Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alphonse Mouzon was born November 21, 1948 of African-American, French and Blackfoot descent in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his first musical training at Bonds-Wilson High School and moved to New York City upon graduation. He studied drama and music at the City College of New York as well as medicine at Manhattan Medical School.
Mouzon continued receiving drum lessons from Bobby Thomas, the drummer for jazz pianist Billy Taylor. He played percussion in the Broadway show “Promises, Promises” and then went to work with McCoy Tyner. He ventured into jazz-fusion spending a year as a member of Weather Report but gained greater visibility during his tenure with guitarist Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House fusion band from 1973 to 1975. His power, style and speed helped propel the band to notoriety, producing such albums as Introducing the Eleventh House, Level One, Mind Transplant and Back Together Again.
From the early 70s into the Eighties he would record a series of R&B dance style albums for Blue Note Records with Tommy Bolin, Herbie Hancock, Lee Ritenour, Seawind Horns and Freddie Hubbard supporting as sidemen on the sessions. Staying predominately in jazz-fusion he would go on to perform with Miles Davis on the soundtrack to “Dingo”, composing the song “The Blue Spot” for the jazz club scene, appeared in the film That Thing You Do, played the lead role as “Miles” in the film The High Life, played “Ray” in the movie The Dukes, as well as appearances in the movie First Daughter.
Outside of jazz-fusion Mouzon has played with Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Patrick Moraz, Betty Davis, Chubby Checker, Robert Plant among others. He formed Tenacious Records in 1992 releasing his top 10 album The Survivor followed by several more that landed in the top twenty category. Drummer Alphonse Mouzon passed away on December 26, 2016 of Neuroendocrine Carcinoma, a rare form of cancer just two months after doctors discovered the severity of his illness. He was 68.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Braden was born November 20, 1963 in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He began playing tenor sax at age 13 and started playing professionally at 15. As a high school student he played in the McDonald’s All-American High School Jazz Band. He went on to attend Harvard University, studying engineering but played in the school’s jazz ensemble.
Braden moved to New York City in 1984, where he played with The Harper Brothers, Lonnie Smith and Betty Carter. In 1986 he toured with Wynton Marsalis and followed this with Out of the Blue, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, J. J. Johnson, Tom Harrell, Art Farmer and the Mingus Big Band.
Don has developed an extensive knowledge of every aspect of jazz performance and is an imaginative and soulful saxophonist. He has released 16 albums as a leader or co-leader, with his recording debut in 1991 with “The Time is Now”. His list of sidemen is extensive and includes Christian McBride, Joris Teepe, Benny Green, Julian Joseph, Kenny Werner, Darrell Grant, Carl Allen, Cecil Brooks III & Billy Hart, David “Fathead” Newman, Vincent Herring, Dave Liebman, Terell Stafford, Tom Harrell, Randy Brecker, Steve Turre, Conrad Herwig, Jack McDuff, Larry Goldings and Russell Malone among many others.
He spent four years as co-music supervisor/composer for Bill Cosby’s CBS sitcom, “Cosby”, co-wrote the theme song for Cosby’s CBS cartoon series, “Little Bill” and composed music for Nickelodeon’s “Fatherhood”. Braden is a passionate and highly experienced educator, having held the position of Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Montclair State University, served as Music Director of the Litchfield Jazz Camp, has been the Music Director of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Well’s Fargo Jazz for Teens program and a visiting professor in the “New York Comes to Groningen” program at the Prins Claus Conservatoire, in Groningen, Netherlands. He continues to educate, perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Matt Dusk was born Matthew-Aaron Dusk on November 19, 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and from an early age wanted to become a performer. At seven, he was accepted into St. Michael’s Choir School and for the next eleven years performed opera and classical music. It wasn’t until hearing Tony Bennett and Sarah Vaughan records at age 17 that he began to change his musical style and direction.
In 1998 Matt won the top spot in the Canadian National Exhibition Rising Star Competition, entered York University for economics but a year later change to music studying jazz theory and jazz vocal, graduating with honors in 2002.
Dusk recorded four independent CDs before his major record deal, making his mark on the MP3 web circuit. This was followed by a 2003 record deal with Decca Records, the next year played Las Vegas at the Golden Nugget, and became the house entertainer for the reality TV show Casino.
Matt has recorded with Capitol Records, worked with a 58-piece orchestra, is the first jazz artist in Japanese history to reach #1 on the pop radio charts, recorded the soundtrack for the TV series Call Me Fitz, and has shot a live DVD concert special with a 17-piece band and has six albums to his credit alongside his independent project. He currently performs, tours and records.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Cherry was born Donald Eugene Cherry on November 18, 1936 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His father, trumpeter and club owner moved the family to Watts in Los Angeles, California when he was four. He would skip high school at Fremont to play with the swing band at Jefferson High, resulting in his transfer to reform school at Jacob Riis, where he first met drummer Billy Higgins.
By the early 50s Cherry was playing with jazz musicians in Los Angeles, sometimes acting as pianist in Art Farmer’s group. While trumpeter Clifford Brown was in L. A. he would informally mentor him. He became well known in 1958 when he performed and recorded with Ornette Coleman quintet. He co-led The Avant-Garde session with John Coltrane replacing Coleman, toured with Sonny Rollins, joined the New York Contemporary Five and recorded with Albert Ayler and George Russell.
Don’s first recording as a leader was Complete Communion for Blue Note in 1965 with Ed Blackwell and Gato Barbieri. He would begin leaning toward funk/fusion and play sparse jazz during his Scandinavia years. He would go on to play with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Lou Reed, and Sun Ra, and then ventured into developing world fusion music incorporating Middle Eastern, African and Indian into his playing.
Cherry appeared on the Red Hot Organization’s compilation CD, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, played piano, pocket trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn and bugle. He recorded some two-dozen albums as a leader and some 48 as a sideman. Don Cherry died on October 19, 1995 at age 58 from liver cancer in Málaga, Spain.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Kennedy, Jr. on November 17, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was introduced to the violin by his grandfather. During his induction in the Army he performed with the Camp Lee Symphony Orchestra in Petersburg, Virginia. Returning home he cut his jazz teeth as a member of the Four Strings along with Ahmad Jamal, with Mary Lou Williams supervising their debut recording session.
Kennedy would go on to study and earn degrees at Carnegie Mellon, Virginia State College, Duquesne University. As an educator with the Richmond Public Schools he was the Instrumental Music Supervisor, Supervisor of Music and Supervisor of Secondary Arts and Humanities, Director of Jazz Studies at Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University developing “An Introduction to African American Music” at the latter.
Joe would be one of the first Blacks to become the Resident Violinist with the Richmond Symphony from 1963 – 1981, traveled abroad with the Benny Carter All-Stars and performed at numerous concerts and festivals throughout the United States, and Europe.
Kennedy performed and recorded several albums as a leader as well as with pianist Ahmad Jamal. He performed with Benny Carter, Toots Thielemans, Billy Taylor and the Modern Jazz Quartet among others. Violinist, composer, arranger and educator Joe Kennedy, Jr., recipient of the 2001 Legacy Award, passed away on April 17, 2004.
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