Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Fred Staton was born on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His musical life began with his mother’s player piano and 78 records of Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson. He began singing in his church’s gospel choir, but got introduced to playing jazz when the group’s sponsor brought in a full band’s worth of equipment, complete with charts of popular music. He first picked up the drums but having to pack up his kit left few women to flirt with as his bandmates left after the gig. This and the influence of a Johnny Hodges cut on an Ellington big band record inspired him to choose the saxophone.
He played in the first ensemble Art Blakey ever formed, alongside pianist Erroll Garner. The lack of opportunity and venues for a young black man in segregated Pittsburgh led Staton to leave the Steel City and find his fortune gigging on the East Coast. He fell in with Horace Silver and watched fellow Westinghouse High School graduates Billy Strayhorn and Ahmad Jamal pen iconic compositions.
Staton went on to become a veteran member of the Harlem Blues & Jazz Band, and toured Europe, Russia and the United States to much acclaim. He has received numerous honors and awards, and was a lifetime member and supporter of WBGO Radio. Tenor saxophonist Fred Staton continued to play jazz until his death at 102 years of age on October 25, 2017.
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The Jazz Voyager
So the Jazz Voyager is going international and thankfully is in a city with an international airport. Georgia to Argentina is 5,015 miles and ten hours later I will be landing at Ministro Pistarini International Airport. Situated in Ezeiza about 20 miles from the city center, a forty minute cab ride will take me to the exclusive Recoleta neighborhood. The cool thing is I’ll be staying at the Meliá Recoleta Plaza Hotel and inside is the club, Jazz Voyeur. So it will be an elevator ride downstairs to hear some great music.
After speniding the day exploring the city on tap for listening is vocalist and trumpeter Mike Sinagra, joined by Manuel Fraga on piano and vocals, Pablo Motta on double bass and drummer Oscar Giunta. They’ll be paying tribute to the Rat Pack, recreating the eternal classics and the wide repertoire of Frank Sinatra, and his hit songs by Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Charles Aznavour, Neil Diamond, Joe Cocker, Carlos Gardel.
Cover: $13,000 ARS ($12.22) ~ $15,000 ARS ($14.10)
Jazz Voyeur is situated at Posadas 1557, C1112ADA Cdad Buenos Aires,. For more information visit https://jazzvoyeur.com.ar.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tom McEvoy was born on February 13, 1981 into a non-musical family but discovered his passion for music by chance. Early in his life he was mesmerized by Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata played in a Peanuts cartoon, and immediately went to his toy piano to try and figure it out. He had a similarly powerful reaction to a video of Louis Armstrong he saw a few years later. He had his first ensemble experience in kindergarten, when his teacher played the piano in class and led the students in song and knew he wanted to be a musician.
His formal training began with classical piano at six, adding the cello at age nine and gaining an appreciation for ensemble playing. His skill and musicality led to McEvoy receiving top marks in state piano judgings and invitations to play cello with the state honors youth orchestra. His life changed when he bought Ahmad Jamal’s Pershing: But Not For Me and Monk’s Straight, No Chaser. Immersing himself, he began to experiment with composition and improvisation. Joining his high school jazz band in his senior year, they went on to win awards for best band and best rhythm section at the tri-state competition at James Madison University that year.
Tom’s first college stop was at Virginia Tech majoring in engineering but he couldn’t leave the music and changed his major to jazz piano. He began playing professionally in the area, but left Tech with a scholarship to study at the University of North Florida with renowned pianist Kevin Bales. Distinguishing himself he represented the school in performances in Europe and North America.
While still a student, Tom established himself as a first-call pianist and performed extensively with some of the best musicians in the southeast, including Delbert Felix, Ben Tucker, Von Barlow, and Kebbi Williams. Moving to New York City in 2006, the following year at Juilliard he played a piano duo with Kenny Barron every week for two years. He studied and/or performed with Benny Golson, Mulgrew Miller, Christian McBride, Terence Blanchard, Gerald Wilson, Joe Wilder, Benny Green, Kenny Washington, and Steve Turre.
Presently pianist Tom McEvoy stays busy performing with his own groups, working as an in- demand sideman, and sharing his knowledge with the next generation.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ernst “Nesti” Landl was born February 12, 1914 in Vienna, Austria. He studied at the New Vienna Conservatory in the 1930s and soon made a name for himself on the Viennese music scene.
In Vienna he accompanied the singer Adelaide Hall and was soon active as a musician in North Africa and Portugal. From 1943 he played in the Steffl Diele with Italian singer and guitarist Vittorio Ducchini, violinist Herbert Mytteis and French drummer Arthur Motta. Due to the audience response, recordings were made for Odeon, but due to the ” jazz focus ” there were initially almost no releases.
After the defeat of National Socialism he played in the Vienna Dance Orchestra and also founded the Hot Club Vienna as a studio band to record jazz songs for Elite Special with musicians such as Hans Koller and Viktor Plasil. Until 1958 Landl performed in Vienna mainly as a bar pianist . He then moved to Stockholm, Sweden where he worked until his death.
Pianist, bassist and drummer Ernst Landl died on December 4, 1983 in Stockholm.
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Jazz Poems
LESTER YOUNG
Sometimes he was cool like an eternal
blue flame burning in the old Kansas
City nunnery
Sometimes he was happy ‘til he’d think
about his birth place and its blood
stained clay hills and crow-filled trees
Most times he was blowin’ on the wonderful
tenor sax of his preachin’ in very cool
tones, shouting only to remind you of
a certain point in his blue messages
He was our president as well as the minister
of soul stirring Jazz, he knew what he
blew, and he did what a prez should do,
wail, wail, wail. There were many of
them to follow him and most of them were
fair–but they never spoke so eloquently
in so a far out funky air.
Our prez done died, he know’d this would come
but death has only booked him, alongside
Bird, Art Tatum, and other heavenly wailers.
Angels of Jazz–they don’t die–they live
they live–in hipsters like you and I
TED JOANS
from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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