Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gerald Graham Valentine was born on September 13, 1914 and received formal training in music when he was young, learning piano, composition, and music theory. He learned to play the trombone on his own.
In the early 1940s Jerry composed and arranged for Earl Hines and worked in Chicago with Dallas Bartley, King Kolax and he booked shows for the Club DeLisa. He then joined Billy Eckstine’s band from 1944 to 1947 and worked later in the decade with Wynonie Harris and Buddy DeFranco.
From 1950 to 1952 Valentine was an artist and repertory man for National Records. He played with Gene Ammons in 1954, and in 1958-1959 wrote arrangements for Pepper Adams, Art Farmer, and Coleman Hawkins in the group Prestige Blues Swingers.
Trombonist, composer and arranger Jerry Valentine died in October 1983.
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The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager is flying out of Detroit and heading to where the home of country music is located, Tennessee. However, most don’t know that the very same city is vibrant with jazz. To that end, the venue to be visited this week is Rudy’s Jazz Room. The club, intimate and eclectic, is a listening room built with great attention to acoustics, combined with a beautiful Steinway Model B grand piano.
On tap for the entertainment is Cliff Richmond and the CliffNotes will be performing his unique blend of soulful, swinging & funky jazz. He incorporates a wide range of styles from mainstream jazz, to rhythm & blues, Latin to reggae. Founded by the guitarist & vocalist, the CliffNotes always features some of Nashville’s most accomplished and versatile musicians and vocalists.
Rudy’s Jazz Room is located at 809 Gleaves Street, Nashville, 37203. For more information visit https://www.rudysjazzroom.com.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joëlle Léandre was born September 12, 1951 in Aix-en-Provence, France on Opera Street across from a theatre. She studied the standard double-bass repertoire intensively in her hometown conservatory and at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. By her late teens she was subbing in the bass sections of large classical ensembles. Drawn to Paris jazz clubs, she wasn’t involved in the scene because her pizzicato playing off-putting the jazz field’s standard.
Her appreciation of improvisation came from her chance discovery of Bowin’ Swingin’ Slam, by swing bassist Slam Stewart. Around the same time Joëlle received a one-year scholarship to study at the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo, New York. Not only was she exposed daily to serious music from composers and travelled to New York to listen to improvisers.
She began her career in the early 1970s when she was still a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, France. She studied with renowned bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse and developed a unique style that fused avant-garde jazz with classical music. In 1974, she formed the ensemble Musica Elettronica Viva with Italian composer and electronic musician Luciano Berio.
Collaborating with many on the avant-garde jazz scene including John Cage, Anthony Braxton, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, George E. Lewis, India Cooke, Steve Lacy, Sylvie Courvoisier, John Zorn and Cecil Taylor, among others. She is also a founding member of the improvising trio Fish Music with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Barry Guy. Aside from performing as a soloist, her bands have been trio, quartet configurations.
In 1983 she became a member of the European Women Improvising Group (EWIG), which evolved from the Feminist Improvising Group. In the early 1990s she co-founded the feminist improvising trio Les Diaboliques, with Irène Schweizer and Maggie Nicols.
Double bassist, vocalist, and composer Joëlle Léandre remains active in new music, avant~garde and free improvisation.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Peck Morrison was born John A. Morrison on September 11, 1919 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was classically trained, and in addition to bass, being competent on trumpet and percussion was also his talent.
During World War II he played in military bands in Italy and after the war he moved to New York City to play professionally. He played with Lucky Thompson in the early 1950s, and then recorded with Horace Silver, Gigi Gryce, and Art Farmer. He played and toured Europe with Gerry Mulligan.
He was a noted accompanist and sideman with Carmen McRae, Tiny Bradshaw, King Pleasure, Zoot Sims, Dave Bailey, Betty Carter, Eddie Jefferson, the J. J. Johnson/Kai Winding Quintet, and Duke Ellington in the Fifties and the latter in the 1960s.
He performed or recorded in the Sixties with Lou Donaldson, Johnny Smith, Mal Waldron, Randy Weston, Babs Gonzales, the Newport Rebels, Shirley Scott, Red Garland, Charles McPherson, and Sy Oliver. In 1986 he performed as a member of the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band.
Bassist Peck Morrison, who never recorded as a session leader, died on February 25, 1988.
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Jazz Poems
FOUR BONGOS: TAKE THE A TRAIN for Vinnie
The drummer wears suspenders to look like an old-timer, and plays a salsa “Caravan,” bad boy from the panyard with an evil, evil beat. The conga man chants Yoruba and shakes his sweat loose on a girl up front. His hand worries the drum like a live fish trashing. Call the bassist “Pops,” with his grizzly goatee, his Banshee yelp, his rhumba step. The hall is fluorescent. “Take a Train,” Lawrence Welk called that tune, and played. Ellington hovers above this group like changeable weather, in gabardine. ELIZABETH ALEXANDERfrom Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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