Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Williams was born Joseph Goreed on December 12, 1918 in Cordele, Georgia but was raised in Chicago from the age of four by his mother, grandmother and aunt. As a child he was greatly influenced by the rebellious sound of jazz from Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Cab Calloway, Big Joe Turner and many others of the 1920’s he would hear on the radio. By his early teens, he had already taught himself to play piano and had formed his own gospel vocal quartet, known as “The Jubilee Boys”, that sang at church functions.
During his mid-teens Williams began performing as a vocalist, singing solo at formal events with local bands. The most that he ever took home was five dollars a night, but that was enough to convince his family that he could make a living with his voice. So, at 16, he dropped out of school, created his stage name to “Williams” and began earnestly marketing himself to Chicago clubs and bands. His first job was singing with the band at Kitty Davis’s club during the evening for tips that would sometimes amount to $20.
Williams first real break came in 1938 when clarinetist Jimmy Noone invited him to sing with his band. Less than a year later, the young singer was earning a reputation at Chicago dance halls and on a national radio station that broadcast his voice across the nation. Soon he was touring the Midwest by 1939 and accompanying Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller, a year later toured with Coleman Hawkins. In 1942 Lionel Hampton hired Joe to fill-in for the regular vocalist for the orchestra, the Tic Toc Club in Boston and cross-country tours. By the time the relationship ended Williams was in great demand. Through the 40s he toured and made his first recording with Andy Kirk, which led to working with Red Saunders and recording for Okeh and Blue Lake Records.
He went on to sing with the Count Basie Orchestra from ’54 to 61 with his first recording “Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings” that hit #2 on the charts and sparked another LP, he won Down Beat magazine’s New Star Award and international critic’s Best New Male Singer and reader’s poll Best Male Band Singer. Through the end of the 50s the band was consistently touring Europe.
By the Sixties he was working a solo career with top-flight jazz musicians like Harry “Sweets” Edison, Clark Terry, George Shearing and Cannonball Adderley. He did all the variety shows from The Tonight Show to Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, Steve Allen and Mike Douglas. He gained further notoriety as the father-in-law on The Cosby Show.
Baritone Joe Williams continued to perform regularly at jazz festivals in the U.S. and aboard, as well as on the nightclub circuit. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 1983 next to Count Basie, sang Ellington’s Come Sunday at Basie’s funeral, performed the title track All of Me in the Steve Martin/Lily Tomlin vehicle, won two Grammy Awards and enjoyed a successful career, working regularly until his death of natural causes at age 80. He collapsed on the street a few blocks from his home on March 29, 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
McCoy Tyner was born Alfred McCoy Tyner on December 11, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the oldest of three children. He was encouraged to study piano by his mother. He began studying the piano at age 13 and within two years, music had become the focal point in his life. His early influences included Bud Powell, a Philadelphia neighbor.
Tyner’s first main exposure came with Benny Golson in 1960, being the first pianist in the Golson/Art Farmer legendary Jazztet. After departing the Jazztet, Tyner replaced Steve Kuhn in John Coltrane’s group the same year during its extended run at the Jazz Gallery. Coltrane had featured one of the McCoy’s compositions, “The Believer”, as early as 1958. He appeared on the saxophonist’s popular recording of “My Favorite Things” for Atlantic Records followed by Live at the Village Vanguard, Ballads, Live at Birdland, Crescent, A Love Supreme and The John Coltrane Quartet Plays on Impulse.
As a leader, Tyner recorded a number of highly influential albums in his own right during and post Coltrane tenure and as a sideman for many of the projects of Impulse and Blue Note. But by 1966, Tyner was rehearsing with a new trio and would now fully embark on his career as a leader. At Blue Note a string of albums were released such as The Real McCoy, Tender Moments, Sahara, Fly With The Wind and Time For Tyner, incorporating different configurations and instruments were utilized like flute, koto, string orchestra, percussion, and harpsichord along with African and Asian elements.
He currently records and has enlisted the talents of Avery Sharpe, Charnett Moffett, Eric Harland, Gerald Cannon, Gary Bartz, Eric Kamau Gravatt. Tyner still records and tours regularly though his schedule has been pared down due to his age.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ray Willis Nance was born on December 10, 1913 in Chicago, Illinois and as a child he studied piano, took violin lessons and was self-taught on trumpet. He led small groups from 1932-1937, then spent periods with the orchestras of Earl Hines and Horace Henderson through to 1940, however, he is best known for his long association with Duke Ellington through most of the 1940s and 1950s, after he was hired to replace Cootie Williams.
Shortly after joining the band, Nance was given the trumpet solo on the first recorded version of “Take The “A” Train” which became the Ellington theme, a major hit and jazz standard. Nance’s “A Train” solo is one of the most copied and admired trumpet solos in jazz history that even Williams upon his return to the some twenty years later would play Nance’s solo almost exactly as the original.
Ray was often featured on violin and was the only violin soloist ever featured in Ellington’s orchestra. He is also one of the well-known vocalists from the Ellington orchestra, having sung arguably the definitive version of “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing). It was Nance’s contribution to take the previously instrumental horn riff into the lead vocal, which constitute the now infamous, “Doo wha, doo wha, doo wha, doo wha, yeah!” The multi-talented trumpeter, violinist, vocalist and dancer earned him the nickname “Floorshow”.
He left the Ellington band in 1963 after having switched to and playing cornet alongside his predecessor Cootie Williams for a year. Over the course of his career he recorded a few albums as a leader and with Earl Hines, Rosemary Clooney and others. Ray Nance passed away on January 28, 1976 in New York City.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Byrd was born Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II on December 9, 1932 in Detroit, Michigan. He studied music and trumpet at Cass Technical High School, performing with Lionel Hampton prior to graduating. Joining the Air Force he played with the band, followed by matriculation through Wayne State University and the Manhattan School of Music.
He came to prominence while at the Manhattan School when he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers replacing Clifford Brown. By 1955 he was recording with Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron, left the Messengers a year later and performed with John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock and Thelonious Monk.
Byrd’s first full-time band was a quintet that he co-led from 1958-61 with Pepper Adams, an ensemble with hard driving performances as captured live on “At The Half Note Café”. In June 1964, Byrd jammed with jazz legend Eric Dolphy in Paris and throughout the rest of the decade and into the 70s was a leader and notable sidemen for Blue Note’s stable of jazz greats.
In the 1970s, Donald moved away from his previous hard-bop jazz base and began to record jazz-fusion, jazz-funk, soul-jazz, and rhythm and blues. Teaming up with the Mizell Brothers, he recorded Black Byrd in 1972 that subsequently became Blue Note’s highest selling album ever. Three subsequent big selling albums called “Street Lady”, Places and Spaces, and “Steppin’ Into Tomorrow” followed this. In 1973, he created the Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of his best students that scored several major hits including “Happy Music”, “Walking In Rhythm” and “Rock Creek Park”. Byrd is best remembered as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a pop artist.
Dr. Donald Byrd holds three master degrees, a law degree and a doctorate and has pursued a career as an educator teaching at Rutgers University, Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University and was named artist-in-residence at Delaware State University. The trumpeter passed away at the age of 80 in Teaneck, New Jersey on February 4, 2013 leaving a legacy of recordings that spanned the jazz idiom.
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The Jazz Voyager
Real Live Jazz at ABS: Gottesweg 135, Koln, Germany / Telephone: 00491726621022 / Contact: Patrik Becker. This restaurant, bar and club offers up mainstream, modern, contemporary, world and soul jazz as well as urban Americana and theme nights. Tributes are played by the young Cologne Jazz Scene and guests from the United States, Switzerland and more. Every Sunday at 7:30 pm – Admission is free.