2007 of throat cancer.
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