The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager is departing Europe for the Dark Continent as his next stop and Ghana is the destination. The venue is Marabi Club that is located in the Maboneng Precinct at 54 Siemert Road, New Doornfontein, Johannesburg, South Africa.
In the 1920s and Thirties, the rise of the Doornfontein slumyards, created in the wake of one of the world’s richest gold rushes, gave rise to an urban culture known as “marabi”. As the foundation of this new culture, the music was energetic and improvisational. It was a lifestyle prompted by the need to escape the hardships of the working week, defined by illegal shebeens, where the fierce talk of politics was accompanied by the equally disruptive soundtrack of jazz.
Tucked in the basement of Hallmark House, the Marabi Club evokes this history through the many careful details of the club’s interior. With an excellent menu and bar with jauntily dressed waitrons offering friendly and slick service, add live jazz and your visit to this landmark will leave you captivated by the atmosphere.
This week the adventure continues as this Jazz Voyager is stepping into this Joburg venue without knowing who will be performing. Nothing like a surprise. For those who need to know, their phone number is +27 (0)10 591 2879.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Luciano Troja was born in Messina, Italy on July 6, 1963. Self-taught from the age of 6, he studied for several years with the pianist-composer Salvatore Bonafede. In New York City, for a brief and intensive time, he studied with Richie Beirach. He attended several jazz courses and clinics such as Siena Jazz, Berklee Clinics in Umbria, Aebersold School in London, and piano courses with Shirley Scott, James Williams and Franco D’Andrea.
Luciano has performed at festivals and jazz clubs in Europe and the United States. He is the pianist of the Mahanada Quartet, an original combination of free improvisation and written music. He released three CDs with Mahanada that garnered extremely good reviews and recognitions. He released two CDs in duo with the guitarist Giancarlo Mazzù, Seven Tales About Standards and Seven Tales About Standards Vol. 2, both considered as a creative and original approach to the standards.
He along with Salvatore Bonafede of Double Piano Orchestra have recorded Double Rainbow and My Funny Valentine (Wide Sound, 2008).
He has been named Talent of the Year, Pianist of the Year, Group of the Year and CD of the Year in Top Jazz Poll of Musica Jazz magazine. He has since released At Home With Zindars a piano solo project. Pianist Luciano Troja continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael Baird was born Lusaka, Zambia on July 5, 1954 and moved to the Netherlands at an early age, where he learned to play drums. Since the mid-1970s he has worked with several Dutch jazz groups and from 1975-83 he played and recorded with Gijs Hendriks, Slide Hampton, Kenny Drew, Raul Burnet, Sonny Grey, Siggi Kessler, Michel Herr, Michel Grailler, Joe Diorio, Jan Akkerman, Wim Overgaauw, Stan Tracey, and Kenny Wheeler.
He founded his own label SWP Records in 1986, led his group Sharp Wood for a decade beginning in 1986 and the octet Utrecht Deep Artment for two years. In 2000 he put together a quintet CapeAbility, followed by sextet Trendy 3D Junk and by 2002 was performing solo concerts along with various other projects and composition commissions.
He has compiled and produced a 22 Cd series “Historical Recordings by Hugh Tracey” of African music from the 40s and 50s, made his own field recordings in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and released both on SWP Records.
Drummer, percussionist and keyboardist Michael Baird continues to perform, record and push the boundaries of jazz.
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Three Wishes
Ramsey Lewis was questioned about his three wishes one night by Pannonica and his response was a simple one:
- “Later for that!”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Leonard “Ham” Davis was born July 4, 1905 in St. Louis, Missouri and began his career in his hometown playing with the Odd Fellows Boys’ Band as a teenager and landing a spot in Charlie Creath’s band.
>Late in the 1920s, Ham relocated to New York City, where he played in the bands of Edgar Hayes and Arthur Gibbs. His first recording was with Eddie Condon’s ensemble in 1929, and then he sat in with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers that same year. In the 1930s he played with Benny Carter, Don Redman, and Elmer Snowden, and did a two-year stint in Louis Armstrong’s orchestra starting in 1935.
Toward the end of the decade he toured Europe with Edgar Hayes and played in the Blackbirds revue in New York City. Davis joined Sidney Bechet’s revival group in 1940, and also played in bands led by Maurice Hubbard, Albert Socarras, and George James. He continued performing in small-time settings in New York through the mid-1950s.
Trumpeter Ham Davis transitioned in 1957.
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