Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Quintana was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico on August 21, 1969 and raised in a bicultural environment as a military brat. It was a blessing for a young musician to absorb so many influences that come with international travel. His parents, being appreciative of all musical genres and styles, made sure that he and his brothers were exposed to music at home.
After his formative early years, by 1995 Joe had set up his own band and began playing in Rincon, Puerto Rico as the house band at the Calypso Café. This led to other gigs and many mutations of his bands over the years. He is still very active in the area.
Joe’s guitar styling is very much in synchronization with just the right nuance in relation to the mood he wants to portray. Adept on the acoustic as an accompanist, and is at home unplugged as he is in the electric blues setting or showcased on Latin jazz/rock numbers.
He is either a sideman for live performances or studio recordings, but usually as the leader of his own outfit. His association and collaborations with his brothers has been the catalyst for his own forays into exploring his individual direction as well.
Guitarist Joe Quintana, who is the quintessential journeyman, continues to play every weekend and many week nights and plays a full repertoire for the locals.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Freddie Moore was born on August 20, 1900, in Washington, North Carolina. Here’s some more information about Freddie Moore: He began playing drums in 1912 at the age of 12 and started his career in traveling shows, picking up much experience in variety shows and on vaudeville. He was with Charlie Creath in 1927 in St. Louis, Missouri and recorded with King Oliver from 1929-30, touring with him from 1931-32. He played in New York City with Wilbur Sweatman from 1928-31.
He went on to lead his own band with Peter Brown and Don Frye in Detroit, Michigan from 1933 to 1937. He feelanced for the next 20 years with Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, Art Hodes, Eubie Blake, John Kirby, Bob Wilber and Conrad Janis along with many others. The drummer was with Wilbur DeParis’ New New Orleans Jazz Band from 1952-54 and played in Europe with Mezz Mezzrow from 1954-55. He had associations with Sammy Price, Tony Parenti and even Roy Eldridge in 1971.
In the 1980s and the early 1990s he stayed active, playing with various bands in the New York area and often doubled on washboard. He was a colorful performer, often mugging and adding showbiz effects to the music. Moore, who appeared on a Rahsaan Roland Kirk record playing Sweet Georgia Brown, led his only record date for the New York Jazz label in 1981.
Drummer and singer Freddie Moore, whose long career finally came to an end after seven decades of playing with so many notable musicians, died on November 3, 1992 in New York.
On The Bookshelf
The Jazz Poetry Anthology
Since the turn of the century, poets have responded to jazz in all its musical and cultural overtones. The poems here cover the range of jazz itself: from early blues to free jazz and experimental music. Among the 132 poets included are James Baldwin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Mina Loy, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Carol Bergé, Sterling A. Brown, Alice Fulton, and Carl Sandburg.
The poems give the reader a sense of jazz imagery through the history of the music, yet have been lost to so many jazz enthusiasts and aficionados of the 20th century. Many of the names in this publication will be familiar but most one will discover anew.
Each poet has heard, felt the emotion of and experienced the music from a different perspective, writing in that voice. This makes for a pleasurable journey through time for the reader, especially those familiar with the music and the musicians.
This anthology represents the broad appreciation for jazz as poetic inspiration, not only from the Beat movement but from writers across the decades and around the world.
The Jazz Poetry Anthology: 1991 | Sasha Feinstein & Yusef Komunyakaa
Indiana University Press
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Daniel Asbury Mixon was born August 19, 1949 in Harlem, New York City. He started off as a tap dancer, attending the Ruth Williams Dance Studio. Later, he attended the High School of Performing Arts with Dance as his major but soon switched to playing the piano after being inspired by visits with his grandfather to see jazz artists playing at the Apollo Theater.
In 1966, at the age of 17, Danny was invited to play with the trumpet player Sam Brown’s band backing Patti LaBelle & the Blue Bells in Atlantic City at Reggie’s Cocktail Lounge. After working with Joe Lee Wilsonfor three years beginning in 1967 then started to play regularly with Betty Carter during the years 1971–72.
Formed his own jazz trio, he recorded with the Piano Choir and worked with a variety of important jazz musicians including Kenny Dorham, Cecil Payne, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Frank Foster, Grant Green, Pharoah Sanders, and singers Joe Williams, Eddie Jefferson and Dee Dee Bridgewater.
1976 saw Mixon playing in Charles Mingus’ band. He then played with Dannie Richmond in the late 1970s, toured the U.S. with Yusef Lateef and played a few years with the Lionel Hampton Big Band. Since his twenties Mixon has worked continuously with Frank Foster as a pianist for the Big Band; Frank Foster’s Loud Minority, and his quartet the Non-Electric Company.
He plays piano on many recordings. He appears with Hank Crawford on Tight and After Dark and has also recorded with The Danny Mixon Trio and has recorded On My Way. In 2004 he was awarded as a legendary pianist by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem during their series Harlem Speaks honoring Harlem Heroes. He was also the musical director of the Lenox Lounge in Harlem, where he also regularly played with his trio, until it closed in 2012.
Pianist Danny Mixon, at 76, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Parker was born on August 18, 1919 in New Orleans, Louisiana and began drumming at the start of his career in show business at the age of 5. He gained experience playing with various bands in New Orleans, including The Gin Bandits. He performed as a member of Kid Clayton’s band before relocating to Los Angeles, California. There he hooked up with Teddy Buckner at the Beverly Caverns and the Johnny Otis Band.
Returning home in 1949, Parker played alongside such notables as Fats Domino, Joe Phillips, Roy “Good Rocking” Brown, and Paul Gayten. Nearly ten years later he went on the road with Ray Charles, which was followed up by a spot with the Louis Jordan Band. In 1959 he was back in Los Angeles working with Lou Rawls among others.
By 1970, Parker was working once more on Bourbon Street with Thomas Jefferson, George Finola, Papa French, Santo Pecora, and Wallace Davenport. During his later years, he performed with Laverne Smith at Marriot and Fairmont hotels, toured with One Mo’ Time in 1979, a stage hit about black vaudeville in the early days of jazz. A year later he was playing drums for Percy Humphrey and the Preservation Hall Band.
He ultimately retired in 1990 after suffering a stroke. Just a few months after The Louisiana Jazz Federation presented him with a lifetime achievement award, drummer Frank Parker died on January 23, 2001 in his hometown.
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