Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Auld was born John Altwerger on May 19, 1919 in Toronto, Canada but lived in the U.S. from the late 1920s. He was most noteworthy for his tenor saxophone work Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Al Porcino, Billy Eckstine, Tiny Kahn, Frank Rosolino and many others.
Primarily a swing saxophonist, he did many big band stints in his career, and led several big bands, including Georgie Auld and His Orchestra and Georgie Auld and His Hollywood All Stars. Auld also played some rock´n roll working for Alan Freed in 1959.
George can be heard playing sax on the 1968 Ella Fitzgerald album “30 by Ella” and in 1977 he played a bandleader in “New York, New York” starring Liza Minelli and Robert DeNiro and also acted as a technical consultant for the film. The tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader George Auld died in Palm Springs, California at the age of 71 on January 8, 1990.
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The Jazz Voyager
Troy’s Jazz Gallery: 4519 Olive Street, St. Louis, MO 63108 / Telehone: 314-932-1120 / Text: 314-314-6903 / troysjazzgallery.com
This upscale, classy yet casual venue features live jazz musicians, vocalist, poetry and select deejays. It is one of the city’sultimate destination for after dinner entertainment and good drinks. The club’s main focus is to showcase local jazz musicians by giving them a platform to perform the type of music that moves the artists. Seeking to offer an outlet for talented and explosive musicians to collaborate as well as an outlet for newcomers to prove their showmanship without limits while providing a quality experience for our patrons. Troy’s educates, promotes and encourages musicians to go beyond the written music and jam outside of the box, attracts serious music enthusiasts who keep chit chat to a minimum and is instituting a new tradition in St. Louis that will help create a new era of musical legends.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jim McNeely was on born May 18, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from the University of Illinois he moved to New York City in 1975. By ’78 he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, spending six years as a featured soloist.
In 1981 Jim joined Stan Getz’s quartet and for the next four years served as pianist/composer. The early part of the ‘90s he held the piano chair with the Phil Woods Quintet, and from 1996 to the present day McNeely holds the position as pianist/composer-in-residence for the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.
Jim has been the chief conductor for the Danish Radio Big Band in Copenhagen, Denmark, is currently artist-in-residence with the HR Big Band in Frankfurt, Germany and continues to appear as guest with many of Europe’s leading jazz orchestras such as The Metropole Orchestra in The Netherlands and The Stockholm Jazz Orchestra in Sweden.
The Grammy award winning jazz pianist, composer and arranger has recorded more than a dozen CDs under his own name, earning nine Grammy nominations between 1997 and 2006. In 2008, he was awarded a Grammy with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra for their album Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard.
Grammy-winning pianist Jim McNeely leads his own tentet, his own trio, and appears as soloist at concerts and festivals worldwide while serving on the faculties of The Manhattan School of Music, William Patterson University and is musical director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.
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From Broadway To 52nd Street
Sophisticated Ladies had a preview run of 15 shows beginning February 16th prior to its official opening at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre on March 1, 1981 and ran for 767 performances. Duke Ellington composed the music for the revue with a cast that included Gregory Hines, Judith Jamison, Phyllis Hyman, Hinton Battle, Gregg Burge and Mercer Ellington. Hines’ older brother Maurice joined the cast later in the run.
The score includes classic jazz tunes “Mood Indigo,” “Take The “A” Train, I’m Beginning To See The Light, Hit Me With A Hot Note and See Me Bounce, It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart, Old Man Blues, In A Sentimental Mood, Sophisticated Lady, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Satin Doll and I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good among numerous others.
Jazz History: In the 1980s the jazz community shrank dramatically and split. A mainly older audience retained an interest in traditional and straight-ahead jazz styles. Wynton Marsalis strove to create music within what he believed was the tradition, creating extensions of small and large forms initially pioneered by such artists as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. In the early part of the decade, a commercial form of jazz fusion called pop fusion or smooth jazz became successful and garnered significant radio airplay.
Smooth jazz received frequent airplay with more straight-ahead jazz in “Quiet Storm” time slots (a format begun at Howard University’s WHUR by host Melvin Lindsay) at radio stations in urban markets across the United States. This helped to establish or bolster the careers of Grover Washington, Jr., Kenny G, Kirk Whalum, Boney James and David Sanborn and vocalists including Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and Sade.
In this same time period “Echoes of an Era” was released by the sextet comprised of Chaka Khan (vocal), Joe Henderson (saxophone), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Chick Corea (piano), Stanley Clarke (bass) and Lenny White (drums). The quintet released another “Echoes” enlisting the vocal talents of Nancy Wilson. The quintet would also release two albums titled “The Griffith Park Collection”.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Betty Joplin was born on May 17th, in Jackson, Michigan. Her mother recognized her God-given talent when she was 3 and at the age of 4, she was being invited to sing and accompany herself on piano at various churches. By age 7, the church appointed her pianist for church services as well as for the church choir. She continued to do so until age 17 when she got married.
It wasn’t until 3 of her 4 children were teenagers that Betty started singing again. Joining a couple of her musician friends at a night club at Lake James, Indiana they coaxed her up onto the stage to do what she loved – sing and the audience loved her. There was such a demand for her that the owner of the nightclub offered her a weekend job and that was the beginning of her professional singing career.
Joplin has worked with Arthur Prysock, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Aretha Franklin, Larry Gray, Leon Joyce and Larry Fuller; has performed throughout the United States, Hawaii, Europe, Mexico, and Asia, was nominated for a Grammy for “Rockin’ Good Way”, recorded for Lake Street Records.
Vocalist Betty Joplin recorded “Blinded by Love” before forming her own label in 2002, formed her own quartet and recorded “Visions of the Moment”. She continues to perform, tour and record.
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