Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Zurke came into the world as Boguslaw Albert Zukowski on January 7, 1912 in Hamtramck, Michigan. By the age of 16 he was already using the name Bob Zurke professionally when he first recorded with a group led by pioneering female jazz bassist Thelma Terry. At that time, Zurke also began to work as a copyist for the Detroit-based booking agency run by Jean Goldkette.
Through the end of 1936, he worked in various Detroit, Michigan clubs, mostly as a band pianist, but he occasionally went on tour with other groups. During this period he developed a long friendship with pianist Marvin Ash, who would later go on to record some of Zurke’s compositions.
1937 saw Bob was hired by bandleader Bob Crosby to fill in for Joe Sullivan, then ailing with tuberculosis and it was here that he gained notice, contributing arrangements to the band’s book and as a featured soloist.
As an arranger his arrangement of Meade Lux Lewis’ Honky Tonk Train Blues, became a hit. In 1938 he was named the winner in the piano category in the DownBeat Reader’s Poll. By 1939 Sullivan was back with the Bob Crosby Orchestra and Zurke subsequently worked with the William Morris Agency to form his own band. They debuted at an RCA Victor recording session that same year as Bob Zurke and his Delta Rhythm Orchestra. His alcohol dependency, alleged drug use and unreliability and volatility led to the group disbanding.
After a period of wandering from job to job Zurke settled in Los Angeles, California in mid-1942 and began an engagement at the Hangover Club in Los Angeles that he held until the end of his days. In 1943, he made one final recording, synchronizing an original piano part to the Walter Lantz cartoon Jungle Jive (in the Swing Symphony series), one of his most difficult and challenging solos.
He published two folios of jazz piano solos and several sheet music editions of single pieces; in addition to that, 14 original compositions from Zurke are known to exist.
Pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader Bob Zurke, who was considered one of the finest boogie~woogie pianists of the time, collapsed at the Hangover Club and was taken to the hospital where he transitioned on February 16, 1944 from complications of pneumonia, aggravated by acute alcohol poisoning. He was 32.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lee Abrams was born Leon Abramson on January 6, 1925 in New York City, New York and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. His father played the violin and clarinet, his brother Ray played tenor saxophone.
Joining the United States Army in 1943 he spent three years until he was discharged in 1946. During his career, Abrams played with Roy Eldridge, Eddie Heywood, Andy Kirk, Hot Lips Page, Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, Horace Silver, Wynton Kelly, Al Haig and others.
On 52nd Street, he played with Coleman Hawkins, Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Jay Jay Johnson. Drummer Lee Abrams transitioned on April 20, 1992 in New York City.
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The Jazz Voyager
New year, new destinations, new adventures await me as the Jazz Voyager is hitting the road once again and heading to Tarrytown, New York to catch a set or two at Jazz Forum Arts. Having spent the week in the Big Apple it’s just a little over an hour ride up the Swa Mill Parkway or 87. In house this weekend will be none other than NEA Jazz Master and the Big Chief of Congo Square Donald Harrison with his quartet. There is nothing better than a warm atmosphere on a chilly night with great music and hot chocolate to heat up a memory.
Celebrating five years, the club was opened by the late Roy Hargrove who excited the capacity crowds for their first weekend at the club. Jazz Forum Arts has brought the music to the area and the patrons have supported it and the club has become a mainstay for this part of the state.
Looking to the future, please be responsible for your personal health, which will spill over on to others, and like the music promotes kindness in this world. Practice random acts of love whenever the opportunity presents itself. Have an abundant year!
The club’s number is 914-631-1000. If you want to get more information visit notoriousjazz.com/event/donald-harrison-quartet.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Cees See was born on January 5, 1934 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He worked in the 1950s with Freddy Logan and Jack Sels, however by the early Sixties he was performing with Rolf Kühn, Pim Jacobs, and Herman Schoonderwalt. He also played with an ensemble formed for Sender Freies Berlin, whose members included Herb Geller and Jerry van Rooyen.
In the second half of the 1960s he played with Teddy Wilson, Klaus Doldinger, Volker Kriegel, Dusko Goykovich, Nathan Davis, and Jan Hammer. He was a member of the New Jazz Trio with Manfred Schoof and Peter Trunk from 1970 to 1972. In the early 1970s he continued to work with Kriegel and Goykovich, as well as with Wolfgang Dauner and Chris Hinze.
Drummer Cees See transitioned on December 9, 1985 in The Hague, Netherlands.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John McLaughlin was born on January 4, 1942 into a family of musicians in Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. As a child he took up the guitar at the age of 11, exploring styles from flamenco to the jazz of Tal Farlow, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. Moving to London, England from Yorkshire in the early Sixties, hestarted playing with Alexis Korner and the Marzipan Twisters before moving on to Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation, and Brian Auger.
During this period he often supported himself with session work, which he often found unsatisfying but which enhanced his playing and sight-reading. Also, he gave guitar lessons to Jimmy Page. In 1963, Jack Bruce formed the Graham Bond Quartet with Bond, Ginger Baker and John McLaughlin. They played an eclectic range of music genres, including bebop, blues and rhythm and blues.
By the end of the decade McLaughlin recorded his debut album Extrapolation in London. The album’s post-bop style is quite different from McLaughlin’s later fusion works. He moved to the U.S. in 1969 to join Tony Williams’ group Lifetime. He went on to play on Miles Davis’ albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Live-Evil, On the Corner, Big Fun and A Tribute to Jack Johnson.
As his reputation as a “first-call” session player grew, he was tapped to record as a sideman with Miroslav Vitous, Larry Coryell, Joe Farrell, Wayne Shorter, Carla Bley, the Rolling Stones, DExter Godon, Santana, Paco de Lucia and others.
The Seventies saw him put together the Mahavisnu Orchestra, delved into Indian classical music, and recorded with Stanley Clarke on his School Days album. Throughout the rest of the century he continued to perform with Mahavisnu, no longer the orchestra, as well as sideman duties on a variety of albums, performances and genres well into the new century.
He has recorded nineteen albums as a leader, six collaborative albums, twelve live albums, and 45 as a sideman. Guitarist John McLaughlin continues to perform and record.
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