Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edgar Melvin Sampson, born October 31, 1907 in New York City, he started playing violin at the age of six and picked up the saxophone in high school. He started his professional career in 1924 with a violin-piano duo with Joe Colman and through the rest of the 1920s and early ’30s, he played with many bands, including those of Charlie “Fess” Johnson, Duke Ellington, Rex Stewart and Fletcher Henderson.
1933 saw him joining Chick Webb’s band. It was during his tenure with Webb that he created his most enduring work as a composer, writing Stompin’ at the Savoy and “Don’t Be That Way“. Leaving the Webb band in 1936 with a reputation as a composer and arranger, he was able to freelance with Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Red Norvo, Teddy Hill, Teddy Wilson, and Chick Webb.
Becoming a student of the Schillinger System in the early 1940s, Edgar continued to play saxophone through the late ’40s and led his own band from 1949 to 1951. Through the Fifties, he worked as an arranger for Latin performers Marcelino Guerra, Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente.
He recorded one album under his own name, Swing Softly Sweet Sampson, in 1956. Due to illness, he stopped working by the late 1960s. Saxophonist, violinist, composer, arranger Edgar Sampson passed away on January 16, 1973 at the age of 65 in Englewood, New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Jones was born on October 30, 1928 in Louisville, Kentucky and played drums as a child, starting on clarinet at age 8. His father encouraged him to explore jazz and
From 1949 into the mid-1950s he played with Ray McKinley, and then with Hal McIntyre before rejoining McKinley later in the decade. During a stint in the Army, he met Nat and Cannonball Adderley as well as Junior Mance. After getting his discharge, he played country music and rock & roll as a studio musician and did time with Boots Randolph and Glenn Miller before returning again with McKinley from 1959 to 1963.
Briefly playing with Woody Herman and Jack Teagarden in 1963, after the latter’s death, Bobby retired to Louisville and started a local jazz council and taught at Kentucky State College. In 1969 he moved to New York City and from 1970 to 1972 played with Charles Mingus, touring Europe and Japan with him. He also recorded sessions under his own name in 1972 and 1974.
Late in life saw him moving to Munich, Germany, where he ceased performing due to emphysema. Over the course of his career, he only recorded two albums as a leader, 15 as a sideman ~ 8 with Mingus and seven with Bill Cosby, Glen Miller, Woody Herman, Jimmy Raney, Willie Thomas and Bunky Green. Saxophonist Bobby Jones passed away on March 6, 1980 in Munich, Germany.
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Conversations About Jazz & Other Distractions
Conversations About Jazz Features
The Vocalists on October 29
Hammonds House Digital invites you to join us for Conversations about Jazz & Other Distractions hosted by former jazz radio host and founder of Notorious Jazz, Carl Anthony. Every other Thursday, Carl takes audiences on a unique journey through the world of jazz music with artist talks, workshops, and listening sessions.
On October 29 at 7:30 pm (EST), Conversations about Jazz features some of the world’s most talented jazz vocalists. Carl’s guests will be Carmen Bradford, Kathleen Bertrand, & Lenora Zenzalai Helm. This program is for the jazz novice and jazz head alike. It is free, and will stream live on Hammonds House Museum’s Facebook and YouTube.
2019 Grammy Nominee, Carmen Bradford, was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Altadena, California. She is jazz royalty being the daughter of legendary coronetist/composer Bobby Bradford and world-renowned jazz vocalist/composer/author Melba Joyce. Her grandfather Melvin Moore sang with Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band in the 1940’s and with the Ink Spots, making Bradford the third generation of incredible musicians. At the age of 22, she was discovered and hired by William “Count” Basie and became the featured vocalist in the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. She has since performed and/or recorded with artists and musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Nancy Wilson, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, James Brown, and Frank Sinatra. Most recently she was featured on the 2019 “All About Basie” album, along with Stevie Wonder, Kurt Elling and Wycliff Gordon. Currently Bradford is a Roots, Jazz, and American Music faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. More info HERE.
Multifaceted recording artist and writer Kathleen Bertrand is a native Atlantan and Spelman College graduate, whose performances have ranged from two Olympic Games to performances before two presidents, as well as appearances at jazz festivals world-wide. Bertrand toured and recorded as vocalist with jazz vibraphonist Roy Ayers. This three-octave vocal artist has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on three occasions and has made multiple appearances at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, including as headliner in 2012. She has opened for many of America’s finest artists, including Ray Charles, Will Downing, Rachelle Ferrell, Najee, Roy Ayers, and Kenny G. Her fan base includes radio and internet listeners across the globe. Bertrand’s most recent CD, 2017’s It’s Time To Love, has received international airplay. More details HERE.
Throughout her 30+-year span of musical achievements as a Jazz Vocal Musician specializing in classic, traditional standard jazz, Lenora Zenzalai Helm has toured, recorded, and performed with renowned artists around the world. A 2018 inaugural Javett International Scholar in Jazz for the University of Pretoria, she has also earned recognition as a quarter-finalist for the Grammy Music Educator of the Year Award, a Salzburg Global Citizenship Fellow, a UNC Global Educator Fellow, a Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, and is the former US Jazz Ambassador under the State Department and Kennedy Center. She is jazz clinician and vocal musicianship coach, with six solo recordings, including her latest CD, For the Love of Big Band. Helm currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Music and Jazz Studies Program for the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina University (NCCU). More information HERE.
Hammonds House Museum is generously supported by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, Fulton County Arts and Culture, the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, AT&T and WarnerMedia.
Hammonds House Museum‘s mission is to celebrate and share the cultural diversity and important legacy of artists of African descent. The museum is the former residence of the late Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, a prominent Atlanta physician and a passionate arts patron. A 501(c)3 organization which opened in 1988, Hammonds House Museum boasts a permanent collection of more than 450 works including art by Romare Bearden, Robert S. Duncanson, Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Hale Woodruff, Amalia Amaki, Radcliffe Bailey and Kojo Griffin. In addition to featuring art from their collection, the museum offers new exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, concerts, poetry readings, arts education programs, and other cultural events throughout the year.
Located in a beautiful Victorian home in Atlanta’s historic West End, Hammonds House Museum is a cultural treasure and a unique venue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they continue to observe CDC guidelines, but look forward to welcoming in-person visitors soon! For more information about upcoming virtual events, and to see how you can support their mission, visit their website: hammondshouse.org.
MEDIA: For more information, contact Karen Hatchett at Hatchett PR, karen@hatchettpr.com.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
Continuing to social distance, this Quarantined Jazz Voyager has decided he requires some vocals and has selected an album by Helen Merrill titled Clear Out Of This World. Her haunting voice gives this cool vocal jazz album a consistent and memorable session full of subtle surprises.
The album was recorded in Manhattan, New York on August 1st, & 2nd and September 3, 1991 in Los Angeles, California. It was released in 1992 on Polygram’s French label Gitanes. Making appearances are Wayne Shorter on tracks 1, 9; and Tom Harrell on tracks 3, 4, 8.
The album was produced by Jean-Philippe Allard, engineered by Brian Scheubl, mixed by J. Newland. The cover photography was shot by Carol Friedman, the liner photography of Wayne Shorter was taken by Amy Cantrell, and the liner photography was by Cheung Ching Ming.
Track Listing | 49:19- Out Of This World | Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer ~ 6:17
- Not Like This | Jeremy Lubbock ~ 3:03
- I’m All Smiles | Michael Leonard / Herbert Martin ~ 7:09
- When I Grow Too Old To Dream | Oscar Hammerstein II / Sigmund Romberg ~ 6:35
- Maybe | Shelton Brooks ~ 6:35
- Some Of These Days | Shelton Brooks ~ 3:58
- A Tender Thing Is Love | Torrie Zito ~ 4:16
- Soon It’s Gonna Rain | Tom Jones / Harvey Schmidt ~ 4:40
- Willow Weep For Me | Ann Ronell ~ 7:44
- Helen Merrill ~ vocals
- Roger Kellaway ~ piano, arrangements
- Red Mitchell ~ bass
- Terry Clarke ~ drums
- Wayne Shorter ~ tenor saxophone
- Tom Harrell ~ Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Listen and enjoy this wonderful addition to the jazz catalog, continue to social distance, and stay healthy. During this sabbatical from flying and investigating jazz around the globe, enjoy the listen and know that the world and I will be back.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jothan Callins was born October 29, 1942 in Birmingham, Alabama. The third of nine children he received his childhood education in Ensley at Council Elementary School and Western-Olin High School. Obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida A&M University, he subsequently became a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and performed with Max Roach, Milt Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra, Cecil McBee, Consuela Lee, George Coleman, Geri Allen, Joseph Jennings, Jeff Watts and many others.
In 1978, Jothan became the first Jazz Artist-In-Residence for the Birmingham Public Schools and helped found the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and City Stages. In 1982, after receiving a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, he obtained a Masters’ Degree in Ethnomusicology and Jazz Studies and remained there for five years teaching jazz history. As a prolific, creative artist, Jothan was a performer, composer, arranger, educator, consultant, musical director, and cultural catalyst, who earned the respect and admiration of fans, musicians, and critics throughout the world.
With his band, The Sounds of Togetherness, he toured and performed around the United States and the world. He specialized in Jazz performances and workshops for children and adults. In the ‘90s, Callins founded the Birmingham Youth Jazz Ensemble, Inc. (BYJE), serving as Director until his death. Trumpeter, flugelhornist, electric bassist, and composer Jothan Callins, who was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979, passed away on April 30, 2005 at Baptist-Princeton Medical Center.
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