Daily Dose Of Jazz…Trumpet
Jon Eardley was born on September 30, 1928 in Altoona, Pennsylvania and first started on trumpet at the age of 11. His father played in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. From the age of eighteen, he played1946 to 1949 he played in the Air Force Band in Washington, D.C., then led with his own quartet in D.C. from 1950 to 1953.
A move to New York City in 1953 got him introduced to the jazz scene. The following year he played with Phil Woods, then left for Gerry Mulligan for three years, and during that time played with Hal McIntyre. Returning to his hometown, Jon played there until 1963, when he moved to Europe and settled for a time in Belgium.
1969 saw his next residency in Cologne, Germany where he played with Harald Banter and Chet Baker and working through the 1980s. The last years before death he played in the WDR Big Band Cologne, Germany. Trumpeter Jon Eardley passed away on April 1, 1991 in Lambermont, near Verviers, Belgium.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rolf Kühn was born on September 29, 1929 in Köln, Germany, the older brother of the pianist Joachim Kühn. He started out playing in dance bands in the late ’40s, then worked with radio orchestras starting in 1952 before moving west across the Atlantic to America.
Living in the United States for three years from 1956 to 1959, subbing for Benny Goodman on a few occasions, played in the Tommy Dorsey ghost band, and worked in a big band led by Urbie Green. Rolf drew favorable reviews, and over the course of his career, he recorded more than two-dozen albums as a leader, ten with his younger brother, and as a sideman, eighteen.
He has recorded with Eddie Costa, Buddy DeFranco,Klaus Doldinger, Tommy Dorsey, European Jazz Ensemble, Urbie Green, Friedrich Gulda, Greetje Kauffeld, Eartha Kitt, Albert Mangelsdorff, Oscar Pettiford, and George Wallington.
In 2008 he founded a band with Christian Lillinger, Ronny Graupe, and Johannes Fink. In 2019, the New York Times Magazine listed him among the hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. Clarinetist and saxophonist Rolf Kühn at 90 continued to perform and compose for the next two years until his passing on August 18, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jack Allan was born on September 28, 1929 in Sydney, Australia. As a child, he began playing accordion before switching to the piano in his teens. While working in Sydney cabarets and clubs, he was heavily influenced by swing-era pianists, especially Teddy Wilson. He became one of the few Australian musicians to play the early post-war modern jazz styles.
In 1949 Allan’s recording debut was as a member of the Rex Stewart And His Sydney Six. The following year he made his first recordings as a leader with his group the Katzenjammers. During the early 50s they performed and recorded frequently with a variety of personnel, including Ken Silver, Don Burrows, Errol Buddle, John Bamford and Edwin Duff. The mid-50s had him beginning an acting career and with his generous bulk was often cast as a villain, an amiable bar patron, or playing a musician. His film credits include On The Beach, Ned Kelly, They’re A Weird Mob, and Caddie, as well as numerous television appearances.
Maintaining his musical prowess, Jack’s performances however became spasmodic. In 1983 he recorded with percussionist John Sangster and in the following year made a tasteful, swinging solo album for the Anteater label. Moving north to the Sunshine Coast, he lived in semi-retirement with occasional acting and musical activity.
Pianist Jack Allan, a reliable studio musician with the ABC and a writer/director for musical revues, passed away on February 7, 1995 on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Skip Hall was born Archie Hall on September 27, 1909 in Portsmouth, Virginia and studied piano under his father. He lived in New York from age eight and in the late twenties, he relocated to Cleveland, Ohio where he led his own band for most of the 1930s.
He worked as an arranger on contract, arranging for Jay McShann from 1940 to 1944. During World War II he played with Don Redman and in 1943 he entered military service and played in a band while stationed in England.
He would eventually work with Hot Lips Page around the year 1945 and then joined the Sy Oliver band, who was his brother-in-law. Following this he worked with Wynonie Harris, Thelma Houston, and Jimmy Rushing before joining Buddy Tate’s group in 1948. He worked with Tate for twenty years both as a performer and arranger.
In the 1950s and 1960s, he performed with Dicky Wells, Emmett Berry, and George James, as well as working solo and with his own small groups. Arranger, pianist, and organist Skip Hall passed away in November 1980, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Gershwin was born Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. When his parents bought his older brother Ira a piano, it was the younger George who spent most of his time playing it. He studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody.
He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. In 1919 he scored his first big national hit with his song Swanee, with words by Irving Caesar.
In the late 1910s, Gershwin met songwriter and music director William Daly and the two collaborated on the Broadway musicals Piccadilly to Broadway in 1920 and For Goodness’ Sake in 1922, and jointly composed the score for Our Nell the following year. This was the beginning of a long friendship and collaboration as Daly was a frequent arranger, orchestrator, and conductor of Gershwin’s music.
Moving to Paris, France intending to study with Nadia Boulanger. Refusing him, he subsequently composed An American in Paris, before returning to New York City and writing Porgy and Bess with Ira and DuBose Heyward. Unfortunately for them, it was initially a commercial failure, however, years later it came to be one of the most important American classic operas of the twentieth century.
After the commercial failure of Porgy and Bess, George moved to Hollywood, California. In 1936, with a commission from RKO Pictures, he wrote the music for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film Shall We Dance. His extended score, which would marry ballet with jazz in a new way, runs over an hour in length. It took Gershwin several months to compose and orchestrate.
Gershwin had a ten-year affair with composer Kay Swift, whom he frequently consulted about his music. The two never married, but he titled his 1926 musical Oh, Kay for her. His compositions have been adapted for use in film and television, with several becoming jazz standards recorded and covered in many variations.
Composer and pianist George Gershwin, whose compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, passed away at 38 from a malignant brain tumor on July 11, 1937 in Los Angeles, California.