The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

We Are Sent Here By History is an acclaimed studio album by Shabaka Hutchings, a British-Barbadian musician, under his band Shabaka and the Ancestors, composed of South African musicians. It was released on March 13, 2020 on Impulse! Records.

We Are Sent Here by History has charted in Germany, Scotland, U.S. and UK and reached number 3 on the latter. The album was recorded at Milestone Studio and Sumo Sounds Studio in Johannesburg, mixed at The Crush in London, produced by Shabaka Hutchings and Dilip Harris, the creative director was Josh Cheuse, and the illustration was by Daniela Yohannes.

1. They Who Must Die ~ 10:10
2. You’ve Been Called ~ 6:29
3. Go My Heart, Go To Heaven ~ 6:41
4. Behold, The Deceiver ~ 6:01
5. Run, The Darkness Will Pass
6. The Coming Of The Strange Ones ~ 6:28
7. Beast Too Spoke Of Suffering ~ 2:58
8. We Will Work (On Redefining Manhood) ~ 5:24
9. ‘Til The Freedom Comes Home ~ 7:06
10. Finally, The Man Cried ~ 5:48
11. Teach Me How To Be Vulnerable ~ 2:45

• Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet ~ Shabaka Hutchings
• Alto Saxophone ~ Mthunzi Mvubu
• Double Bass ~ Ariel Zamonsky
• Drums – Tumi Mogorosi
• Electric Piano, Fender Rhodes ~ Nduduzo Makhathini (track: 2, 4)
• Percussion ~ Gontse Makhene
• Piano ~ Thandi Ntuli (track: 2, 11)
• Trumpet ~ Mandla Mlangeni (track: 7)
• Voice ~ Siyabonga Mthembu

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Robert Alexander Scobey Jr. was born on December 9, 1916 in Tucumcari, New Mexico and began his career playing in dance orchestras and nightclubs in the 1930s. By 1938 he was working as second trumpeter for Lu Watters in the Yerba Buena Jazz Band. By 1949, he was leading his own band under the name Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band.

In the Fifties the group continued to play a three-year residency at the Victor & Roxie’s, growing their popularity. Clancy Hayes joined the band to sing, play banjo and contributed his own compositions such as Huggin’ and a Chalkin’. The collaboration recorded over two hundred tracks until he left in 1959 to follow a solo career.

The Frisco Band broadcasted in 1952 and 1953 on Rusty Draper’s television show. In 1953, Louis Armstrong sang with them at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. From 1954-57, blues singer Lizzie Miles recorded and toured with the band.

In 1955, Scobey and his band played dates at San Quentin Prison and at the Rancho Grande in Lafayette, California. Two years later he recorded for Verve Records and RCA Victor, and on the latter Bing with a Beat recorded with Bing Crosby in 1957. From early in 1956, he toured colleges and universities and, in 1958, he recorded many of the student favorites and released the album College Classics.

While touring in 1960, he was reportedly drinking half and half or heavy cream to ease the pain in his stomach. Trumpeter Bob Scobey passed away from cancer on June 12, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His wife Jan posthumously produced a biography titled He Rambled!.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Reynold David Philipsek was born December 8, 1952 in Richmond, Minnesota and at the age nine began playing guitar and by 14 joined the American Federation of Musicians labor union. At sixteen, he wrote and recorded the single Oval Portrait with the band Cure of Ares. At 18, he was exposed, through a radio broadcast, to gypsy jazz through Django Reinhardt.

In 1975, he took a lesson and two workshops from jazz guitarist Joe Pass, studied jazz guitar and The Complete Johnny Smith Approach to Guitar with Mike Elliott.. Post Cure of Ares, he played in bands in the midwest and in 1989, Philipsek became primarily a solo act recording albums in pop, rock, jazz, and gypsy jazz on his label, Rephi Records.

He began to concentrate on gypsy jazz with All the Things You Are and Tales from the North Woods, that includes elements of gypsy jazz, bebop, Latin folk, modal jazz, and Slavic folk music informed by his burgeoning interest in his Czech and Polish heritage. Along with appearing at gypsy jazz festivals, jazz clubs, and concert venues, he composed the score for the children’s short film. St. Cloud Sleep, wrote a book of poetry Journey to the Middle Ages, and released Three Piece Suite/Munsinger Gardens on DVD.

He went on to produce Live at The Times recorded with the Twin Cities Hot Club and the documentary A Life Well Played in 2016. Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and poet Reynold Philipsek continues to explore his music.

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Three Wishes

More girl talk between Nica and Miriam Makeba produced the following answers to the three wishes question: 

1. “First in life. I want to live as long as I can”
2. “Freedom for my countries. Africa, as a whole, is my country. I like freedom for all men.”
3. “I like continued success.”

*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…

Born in Boggs, Oklahoma on December 7, 1906, George James began his career late in the 1920s, in the bands of Charlie Creath and Johnny Neal. Moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1928, he played with Jimmie Noone, Sammy Stewart, Ida Marples, Jabbo Smith, and Bert Hall.

In 1931 on into 1932 he toured with Louis Armstrong, then remained in New York City at the end of the tour. He went on to join the Savoy Bearcats and, later, Charlie Turner’s Arcadians. Fats Waller assumed leadership of the Arcadians in the middle of the decade, and James played under him until 1937.

Finishing the Thirties decade playing in the Blackbirds Revue, in the early 1940s George worked with James P. Johnson, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, and Lucky Millinder.  He led his own band in 1943-44 and later in the decade he played with Claude Hopkins and Noble Sissle.

He was active both as a leader and a sideman into the 1970s, playing with Clyde Bernhardt and the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band in that decade. Saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist George James passed away on January 30, 1995 in Columbus, Ohio.

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