Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mickey Ashman was born on November 12, 1927 in the United Kingdom and began playing the double bass at a young age. His sojourn into the jazz world began in the early 1950s when he collaborated with Chirs Barber in one of his amateur bands. Their early 1951 recording Misty Morning hinted at his exceptional musical talent.
The mid-Fiftiess saw his transition into the professional realm of jazz, joining Humphrey Lyttelton’s band. In 1956, he returned to Chris Barber’s Jazz Band, further solidifying his reputation as a sought-after bassist. Mickey made significant contributions to two influential LP records, Echoes Of Harlem and Volume 2 in the Chris Barber Plays series.
Parting ways with Chris Barber’s band following Lonnie Donegan’s exit in 1956, he joined Lonnie in creating one of the UK’s most popular musical acts in the late 1950s. By the early 1960s, he embraced leadership, forming Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazzmen. Although the group didn’t achieve the same level of fame as some of its contemporaries, they contributed noteworthy recordings like Tin Roof Blues.
His dedication to jazz and versatile talent solidified his place in British jazz history and his legacy continues to inspire musicians. Double bassist Mickey Ashman, also known as Micky, died on August 21, 2015.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mario Pavone was born on November 11, 1940 in Waterbury, Connecticut and attended B. W. Tinker grammar school, Leavenworth High School, and the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where he graduated with a B.S. in engineering. When his neighbor, guitarist Joe Diorio, recognized him as an unrealized musician Mario was inspired to take up the bass. Primarily self-taught, he was a natural on his instrument. Pavone began playing bass soon after witnessing John Coltrane at the Village Vanguard in 1961.
Pavone’s career took off during the Sixties when he toured Europe and was involved in the jazz loft era, playing in jam sessions nightly in New York City. From the late in the decade into the early Seventies he was a member of Paul Bley’s trio. The New Haven based Creative Musicians Improvising Forum (CMIF) was founded in 1975 by Pavone, Wadada Leo Smith, and Gerry Hemingway was influenced by Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. His venture into composition began here.
In 1979 Mario recorded his debut album as a leader and was a member of Bill Dixon’s trio during the 1980s. He also performed with Barry Altschul, Smith, and Hemingway. In 1980 he began an 18-year musical relationship with saxophonist Thomas Chapin. With drummer Michael Sarin, the group recorded seven albums for Knitting Factory Records, which also released an eight-CD box set of these albums plus a live recording following Chapin’s death in 1998.
He co-led a group with Anthony Braxton in the early 1990s, with Braxton on piano rather than his usual saxophones. His groups have included Matt Wilson, Gerald Cleaver, Peter Madsen, Joshua Redman, Tony Malaby, Dave Douglas, Steven Bernstein, George Schuller, Craig Taborn, and Jimmy Greene.
Bassist Mario Pavone, who has over 40 recordings and several films documenting his compositions and performances, died from carcinoid cancer in Madeira Beach, Florida on May 15, 2021 at the age of 80.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gustavo Casenave was born on November 10, 1971 in Montevideo, Uruguay where he studied classical piano from age 6 with Maestro Hector Tosar, who was Aaron Copland’s student. He led the group Kongo Bongo and recorded two albums, however, following a conversation with Hugo Fattoruso he decided to study in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1994 received a full scholarship from O.A.S. to study at the Berklee College of Music and two years later he graduated magna cum laude.
During this period he was awarded the Professional Music Achievement, and his composition Fragiltimer for the Past Future for piano was selected as one of the ten best original compositions coming out of Berklee in the last 30 years, 1966-1996. In 1995 he was accepted as a private student by the legendary jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton.
1997 saw Gustavo settling in New York City and creating a name for himself. He has been awarded three Grammys as a producer, composer and performer, Best Latin Jazz Album (producer), Best Tango Album, and Best Instrumental Album that showcased his ability to create compositions that resonate with audiences worldwide. He has also had six Latin Grammy nominations and three nods for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.
As an educator, Casenave has held positions as Jazz Department Director at the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts and has conducted Tango Master Classes as well as being a guest artist lecturer at The Juilliard School, Yale University, Eastman School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University.
Pianist Gustavo Casenave continues to contribute to jazz as a performer, composer, educator, and scholar, having published his first music theory book, “The Harmonic Structure Levels.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alfredo Remus was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 9, 1938. In 1964 he participated as the double bassist on the historic album La Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez.
He has accompanied important musicians and groups such as Paul Gonsalves, Vinícius de Moraes, Maria Bethânia, Enrique “Mono” Villegas, Gato Barbieri, Mercedes Sosa, Tony Bennett, Ariel Ramírez, Víctor Heredia, Alberto Cortez, Trio Los Panchos, Raphael, Zupay Quartet, Dyango, Leonardo Favio, Sandro, Susana Rinaldi, and Antonio Carlos Jobim , among others.
He was a regular participant in a series of informal folklore improvisation and experimentation meetings at Eduardo Lagos’s house, humorously baptized by Hugo Díaz as folkloréishons, which in the style of jazz jam sessions, used to bring together Lagos, Astor Piazzolla and Díaz.
With other musicians, Remus played with Oscar Cardozo Ocampo, Domingo Cura and Oscar López Ruiz among others. He recorded nine albums as a leader with his debut album Trauma released in 1968 and his final recording Tribute To Bill Evans in 2006.
Double bassist Alfredo Remus, who performed various genres of American popular music, that included but not limited to tango, jazz, Argentine folklore, bossa nova and post-bop, died in Buenos Aires on September 28, 2022.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Franklin “Ellington” Blair was born November 8, 1943 in Toledo, Ohio. He grew up in California and began taking violin lessons as a child, graduating with honors from Lincoln High School in San Diego, California in 1961.
Blair became a heavy academic, holding degrees from Eastman and Curtis conservatories. He even founded a school, The Universal Natural System. He is best known as the inventor of the Vitar, an acoustic combination of violin and guitar.
He was featured on many jazz funk records in the early 1970s and released a few sought after psych-funk releases on Mercury, Columbia and CTI. During the 1980s Ellington disappeared off of the map, never to return.
Violinist & guitarist Ellington Blair, suffered from heart failure and was homeless when he died on June 3, 2006 in New York City, New York
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