Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Alvin “Buddy” Banks was born on January 15, 1927 in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada and grew up in the United States. He became interested in music during high school, starting out on piano before switching to saxophone. During World War II he joined the United States Army Band as a bass player.

Making his first appearance on record was in Vienna, Austria with Thurmond Young, this group also played live at the Colored Club. He played in Paris, France with Gerry Wiggins in 1950, and then with Bill Coleman in Bern, Switzerland, Le Havre, France and Belgium. After problems with his passport in Switzerland, he left for Paris in 1953, where he recorded often with expatriate American jazz musicians as well as local performers.

These include Hazel Scott, Buck Clayton, Lionel Hampton, Mezz Mezzrow, Don Byas, Albert Nicholas, and André Persiany. He toured with Michel Attenoux and with Sidney Bechet through Western and Central Europe in 1954.

Double bassist Buddy Banks transitioned on August 7, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Anthony Frank “Tony” Inzalaco, Jr. was born January 14, 1938 in Passaic, New Jersey. From childhood drumming he went on to obtain bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. He was active in the United States from 1959 to 1968, performing and/or recording with Vinnie Burke, Jaki Byard, Donald Byrd, Chris Connor, Maynard Ferguson, Jim Hall, Roger Kellaway, Morgana King, Lee Konitz, Morris Nanton, Duke Pearson, Benny Powell, Buddy Rich, Charlie Shavers, Johnny Smith, Billy Taylor, and Ben Webster.

Moving to Germany in 1968 he lived there for a decade as a member of the bands of Kurt Edelhagen and Eugen Cicero. He worked with Benny Bailey, Don Byas, Kenny Clarke and Francy Boland, Kenny Drew, Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Peter Herbolzheimer, Carmen McRae, Sal Nistico, Horace Parlan, Fritz Pauer, Oscar Peterson, Idrees Sulieman, Ben Webster again, Jiggs Whigham, Jimmy Woode, and Leo Wright during his time in the country.

After moving back to the States, he was active principally in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1980s, working with Byrd, Griffin, and Farmer again, as well as with Ruby Braff, Al Cohn, and Dakota Staton.

Relocating again to Los Angeles in the 1990s, drummer Tony Inzalaco  has led his own ensemble for the past decade.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Nathan Peck was born on January 13, 1925 in New York City and began playing the trombone as a teenager. After leaving high school he was drafted into the army and became part of Glenn Miller’s band. He remained with the band until after World War II ended.

He played with Don Redman in 1947 and studied classical music at the Paris Conservatory from 1949 to 1951, while playing and recording with leading jazz musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, James Moody, and Roy Eldridge. During the 1950s Peck played on television in New York, and in 1953 he recorded with Dizzy Gillespie. He shuttled between Paris and New York until 1957, when he married dancer Vera Tietz, then settled in France.

In France, he played with Michel Legrand, André Hodeir and Duke Ellington. Spending some time in England and Germany, Nathan worked as a staff musician at Sender Freies Berlin and played with Quincy Jones and the Clarke-Boland Big Band from 1963 to 1969. Relocating to London, England in 1965, he became active in the studios, film, and television. He played with Benny Goodman in the early Seventies and with Peter Herbolzheimer by the end of the decade.

Later he worked mainly as a contractor with his company, London Studio Orchestras. While this led to him ending his playing career, he shifted his talents to putting together the best blend of session musicians that he could find. ‘The Italian Job’, ‘Yentl’, ‘The 3 Muskateers’, and many more great films, especially with French composers Michel Legrand and Philippe Sarde.

Trombonist Nathan Peck transitioned on October 24, 2015.

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The Jazz Voyager

The Jazz Voyager is not one who cruises to look at the ocean rather than being in it. I like to experience the adventure on terra firma so I can fully explore the destination and the waters snorkeling and diving. But it is a new year and one must try new things, so Blue Note At Sea is where you’ll find this voyager.

Seven days from January 13~20th upon the Celebrity Millennium Cruise Line there will be jam packed roster of 80 musicians and vocalists, performing as much music as you can stand. Folks like Marcus Miller, Cécile McLorin Salvant, The Baylor Project, Christian McBride, Chris Botti, Robert Glasper, Cyrille Aimée, José James, Derrick Hodge, Gerald Clayton, Emmet Cohen, Julian Lage, Warren Wolf and many, many more.

So tune up your jazz ears, protect yourself as variants are still appearing on the horizon and you will be in crowded spaces. Kindness to yourself will be kindness to others. Enjoy the celebration of music!

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ojārs Raimonds Pauls was born January 12, 1936 in Iļģuciems, Riga, Latvia  and is the second child of a glass blowing factory worker and a seamstress. His father played drums and his grandfather played the violin, and following in his grandfather’s footsteps he is enrolled into Riga’s institute of Music kindergarten branch. Being too young and his fingers unfit for playing violin, he started on the piano.

By 1943 he was studying at Riga’s 7th Elementary school while continuing piano lessons with professor Valerijs Zosts and teachers Emma Eglīte and Juta Daugule. 1946 saw Raimonds admitted to the Secondary Musical School of Emīls Dārziņš, combining his studies at the elementary school for three years.

When he turns 14, Pauls was playing piano at restaurants and clubs with a violin and saxophone virtuoso Gunārs Kušķis. Five years later he completed his studies at the Riga’s 7th Elementary school, however, during this time, he independently developed a liking for playing jazz by studying and imitating various jazz records.

He would go on to compose for musicals, ballets, theater performances, puppet shows, films, choirs, and instrumentals, He has received several honors from his home country, the USSR, Sweden, Japan and Armenia.

Composer, arranger and pianist Raimonds Pauls, who was the Minister of Culture of Latvia from 1988 to 1993, continues to record and perform.

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