Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Warren Battiste was born on November 8, 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana and was taught to play the guitar by his father, a banjoist at Preservation Hall. He took four years of instruction at Greenwald Music School in his hometown. Performing at a number of jazz clubs on Bourbon Street, he appeared in the film Shy People with Jill Clayburgh and Barbara Hershey.

As an educator Battiste taught music at Wequachie High School, Essex County College and the Newark Art Center in Newark, New Jersey. He has performed with George Benson, The Platters, The Inkspots, Frank Foster, Barry Harris, Woody Shaw and Illinois Jacquet, among others. Releasing his debut album Street Jazz in 2001, recorded his sophomore release Just Friends three years later and then his album Quiet Storm in 2007.

Guitarist Warren Battiste, who also plays bass, banjo and piano, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and was selected as a Jazz All Star in 2000 from New Orleans Magazine.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joe Rushton was born in Evanston, Illinois on November 7, 1907. He started out playing clarinet and all of the other standard saxophone varieties, and was occasionally recorded with these other instruments. Settling on the bass saxophone, through the early to mid Forties he worked with Ted Weems, Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman, Floyd O’Brien, Benny Goodman, and Horace Heidt.

Joining Red Nichols’s Five Pennies in 1947 became a musical relationship and collaboration that went well into the early 1960s. He recorded six sides for Jump Records in 1945/47, but otherwise appears on record only as a sideman.

Bass saxophonist Joe Rushton, who is one of the best-known jazz performers to concentrate on bass saxophone, aside from Adrian Rollini, which he played from 1928. transitioned on March 2, 1964, in San Francisco, California at the age of 56.

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Requisites

Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate ~ Coleman Hawkins | By Eddie Carter

This morning’s choice from the library takes us to The Village Gate for two performances on August 13 and 15, 1962 by The Coleman Hawkins Quartet. Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate (Verve Records V-8509/V6-8509) hit the stores in 1963 and is the companion to Hawkins! Eldridge! Hodges! Alive! At The Village Gate. It was also recorded on August 15 with special guests Roy Eldridge and Johnny Hodges. Hawk was one of the greatest musicians during the Swing Era and a commanding presence on the tenor sax throughout his career. Hawk’s joined on stage by Tommy Flanagan on piano, Major Holley on bass, and Ed Locke on drums. My copy used in this report is the 1995 Classic Records US Stereo Audiophile reissue sharing the original catalog number.

Side One opens with All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Tommy lays the foundation on a concise introduction leading to Coleman’s melody and lively lead solo possessing one imaginative idea after another. Tommy matches him in agility on a spirited reading. Major follows with a splendid statement leading to Coleman’s return for the theme’s reprise. Hawkins introduces the next tune to the audience, the African American spiritual, Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho. Hawk takes the lead on the theme, stepping aside for Flanagan who gives a marvelous first solo. Holley makes his presence felt on a strong, personal interpretation vocally accompanying his bass playing. Hawkins puts an exclamation point on the finale preceding the group’s climax.

The quartet starts Side Two with the old favorite, Mack The Knife by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, and Marc Blitzstein. After the ensemble’s melody presentation, Coleman lets us know we’re in for a treat with a joyful opening solo. Tommy delivers a cheerful interpretation next, then Major gets a chance to shine on a charming reading ahead of the closing chorus. The album ends with a lovely ballad, It’s The Talk of The Town by Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, and Marty Symes. Hawk opens this standard with a warm, moving melody that continues in the poignant beauty of his opening statement. Flanagan follows with a touching interpretation of his own, and Holley manages the next reading with great delicacy. Hawk reappears and gently takes the group home to appreciative applause from the crowd.

Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate was produced by Creed Taylor. Frank Greenwald and Tom Hidley were the men behind the dials of the original recording. This Classic Records reissue was mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180 grams of audiophile vinyl that’s dead silent until the music starts. The sound quality is breathtaking with a stunning soundstage placing the listener in the Village Gate crowd while the musicians are performing. Coleman Hawkins recorded forty albums as a leader for various labels and appeared as a sideman with some of the elite musicians in jazz. He passed away at age sixty-four from liver disease on May 19, 1969. If you’re a fan of his LPs, the tenor sax, or just love good jazz, I invite you to check out Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate the next time you’re out searching for vinyl treasure. Like its companion, it’s a great album that’s perfect to enjoy with your favorite beverage after a long day or week, and a record any jazz aficionado or novice fan can enjoy!

~ Hawkins! Eldridge! Hodges! Alive! At The Village Gate (Verve Records V-8504/V6-8504) – Source: Discogs.com ~ All The Things You Are, It’s The Talk of The Town, Mack The Knife – Source: JazzStandards.com © 2022 by Edward Thomas Carter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Don Lusher was born on November 6, 1923 in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England and started playing the trombone at six years old in his local Salvation Army band, the third generation of his family to do so.

During World War II, he served as a gunner signaller in the Royal Artillery. After the war, he became a professional musician, playing with the bands of Joe Daniels making £12 a week, Lou Preager, Maurice Winnick, the Squadronaires, Jack Parnell and the Ted Heath Big Band.

Lusher spent nine years as lead trombone with Ted Heath’s Orchestra and toured the United States with him five times. After several attempts to revive the band, Don took over the leadership in 1976. He led the ‘Ted Heath Tribute Orchestra’ throughout the 1980s and 1990s until the sold-out final concert at the Royal Festival Hall in December 2000. He led the trombone section during many of Frank Sinatra’s European tours. In 1975 he gave the first performance of Gordon Langford’s Rhapsody for Trombone at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and went on to perform it around the world.

Lusher formed his own ensemble, the Don Lusher Big Band, performed with the Manhattan Sound Big Band, played with Alexis Korner and various session musicians in the big band-rock fusion group CCS, and was a founder member of the Best of British Jazz group from the 1970s onwards.

After spending some years as a Professor of the Royal College of Music he became Professor of Trombone at the Royal Marines School of Music, in Portsmouth, England in 1997, retiring in 2004.

In 2001, he recorded an album British Jazz Legends Together on the Decca label featuring Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk, John Chilton and the Feetwarmers, John Dankworth, Humphrey Lyttelton, and George Melly.

He was awarded the status of Freeman of the City of London, received an OBE for services to the music industry, and was twice president of the British Trombone Society. Trombonist Don Lusher, who with his big band played its final concert in 2007, transitioned in Cheam, England on July 5, 2006 at 82.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Terry Shannon was born on November 5, 1929 in London, England and started playing as a young child and was completely self-taught. He relied on gleaning from records rather than academic training. Never a good sight reader, he played local gigs with the likes of Les Condon but also worked in an office after leaving school. Finally in 1955 he gave up security for music and joined clarinetist Vic Ash, joining his quartet.

He first recorded with Jimmy Deucher and became a regular on Tempo records in the 1950s working with Dizzy Reece, Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes and Victor Feldman. His harmonic sense and his superb sense of time led him to become a favored pianist. Joining the Jazz Couriers in 1957 he stayed until the group broke up two years later, but continued working with Tubby’s various groups for the next five years. During this period he became a member of the Jazz Makers, had his own trio for a period and by 1965 was a part of the Keith Christie/Jimmy  Deuchar Five.

Emerging from this period of performance as a consistent player, his career began to falter in the late Sixties through a combination of jazz vices and bitterness. A stint with the Phil Seamen Trio, leading his own trio, and a long illness eventually removed him from the jazz scene for years. He returned to jazz in the Eighties freelancing occasional gigs before moving to South Humberside in 1988. Moving back to London five years later, Shannon regularly played in various groups.

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