Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Hugues Panassié was born on February 27, 1912 in Paris, France and when he was fourteen, he was stricken with polio, limiting extracurricular physical activities. So he took-up the saxophone and fell in love with jazz in the late Twenties. In 1932 he was the founding president of the Hot Club de France.

During the Germans occupation of northern France the Nazi’sbanned American jazz because they regarded jazz as low music from an inferior people. However Hugues got past the censors by submitting alternate and obscure French titles and continue to broadcast. One example was La Tristesse de Saint Louis, which translates to Sadness of Saint Louis, but in reality it was Louis Armstrong’s The Saint Louis Blues.

Panassié would go on to produce several jazz records by artists that include Sidney Bechet and Tommy Ladnier, author thirteen books about jazz, was an ardent exponent of Dixieland and Black players and a controversial critic of bad musicians such as Benny Goodman’s clarinet being inferior to the likes of Jimmy Noone and Omer Simeon. He dismissed bebop as a form of music distinct from jazz and held in esteem a lone example of a white musician who played jazz authentically in Mezz Mezzrow.

But he was not without his critics and historians who saw him creating a wedge between Black and Caucasian musicians by insisting that Black jazz was superior. He penned the liner notes for a 1956 RCA Victor compilation Guide to Jazz that included 16 recording by prominent jazz artists. After spending five months in New York City, critic, record producer and impresario Hugues Panassié met his assistant Madeleine Gautier, married, returned and settled in Montauban, France until his passing away on December 8, 1974.

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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1996

It’s an Olympic year in Atlanta and the eyes of the world are on the city as it prepares for the Summer Games that took place some 45 days after the jazz festival. Barbara Bowser has once again spearheaded the Bureau of Cultural Affairs and the Atlanta Jazz Festival took place in three locations this year, Woodruff Park, Justine’s Cafe and Grant Park.

With a small band of sponsors great things were accomplished and our thanks went out to Jazz Times, The Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Justine’s Cafe, Renaissance Atlanta Hotel, WCLK 91.9 FM and WRFG 89.3 FM for their unwavering support.

Over eight days from May 20th to May 27th we heard the talents of Kamal Abdul Allir, The Rick Bell Quintet, Dave Ferguson, Hunab Ku Quartet, Tom Harrell, Kenny Garrett, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eric Reed, Christian McBride, Vanessa Rubin, Cecil Bridgewater Big Band with Joe Jennings, Stephen Scott, Kuumba Frank Lacy Big Band, Jon Faddis with Jimmy Heath and Slide Hampton, Stanley Clarke and George Duke. #AJF40

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mike Richmond was born on Feb. 26, 1948 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and started on guitar but picked up the bass in his early teens. He studied with Edward Arian from the Philadelphia Orchestra during his matriculation through Temple University from 1965 to 1970.

After taking lessons with Jimmy Garrison in the early 1970s Mike began performing with Chico Hamilton and Arnie Lawrence, also working and/or recording with Stan Getz, Jack DeJohnette, Horace Silver, Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, Hubert Laws, Franco Ambrosetti, Dannie Richmond, Gil Evans, Art Farmer, Woody Herman, and George Gruntz.

In 1980, Richmond devoted time to learning the sitar, traveling to India to record and perform live with Ravi Shankar. He led Mingus Dynasty, replacing Mingus after his death from 1980–1985, and began teaching at New York University in 1988 and honored with Teacher of the Year in 1991 and 1994.

He has recorded ten albums as a leader and another 85 as a sideman, in addition to those mentioned above, with Bob Berg, Jerry Bergonzi, Keith Copeland, Kenny Barron, Ted Curson, Buddy DeFranco, Herb Geller, Chico Hamilton, Roland Hanna, Tom Harrell, Richie Havens, Daniel Humair, Vic Juris, Eric Kloss, Jimmy Knepper, Lee Konitz, Andy LaVerne, Arnie Lawrence, Hubert Laws, Jim McNeely, Mingus Dynasty, Jackie Paris, Bobby Paunetto, Dannie Richmond, Larry Schneider, Ravi Shankar, Ben Sidran, Marvin Stamm, John Stowell, Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band, Tom Varner, Naná Vasconcelos, Bennie Wallace, Bill Watrous and Eliot Zigmund

Bassist Mike Richmond won a Grammy Award for Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux, his book Modern Walking Bass Technique is used internationally and he continues to perform and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Don Randi was born Don Schwartz on February 25, 1937 in New York City and raised in the Catskill Mountains, where he received training in classical music. After his father’s death in 1954, he and his mother moved to Los Angeles, California and the following year he started working at a record distribution company where he heard and became influenced by jazz musicians, particularly Horace Silver.

He began his career as a professional pianist and keyboard player in 1956, gradually establishing a reputation as a leading session musician. By the early 1960s, he was a major contributor, as musician and arranger, to record producer Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. He became a member of Nancy Sinatra’s touring band for decades and also played piano on These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ as well as every album she recorded, and played on the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations.

Playing on over three hundred hit records, Don worked with musicians such as Gerald Wilson, Quincy Jones, Cannonball Adderley, Herb Alpert, Sarah Vaughan, Linda Ronstadt and Frank Zappa. He recorded a number albums of piano jazz under his own name and as the leader of a trio with Leroy Vinnegar and Mel Lewis between 1960 and 1968 that included Feelin’ Like Blues, Where Do We Go From Here, Last Night, Revolver Jazz, and Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet. He also wrote film scores for Bloody Mama, Up in the Cellar, J. W. Coop, Stacey, and Santee in the Seventies.

In 1970 he opened The Baked Potato jazz club in Studio City, California, and forming his own group, Quest, serving as the house band. The band subsequently recorded over 15 albums and were nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for the album New Baby. In 2008, as a member of the Wrecking Crew, Randi was inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk.and in 2010 the club was named Best Jazz Club in Los Angeles magazine. Pianist, bandleader and songwriter Don Randi continues to perform, record and releasing his own jazz records.

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The Jazz Voyager

The Jazz Voyager is heading off to the West Coast to hang out with the jazz heads at The Baked Potato at 3787 Cahuenga Boulevard, Studio City, California 91604. For more information 818-980-1615 or to get a preview of the menu visit thebakedpotato.com. Of course, they offers an array of baked potatoes as indicated in its name.

This storied, pint-sized jazz club is a prominent fixture on the boulevard and has been around since 1970 when it was opened by Don Randi. The house band is Don Randi and Quest, and over the years it has hosted many live recordings from jazz fusion artists. So it’s off into the wild blue yonder headed to the rustic digs of a West Coast jazz club to see who I’ll hear.

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