Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edgar Melvin Sampson, born October 31, 1907 in New York City, he started playing violin at the age of six and picked up the saxophone in high school. He started his professional career in 1924 with a violin-piano duo with Joe Colman and through the rest of the 1920s and early ’30s, he played with many bands, including those of Charlie “Fess” Johnson, Duke Ellington, Rex Stewart and Fletcher Henderson.
1933 saw him joining Chick Webb’s band. It was during his tenure with Webb that he created his most enduring work as a composer, writing Stompin’ at the Savoy and “Don’t Be That Way“. Leaving the Webb band in 1936 with a reputation as a composer and arranger, he was able to freelance with Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Red Norvo, Teddy Hill, Teddy Wilson, and Chick Webb.
Becoming a student of the Schillinger System in the early 1940s, Edgar continued to play saxophone through the late ’40s and led his own band from 1949 to 1951. Through the Fifties, he worked as an arranger for Latin performers Marcelino Guerra, Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente.
He recorded one album under his own name, Swing Softly Sweet Sampson, in 1956. Due to illness, he stopped working by the late 1960s. Saxophonist, violinist, composer, arranger Edgar Sampson passed away on January 16, 1973 at the age of 65 in Englewood, New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Jones was born on October 30, 1928 in Louisville, Kentucky and played drums as a child, starting on clarinet at age 8. His father encouraged him to explore jazz and
From 1949 into the mid-1950s he played with Ray McKinley, and then with Hal McIntyre before rejoining McKinley later in the decade. During a stint in the Army, he met Nat and Cannonball Adderley as well as Junior Mance. After getting his discharge, he played country music and rock & roll as a studio musician and did time with Boots Randolph and Glenn Miller before returning again with McKinley from 1959 to 1963.
Briefly playing with Woody Herman and Jack Teagarden in 1963, after the latter’s death, Bobby retired to Louisville and started a local jazz council and taught at Kentucky State College. In 1969 he moved to New York City and from 1970 to 1972 played with Charles Mingus, touring Europe and Japan with him. He also recorded sessions under his own name in 1972 and 1974.
Late in life saw him moving to Munich, Germany, where he ceased performing due to emphysema. Over the course of his career, he only recorded two albums as a leader, 15 as a sideman ~ 8 with Mingus and seven with Bill Cosby, Glen Miller, Woody Herman, Jimmy Raney, Willie Thomas and Bunky Green. Saxophonist Bobby Jones passed away on March 6, 1980 in Munich, Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jothan Callins was born October 29, 1942 in Birmingham, Alabama. The third of nine children he received his childhood education in Ensley at Council Elementary School and Western-Olin High School. Obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida A&M University, he subsequently became a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and performed with Max Roach, Milt Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra, Cecil McBee, Consuela Lee, George Coleman, Geri Allen, Joseph Jennings, Jeff Watts and many others.
In 1978, Jothan became the first Jazz Artist-In-Residence for the Birmingham Public Schools and helped found the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and City Stages. In 1982, after receiving a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, he obtained a Masters’ Degree in Ethnomusicology and Jazz Studies and remained there for five years teaching jazz history. As a prolific, creative artist, Jothan was a performer, composer, arranger, educator, consultant, musical director, and cultural catalyst, who earned the respect and admiration of fans, musicians, and critics throughout the world.
With his band, The Sounds of Togetherness, he toured and performed around the United States and the world. He specialized in Jazz performances and workshops for children and adults. In the ‘90s, Callins founded the Birmingham Youth Jazz Ensemble, Inc. (BYJE), serving as Director until his death. Trumpeter, flugelhornist, electric bassist, and composer Jothan Callins, who was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979, passed away on April 30, 2005 at Baptist-Princeton Medical Center.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Glen Moore, born October 28, 1941 in Portland, Oregon started his performing career began at age 14 with the Young Oregonians in Portland. It was at this time where he met and played with Native American saxophonist, Jim Pepper.
Graduating with a degree in History and Literature from the University of Oregon, his formal bass instruction started after college with Jerome Magil in his hometown, James Harnett in Seattle, Washington, Gary Karr in New York City, Plough Christenson in Copenhagen, Denmark, Ludwig Streicher in Vienna, Austria, and Francois Rabbath in Hawaii.
Moore is a founding member of Oregon but worked also regularly with Rabih Abou-Khalil, Vasant Rai, Nancy King, and Larry Kar. For the past 30 years, has played a Klotz bass fiddle crafted in Tyrol circa 1715 on which he has made extensive use of a unique tuning with both a low and high C string. He has recorded ten albums as a leader, twenty~eight with Oregon, and twenty as a sideman. Double bassist Glen Moore, who also plays piano, flute, and violin continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William Carl “Bama” Warwick was born on October 27, 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama and lived in Brookside, Alabama as a child. Moving northward in the early 1930s he lived with Charlie Shavers and together they moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1936. There they became members of Frank Fairfax’s band, playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie.
They subsequently played with Tiny Bradshaw and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band. After Shavers left to join John Kirby’s ensemble, Carl then worked with Teddy Hill, Edgar Hayes, Don Redman, and Bunny Berigan. During World War II, he conducted a military band, and played with Woody Herman in 1944-45, then with Buddy Rich.
In the 1950s he led his own group and also worked with Lucky Millinder and Brew Moore; he returned to Gillespie’s employ in 1956, playing intermittently with him until 1961. He took a position in 1966 directing music with the New York City Department of Corrections, and in 1972, he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival with Benny Carter.
Trumpeter Carl Bama Warwick passed away in 2003, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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