Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael White was born On May 24, 1933 in Houston, Texas and grew up in Oakland, California. He took up the violin when he was nine years old and not becoming known until 1965 when he played with the John Handy Quintet at the Monterey Jazz Festival. He would go on to record three albums with Handy.
White was among the first to play the violin in avant-garde jazz and by the late 1960s became one of the first jazz violinists to play jazz-rock fusion with his band Fourth Way. He has played with musicians such as Sun Ra, Prince Lasha, McCoy Tyner, Eric Dolphy, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Dorham, Joe Henderson, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Richard Davis. In early 2007, The Michael White Quintet’s “Mechanical Man” won in The 6th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Jazz Song.
Now living in Kobe, Japan, Michael has experienced a long period of obscurity. However, in the mid 1990s he was involved in a reunion of the Handy Quintet, and recorded an album as co-leader with Bill Frisell titled “Motion Picture” and in 2006 White released his ninth album “Voices”.
Violinist Michael White has recorded nine albums as a leader and nine as a sideman with John Coltrane, The Dead Science, Sonny Simmons, The Fourth Way and John Handy. He still records and performs.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rosemary Clooney was born on May 23, 1928 in Maysville, Kentucky. When she was fifteen, her parents split up and along with her sister, Betty remained with their father. In 1945, the Clooney sisters won a spot on Cincinnati, Ohio’s radio station WLW as singers. They sang in a duo for much of her early career. Clooney’s first recordings in 1946 were for Columbia Records. She sang with Tony Pastor’s big band. Clooney continued working with the Pastor band until 1949 when making her first as a solo artist a month later still for Columbia.
In 1951, her record of “Come On-a My House”, produced by Mitch Miller, became a hit. It was her first of many singles to hit the charts, despite the fact that Clooney hated the song passionately. She had been told by Columbia Records to record the song, and that she would be in violation of her contract if she did not do so.
Around 1952, Rosemary recorded several duets with Marlene Dietrich and by ’54 she was starring in the movie White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen. She went on to appear on radio and television, including her own half-hour show featuring the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.
Leaving Columbia Records in 1958 for MGM Records doing a number of recordings, then some for Coral Records. Her career languished in part due to depression and drug addiction in the early Sixties but she signed with RCA Victor until 1963, on to Reprise in ‘64, Dot Records in 1965 and moved to United Artist Records in ’66.
Clooney’s career revived in 1974, when she appeared with Bing Crosby on his 50th anniversary in show business. By 1977, she recorded an album a year for the Concord Jazz record label.
Throughout her career Rosemary Clooney continued to perform on radio, sing jingles for television commercials, guest starred on nighttime dramas, parodied on Saturday Night Live, received a Primetime Emmy nomination, collaborated with Barry Manilow, founded the Rosemary Clooney Music Festival, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and recorded until her death on June 29, 2002.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jackie Cain was born May 22, 1928 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By the time she was 18, the blonde and extremely attractive high school graduate decided she wanted to be a jazz singer. The year was 1946 when a friend took her to Chicago and introduced her to Roy Kral, a pianist and arranger who was going places. He took a good look at her, but according to legend wasn’t the least bit interested until he heard her sing.
Liking something about each other, they became a duo using their first names Jackie & Roy and became one of the most enduring combinations in jazz, beginning in the late ’40s when the team began interacting as fellow members of intriguing saxophonist Charlie Ventura’s band. The two continued working together, off and on, until Kral’s death from congestive heart failure at the age of 80 in 2002. The following year Jackie was still going strong, performing at an 85th birthday event for jazz pianist Marian McPartland.
The appeal of Jackie & Roy was about voices, but more accurately about voicings. The two vocalists, who became husband and wife in 1949, sang like twin songbirds but with ranges an octave apart. This blend would be effective in any singing style, but was uniquely suited to the style of jazz vocalese. Along with goofy singer Eddie Jefferson, Jackie & Roy were innovators in a type of jazz singing that is distinct from scat singing.
Her syllables or sheer vocal sounds along with a great sense of humor created enjoyable performances and funniest material. She recorded commercials for Plymouth, recorded Paul Simon and Donovan material, and by 1990 had appeared on over 50 recordings. She has also studied both flute and cello.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marc Ribot was born on May 21, 1954 in Newark, New Jersey and worked extensively as a session musician. His early sessions with Tom Waits helped define Waits new musical direction in 1985.
His own work has touched on many styles, including n wave, free jazz and Cuban music. Ribot’s first two albums featured The Rootless Cosmopolitans, followed by an album of works by Frantz Casseus and Arsenio Rodriguez. Further releases found him working in a variety of band and solo contexts including two albums with his self-described “dance band”, Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos.
His relatively limited technical facility is due to learning to play right-handed despite being left-handed. He currently performs and records with his group Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog. Marc’s studio work involves several tracks accompanying the legendary pianist McCoy Tyner’s “Guitars” project. He has performed and recorded with Jack McDuff, John Scofield, Wilson Pickett, Cibo Matto, Bela Fleck, Derek Trucks, Madeline Peyroux, Medeski Martin & Wood, Elton John and many others.
He has toured Europe with his band Sun Ship, had a biographical documentary film called the The Lost String and has also judged the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards to support indie careers in music. He has twenty-one albums as a leader, a filmography that includes five and a biographical documentary about him titled The Lost String. Guitarist Marc Ribot also plays banjo, trumpet, cornet and sings and continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ralph Peterson, Jr. was born on May 20, 1962 in Pleasantville, New Jersey into a family of drummers, having four uncles and a grandfather as drummers. He began on percussion at age three and was raised in Atlantic City where he played trumpet in high school and worked locally in funk groups. He applied to Livingston College Rutgers for drums but failed the percussion entrance exam and enrolled as a trumpeter instead.
In 1983 he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz messengers as the second drummer, playing with him for several years. He has worked with Terence Blanchard. Donald Harrison, Walter Davis, Tom Harrell, Out of the Blue, Branford Marsalis, David Murray, Craig Harris, James Spaulding, Roy Hargrove, Jon Faddis, Dewey Redman, George Colligan, Stanley Cowell, Mark Shim, Betty Carter, Charles Lloyd, Wynton Marsalis and many, many others.
After living in Canada for some time he returned to Philadelphia where he worked further with Fo’Tet and also recorded as Triangular Too with Uri Caine. He also led a group Hip Pocket with whom he played trumpet. He has recorded 15 albums as a leader and another six with Uri Caine and David Murray.
Drummer Ralph Peterson has taught at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, currently teaches at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and continues to perform, record and tour.
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