Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Calvin Massey was born on January 11, 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and studied trumpet under Freddie Webster. Following his education on the trumpet he and played in the big bands of Jay McShann, Jimmy Heath, and Billie Holiday.
In the late 1950s he led an ensemble with Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, and Tootie Heath, while John Coltrane and Donald Byrd occasionally played with them. Towards the end of the decade he gradually receded from active performance and concentrated on composition. Some of Cal’s compositions that were recorded are Bakai by Coltrane, Assunta, Father and Son by Freddie Hubbard, Message from Trane by Jackie McLean, These Are Soulful Days by Lee Morgan, Fiesta by Philly Joe Jones and Cry of My People by Archie Shepp. Horace Tapscott and McCoy Tyner also recorded his work.
He played and toured with Shepp from 1969 until 1972. An outspoken activist, Massey’s political standpoint was radical and his work was strongly connected with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ’70s. The Black Panthers were an inspiration for The Black Liberation Movement Suite which he created with Romulus Franceschini. The Suite was performed three times at Black Panther benefit concerts. Massey’s ideology resulted in him getting blacklisted or whitelisted according to Fred Ho from major recording companies and only one album was recorded under his name.
He also performed in The Romas Orchestra with Romulus Franceschini, and had The Music of Cal Massey: A Tribute, recorded by Fred Ho, Quincy Saul and the Green Monster Band. Cal’s only album recorded as a leader two days after his birthday in 1961, Blues to Coltrane, on Candid label, was not released until fifteen years later in 1987. He composed all the songs and the personnel with him on this session were Julius Watkins on French horn, pianist Patti Brown, bassist Jimmy Garrison, Hugh Brodie on tenor saxophone, and G. T. Hogan on drums.
Trumpeter and composer Cal Massey passed away from a heart attack at the age of 43 in New York City, New York on October 25, 1972.
Sponsored By
#preserving genius
More Posts: trumpet
The Jazz Voyager
Taking a road trip to Venkman’s in my old stomping grounds of Atlanta, Georgia. Located at 740 Ralph McGill Blvd NE, 30312, I am looking forward to enjoying an evening of jazz beginning at 8:00pm with Joe Gransden’s Jazz Jam. With a wealth of Atlanta’s finest musicians, both emerging and established, it has become a lively and packed event, so you might want to make reservations, just in case it becomes standing room only.
The ex–soda bottling plant turned dining establishment in the Old Fourth Ward with subway tiles, an open kitchen and exposed ceiling beams now plates modern comfort food with a contemporary spin in the ambiance of the industrial-chic dining room with a Tuesday night performance of jazz on an ample stage. Phone: 470 225-6162 / Reservations: opentable.com / Menu: venkmans.com
Sponsored By
Voices From The Community
#preserving genius
More Posts: adventure,club,jazz,music,restaurant,travel,voyager
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William Parker was born January 10, 1952 in the Bronx, New York. He was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition and is one of few jazz bassists who frequently plays arco.
Active on the free jazz scene since the early Seventies, Parker first came to public attention with pianist Cecil Taylor. The 1990s saw Parker’s prominence and public profile grow as an influential bassist in the New York City experimental jazz scene.
He has long been a member of saxophonist David S. Ware’s quartet, in Peter Brötzmann’s groups and has also played with various other groups that included Paul Murphy. He is a member of the cooperative Other Dimensions In Music and together with his wife, Patricia Nicholson Parker, organizes the annual Vision Festival in New York City.
His Sound Unity album has been listed in the Top 10o and his Double Sunrise over Neptune made the Top 10 album pick list by Amazon, and his Petit Oiseau has been chosen as one of the best jazz disks of 2008 by The Wall Street Journal, the BBC’s Radio Three, The Village Voice and PopMatters.
In 2006, Parker was awarded the Resounding Vision Award from Nameless Sound. His first book, Who Owns Music?, assembles his political thoughts, poems, and musicological essays In June 2011, while his second book, Conversations, is a collection of interviews with notable free jazz musicians and forward thinkers, mainly from the African-American community.
Free jazz bassist William Parker continues to record and perform regularly at music festivals around the world.
Take A Dose On The Road
#preserving genius
More Posts: bass
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edward Bertram Garland was born January 9, 1895 in New Orleans, Louisiana. By 1910 he was playing bass drum with brass bands including Frankie Duson’s Eagle Band. He then took up tuba and string bass, doubling on the two instruments which filled similar roles in different types of bands.
He played with the Excelsior Brass Band, Manuel Perez’s Imperial Orchestra and then joined other early New Orleans bands playing in Chicago, Illinois and California, such as Lawrence Duhé and Freddie Keppard. In 1916 Garland joined King Oliver and went to California and during the Depression he led his own One-Eleven Jazz Band.
1944 saw Ed gaining notoriety as a member of a traditional New Orleans band that was a leader of the West Coast revival, put together for the CBS Radio series The Orson Welles Almanac. The all-star band also included Mutt Carey, Jimmie Noone (succeeded by Barney Bigard), Kid Ory, Bud Scott, Zutty Singleton and Buster Wilson. Renamed Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band, the group then made a significant series of recordings on the Crescent Records label.
Garland appeared in the 1959 film Imitation of Life, performing with Andrew Blakeney, Teddy Buckner, George Orendorf and Joe Darensbourg in the funeral sequence Trouble of the World featuring Mahalia Jackson.
String bassist Ed Garland, sometimes known as Montudie Garland, a nickname he much disliked, passed away in London, England on January 22, 1980.
Sponsored By
#preserving genius
More Posts: bass
Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1989
#preserving genius
More Posts: festival,forty,free,history,jazz,music,tradition,years