Daily Dose Of jazz…
Veronica “Randy” Crawford was born on February 18, 1952 in Macon, Georgia. She first performed at club gigs from Cincinnati to Saint-Tropez but made her name in mid 1970s in New York, where she sang with jazzmen George Benson and Cannonball Adderley. She signed with Columbia Records and released her first single, “Knock On Wood” / “If You Say the Word” in 1972. Adderley invited her to sing on his album Big Man: The Legend Of John Henry in 1975. During her brief tenure at Columbia, she recorded “Don’t Get Caught in Love’s Triangle”. In 1977 she was one of the vocalists on Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns – A Blow For Me, A Toot To You album.
1978 saw Crawford performing on the second solo album of former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, singing vocals on “Hoping Love Will Last”, the opening song on side two of Please Don’t Touch. The following year she led R&B veterans The Crusaders on the transatlantic hit “Street Life” that ended up on the soundtracks of Sharkey’s Machine and Jackie Brown. and appeared in commercials in the early 2000s. She later recorded for Warner Bros. Records.
Randy follow-up solo efforts included “One Day I’ll Fly Away”, You Might Need Somebody, and “Rainy Night In Georgia” which became soul standards. By the mid ‘80s her star lost its luster and though she continued to record for Warner Bros. she was unable to score crossover success. In 1995 her recording of Naked And True brought Crawford back to her roots: it included George Benson’s “Give Me The Night and confirmed her soul heritage.
She enjoyed her highest profile of the decade when rising starlet, Shola Ama had a worldwide hit with her 1997 cover of “You Might Need Somebody”. She recorded a live session with Joe Sample in 2007 at Abbey Road Studios for Live From Abbey Road. She would record with Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, Bootsy Collins, Johnny Bristol, and the Yellowjackets among others. Vocalist Randy Crawford has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist. She has had multiple top five hits in the UK, including her 1980 number 2 hit, “One Day I’ll Fly Away”. She continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Klaus Weiss was born February 17, 1942 in Gevelsberg, Germany and his influences were Big Sid Catlett and Buddy Rich. He began playing professionally at age 16. His first gigs, with a group called the Jazzopators, provided accompaniment for trumpeter Nelson Williams and vocalist Inez Cavanaugh.
Klaus worked with the Klaus Doldinger Quartet, played the Paris Blue Note with Bud Powell, Kenny Drew and Johnny Griffin. He led a trio beginning in 1965, with pianist Rob Franken and bassist Rob Langereis, recorded his first LP Greensleeves as a leader and won the International Jazz Competition in Vienna in 1966. He would go on to win several Twen Jazz Polls as well. During the late ’60s, he also played with the Erwin Lehn Big Band, the Bayerischer Rundfunk Jazz Ensemble and Friedrich Guida.
Weiss recorded half a dozen LPs during the early ’70s, several with a quintet or sextet including work by trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, bassist George Mraz and pianist Walter Norris. He also led an international all-star big band with Slide Hampton, Herb Geller, Philip Catherine and Don Menza among others for the live 1971 album I Just Want To Celebrate
During the late ’70s and early ’80s, Klaus worked mostly with his quintet, but also toured with Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Clifford Jordan and Horace Parlan while making frequent quintet albums as a leader. He recorded two albums during the ’90s, including the trio outing L.A. Calling and the Christmas album A Message from Santa Klaus with the NDR Big Band.
Later in his career, as his extensive discography continued to grow, he began composing music for movies and television. Drummer Klaus Weiss, who played with American expats and led his own bands in trio, quartet, sextet and big band settings from the ‘60s through the ‘90s, passed away unexpectedly, reportedly of heart failure, on December 10, 2008 in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jeff Clayton was born February 16, 1954 in Venice, California and studied oboe at California State University and undertook a tour with Stevie Wonder. Following this he recorded with Gladys Knight, Kenny Rogers, Michael Jackson, Patti Labelle, Madonna B. B. King, Joe Cocker and Ray Charles.
No stranger to jazz, joining his brother, bassist John Clayton, they founded the Clayton Brothers in 1977 and later formed the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra with drummer Jeff Hamilton. Clayton has performed and recorded with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton, Ethan Smith, Lena Horne, Kurt Elling, Diana Krall, and the Count Basie Orchestra under the leadership of Thad Jones. From 1989 to 1991 he was a member of the Phillip Morris Superband, and has toured with Gene Harris and Dianne Reeves.
In 2009 Brother To Brother by The Clayton Brothers received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group. Alto saxophonist and flautist Jeff Clayton continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herlin Riley was born February 15, 1957 in New Orleans, Louisiana into a musical family and first began playing the drums at the age of three. He studied trumpet throughout high school and for two years of college, but his interest in the instrument waned and he began to focus again on drums.
From 1984 to 1987, Riley was a member of Ahmad Jamal’s group. He then joined Wynton Marsalis in 1988, and toured and performed with the outfit until the group disbanded in 1994. He also performed music by Duke Ellington on the first Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra U.S. tour in 1992.
He has made recordings with Marcus Roberts, Dr. John, Harry Connick Jr., George Benson, Bennie Wallace and Mark Whitfield. In addition, Herman has released two albums as a leader, and has played in theatrical performances, including One Mo’ Time and Satchmo: America’s Musical Legend. In 2010 he was honored with the Ascona Jazz Award from the Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Whirlin’ Herman Riley, as he is affectionately known, is a regularly featured musician at Jazz at Lincoln Center, is a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and played a large part in developing the drum parts for Wynton Marsalis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Blood on the Fields. He is a lecturer in percussion for the jazz studies program at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. The neo-bop drummer continues to perform, record and tour.
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Hollywood On 52nd Street
Lady Be Good was performed in the 1941 film Lady Be Good, taking its title and theme song “Oh Lady Be Good” from the 1924 George and Ira Gershwin Broadway musical, but otherwise is unrelated to the musical play. The film starred dancer Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore and Red Skelton.
The Story: Eddie Crane, a young composer, is struggling with a tune he has just written. When his girlfriend, Dixie Donegan, provides words almost by accident, the song is published and is a great success.
A few years later, now married and successful songwriters with a hit Broadway show behind them, Dixie realizes that Eddie is spending more time in rich New York society than composing. They divorce, but quickly realize they are still in love and cannot do without each other. They remarry and write more successful songs, but then Eddie goes off to South America, ostensibly to get inspiration to write a symphony. Dixie again seeks a divorce, but the astute judge denies it. Eddie returns and they realize that despite all, they are still in love.
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