The Jazz Voyager
From the West Coast to middle America the jazz Voyager is off to Ann Arbor, Michigan to seize the opportunity to witness the ambience of Blue Llama, a jazz club where it is said they present live jazz and world music paired with New Orleans-inspired cuisine. A destination music venue and restaurant located at 314 S. Main Street 48104, this week they are offering up for our musical pleasure the guitar talents of Randy Napoleon.
The jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger has toured both nationally and internationally leading his own groups as well as with the Freddy Cole Quartet, pianist Benny Green, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra led by John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, and Jeff Hamilton, Rene Marie, and Michael Bublé.
He is an associate professor in the College of Music at Michigan State University[5] and has done master classes at universities and music schools throughout the United States, Canada and Japan.
More information can be had by calling 734-372-3200 or go to bluellamaclub.com.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Court Mast was born Corky Miller on August 24, 1951 in Sunnyvale, California, where he took up the accordion and then trumpet in grade school. He went to Fremont High School, graduating in 1969. He traveled to Europe on tour with 120 high school and college musicians. Trumpet great Raphael Mendez was on board as guest artist, and Corky took six weeks of private lessons from the master. Returning to the Bay Area, he began performing in big bands around the South Bay and Peninsula and performed with the earliest version of the band that went on to fame as Tower of Power.
While taking performance and composition courses at De Anza College, Corky stayed active in a wide variety of bands, playing rock, jazz, Latin and Mexican music that kept this young working trumpeter onstage. By 1977 he moved to San Francisco, California where he led quartet and quintet jazz groups active on the North Beach music scene and in funky venues like the Hotel Utah.
Disillusioned with the direction that popular music, and jazz in particular, was moving in, in 1983 Miller stepped away from the music world. He became a surfer, changed his name to Court Mast, got into photography and became one of San Francisco’s leading commercial photographers. Then in the first decade of the new century his love of music returned and in 2008 he recorded his debut album Sausalito Summer
Composer and cornetist Court Mast, whose influences have been Henry Mancini, Chuck Mangione, Maurice Ravel, Duke Ellington, the Beatles, Steely Dan, Clifford Brown and Thad Jones, continues to compose and perform as well as maintain his photography.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Terje Rypdal was born on August 23, 1947 in Oslo, Norway, the son of a composer and orchestra leader. He studied classical piano and trumpet as a child, and then taught himself to play guitar as he entered his teens.
Starting out as a Hank Marvin-influenced rock guitarist with The Vanguards, Rypdal turned towards jazz in 1968. He joined Jan Garbarek’s group and then George Russell’s sextet and orchestra. An important step towards international attention was his participation in the 1969 free jazz festival in Baden-Baden, Germany, where he was part of a band led by Lester Bowie. During his musical studies at Oslo University and conservatory, he led the orchestra of the Norwegian version of the musical Hair.
He has recorded on the ECM record label, both jazz-oriented material and classical compositions. His compositions Last Nite and Mystery Man were featured in the Michael Mann film Heat, and included on the soundtrack. Terje has performed in concerts with guitarists Ronni Le Tekrø and Mads Eriksen as N3.
Guitarist and composer Terje Rypdal, an important member in the Norwegian jazz community, continues to compose, perform and record.
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Three Wishes
One night when Kenny “Klook” Clarke was with Baroness Pannonica the topic of three wishes came up and when she asked he responded with:
- “Brigitte Bardot.”
- “Brigitte Bardot.”
- “Brigitte Bardot.”
1a) “No, of course I’m not serious about that. It would be to have Dizzy, J.J., Ray Brown, and Hank Jones. That’s my dream quintet.”
2a) “God, Nica, I don’t know. My second wish is to have my son over here and start him in music.”
3a) “My third wish is to set up a school over here in Paris, and put all those young boys on the right track. Then, if I do that, I’ll be happy. I’m gonna wish for no money! I’d rather do something.”
*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…
Lou Colombo was born on August 22, 1927 and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts. He began playing trumpet in the 1940s, at age 12. Aftere serving in the Army band in World War II he had hopes of playing professional baseball, saw him signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers, but a broken ankle forced him to curtail that dream. He then formed his own band in the 1950s and toured with Buddy Morrow, Perez Prado, Dick Johnson and the Artie Shaw Orchestra. He also played with Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong during his career.
So he dove into music and his trumpet. His career included stints with the Charlie Spivak and Perez Prado bands and the Artie Shaw Orchestra. On Cape Cod, Lou’s gigs with Dick Johnson and Dave McKenna were legendary, as is their superb Concord album, I Remember Bobby, a tribute to Bobby Hackett.
Known for his one-handed trumpet style, he was a mainstay in the Cape Cod, Massachusetts jazz scene for more than six decades and maintained a home in Fort Myers, Florida. Trumpeter Lou Columbo, who also played flugelhorn, baritone horn and pocket trumpet, transitioned unexpectedly at 84 on March 4, 2019 in a car crash in Fort Myers after making a turn and his vehicle was struck by another.
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