Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William E. Clark was born July 31, 1925 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He worked professionally starting shortly after World War II, playing drums with Jimmy Jones, Dave Martin, Mundell Lowe, and George Duvivier.
He was principally active in the 1950s, working with Lester Young, Mary Lou Williams, Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, Duke Ellington, Don Byas, Arnold Ross, Bernard Peiffer, George Shearing, Toots Thielemans, Ronnell Bright, Jackie Paris, and Rolf Kuhn. Later in his career Bill worked with Eddie Harris and Les McCann.
Drummer Bill Clark, known for his versatility playing Dixieland, swing, bebop, avant-garde and fusion, passed away on July 30, 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia.Share a dose of a Jonesboro drummer to inspire inquisitive minds to learn about musicians whose legacy lends their genius to the jazz catalog…
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roy Lee Porter was born on July 30, 1923 in Walsenburg, Colorado and when he was eight his family moved to Colorado Springs. He began playing drums in rhythm and blues bands while a teenager, then attended Wiley College in Texas briefly, where trumpeter Kenny Dorham was a fellow student.
Replacing Joe Marshall he joined Milt Larkin’s band in 1943. After military service, Roy settled in Los Angeles, California and soon was in demand by some of the pioneers of bebop. He worked with Teddy Bunn and Howard McGhee, making his first recordings with the latter. In 1946, he backed Charlie Parker on such Dial classics, A Night In Tunisia, Yardbird Suite, Ornithology and Lover Man.
Porter played on Los Angeles’ Central Avenue with such bebop players as Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray and Teddy Edwards, and in San Francisco, California with Hampton Hawes and Sonny Criss. He organized a big band and went on the road in 1949 that included Art Farmer, Jimmy Knepper and Eric Dolphy.
During the 1950s he was inactive as a jazz musician due to drug problems and returned to music only infrequently afterwards. Drummer Roy Porter passed away on January 24 or 25, 1998 in Los Angeles.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The Delta variant is causing a rise in new cases of Covid~19 and is much easier to contract. The modus operandi of the day is continuing my exercise of social distancing, quarantining myself at home and wearing my mask whenever I am in public places. I hope you are doing the same.
I offer up my latest selection is the tenth album and sixth on Concord from Nnenna Freelon. It is her 2005 album Blueprint Of A Lady: Sketches Of Billie Holiday. It was her tribute to the late great vocalist. The album was recorded March~April 2005 at the Fantasy Studio in Berkeley, California, and released on the Concord Jazz label that same year.
Though her arrangements may not reflect the melodies we are historically familiar with, Freelon has an inimitable way of taking us on a journey that brings her own sensibilities to interpret these songs with refreshing renditions that may appeal to old fans and hopefully garner new enthusiasts.
Track Listing | 1:02:46
- I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) ~ 4:18
- What a Little Moonlight Can Do (Harry M. Woods) ~ 5:13
- Don’t Explain (Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog, Jr.) ~ 4:03
- God Bless the Child (Holiday, Herzog) ~ 5:21
- Strange Fruit (Abel Meeropol) ~ 2:20
- Willow Weep For Me (Ann Ronell) ~ 2:52
- Balm in Gilead (Traditional) ~ 4:49
- Them There Eyes (Maceo Pinkard, Doris Tauber, William Tracey) ~ 5:09
- Only You Will Know (Nnenna Freelon, Brandon McCune) ~ 3:41
- You’ve Changed (Bill Carey, Carl Fischer) ~ 5:24
- Now or Never (Billie Holiday, Curtis Reginald Lewis) ~ 2:55
- Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Roger (Ram) Ramirez, James Sherman) ~ 4:14
- Left Alone (Billie Holiday, Mal Waldron) – 5:02
- Little Brown Bird (Interlude) (Nnenna Freelon, Brandon McCune) ~ 1:32
- All of Me (Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons) ~ 5:53
- Nnenna Freelon ~ arranger, producer, vocals
- Brandon McCune ~ arranger, fender rhodes, Hammond B3, piano, trumpet
- Beverly Botsford ~ arranger, percussion
- Wayne Batchelor ~ arranger, acoustic bass guitar, acoustic bass
- Kinah Boto ~ drums
- André Bush, Julian Lage ~ guitar
- Doug Lawrence ~ tenor saxophone
- Christian Scott ~ trumpet
- Jessica Ivry ~ cello
- Mary Fettig ~ alto flute, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, rhythm arrangements
- John Clayton ~ horn arrangements
- Nnenna Freelon/Ed Keane – producer
- Josiah Gluck – engineer, audio engineer, mixing
- Jesse Nichols – assistant engineer, mixing
- Nick Phillips – audio production, producer
- George Horn – mastering
- Abbey Anna – art direction
- Terri Apanasewicz – hair stylist
- Rudy Calvo – make-up
- Danielle Brancazio – package design
- Randee Saint Nicholas – photography
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Victor Lewis was born on July 29, 1919 in London, England and began playing the guitar at the age of three, and dabbled with cornet and trombone. One of his early bands included George Shearing, then a teenager, among its members.
Lewis first toured the United States in 1938, where he recorded sessions with a band that had Bobby Hackett, Eddie Condon, and Pee Wee Russell. Serving in the Royal Air Force from 1941 to 1944, he recorded with Buddy Featherstonhaugh. While he was in the RAF, he met Jack Parnell and together they formed the Vic Lewis/Jack Parnell Jazzmen. He worked with Stephane Grappelli after the war and with Ted Heath soon after.
Lewis put together his first big band in 1946 to play swing jazz, but soon after its formation he began to direct the ensemble toward the sound of Stan Kenton, who gave him some of his arrangements by Pete Rugolo, Gerry Mulligan, and Bill Holman. Pianist Ken Thorne also made arranging contributions. He toured the US with the band at various intervals between 1956 and 1959, and recorded extensively for Parlophone, Esquire, Decca, and Philips.
After 1959, Vic semi-retired as a performer, only occasionally recording, but he continued to write about jazz and champion its value. He went into artist management, and oversaw the careers of photographer Robert Whitaker and the singer Cilla Black among many others.
Selling his management agency in 1964 to Brian Epstein’s company NEMS, then worked with Epstein arranging the Beatles’ international tours. Following Epstein’s death in 1967, Lewis served as managing director of NEMS. Lewis also managed Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, and produced his debut album Robin’s Reign in 1970.
He conducted recordings of his own and others with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on Vocalion, which included excerpts from his Russian Suite, a Romance for Violin, and two movements (Red and Jade) from a multi-composer suite called Colours. Guitarist, bandleader, agent and manager Vic Lewis, who was awarded the MBE in 2007, continued to work in the music industry until he passed away on February 9, 2009 in Golders Green, London.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Leon Prima was born on July 28, 1907 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the older brother of singer Louis Prima. Starting on piano before learning the trumpet, his early jobs were with Ray Bauduc, Leon Roppolo, Jack Teagarden, and Peck Kelley (during the Roaring Twenties. He and Sharkey Bonano led the group the Melody Masters in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
From 1940 to 1946 a move to New York City saw Leon playing in his brother’s big band. After returning to New Orleans, he led his own ensemble and managed more than one nightclub. Then in 1955 he retired from music and made a career for himself in real estate. Trumpeter Leon Prima, who owned the 500 Club on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, passed away on August 15, 1985.
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