Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Le Sage was born William A. Le Sage in London, England on January 20, 1927. His father and two uncles were musicians and he started playing the ukulele at the age of eight, drums at fifteen and taught himself to play the piano.
His career began in 1945 when he led his first sextet. He was then a member of army bands while serving with the Royal Signals. He played piano for the Johnny Dankworth Seven in 1950 but decided to switch to the vibraphone. Leaving in 1954 Bill joined the various small groups led by the drummer Tony Kinsey, until 1961 when he started playing with baritone saxophonist Ronnie Ross, with whom he co-led various line-ups until 1966. During this period, he also played with Kenny Baker’s Dozen and wrote music for television and films.
The 1960s gave Le Sage the opportunity to work with the Jack Parnell Orchestra, the Chris Barber Band, and led his group, Directions In Jazz. His composer credits included scores for the films The Tell-Tale Heart, Tarnished Heroes, The Silent Invasion, Strip Tease Murder and The Court Martial of Major Keller.
He accompanied numerous visiting American musicians, including guitarist Tal Farlow on an annual basis. In 1969, he formed the Bebop Preservation Society Quintet, which he continued for more than two decades and also worked with Barbara Thompson’s Jubiaba and others. Vibraphonist Bill Le Sage passed away in London on October 31, 2001.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Abbie Brunies was born Albert Brunies on January 19, 1900 into a famous New Orleans, Louisiana family, which counted among its members George Brunies and Merritt Brunies.
Brunies was the leader of the Halfway House Orchestra from 1919 to about 1927, playing at the Halfway House club in New Orleans. This ensemble recorded for Okeh Records in 1925. Among the musicians who played in this group were New Orleans Rhythm Kings members Charlie Cordella, Mickey Marcour, Leon Rappolo, Sidney Arodin, Bill Eastwood, Joe Loyacano and Leo Adde.
>He played in New Orleans into the mid-1940s, after which time he moved to Biloxi, Mississippi. There he played with Merritt in the Brunie Brothers Dixieland Jazz Band. This ensemble recorded sparsely. Cornetist Abbie Brunies passed away in Biloxi on October 2, 1978.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles Delaunay was born on January 18, 1911 in Vineuil-Saint-Firmin, Oise, the son of painters Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay. As one of the founders of the Hot Club de France, together with Hugues Panassié, he initiated the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. He also organized concerts, for example with Benny Carter.
In 1935, again with Panassié, he founded Le Jazz Hot, one of the oldest jazz magazines. In 1937, he started Disques Swing, “Swing Records”, the first record label dedicated exclusively to jazz. During World War II Delaunay was a member of the Resistance while continuing to lead the Hot Club. 1948 was when he founded the record label Disques Vogue.
He authored the famous Hot Discography with five editions in England, France and the U.S., the first jazz discography and was also an artist. Author, jazz expert, co-founder and long-term leader of the Hot Club de France, Charles Delaunay passed away in Paris of Parkinson’s disease on February 16, 1988.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sidney “Big Sid” Catlett, born January 17, 1910 in Evansville, Indiana, received at an early age instruction in the rudiments of piano and drums under the tutelage of a music teacher hired by his mother. When he and his family relocated to Chicago, Illinois he got his first drum kit, and immersed himself in the diverse styles and techniques of Zutty Singleton, Warren “Baby” Dodds, and Jimmy Bertrand, among others.
By 1928, Sid was playing with violinist and clarinet player Darnell Howard, before joining pianist Sammy Stewart’s Orchestra in New York City and performing at the Savoy Ballroom. After performing for several lesser established musical acts, he began recording and performing with multiple musicians including Benny Carter, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, Fletcher Henderson, and Don Redman throughout the 1930s.
Between 1938 and 1942, he was Louis Armstrong’s drummer of choice as he was regularly featured in Armstrong’s big band, while also periodically joining Benny Goodman’s group. Following a brief stint in collaboration with Duke Ellington in 1945, Catlett led some of his own bands through the remainder of the 1940s while staying involved in Armstrong’s All-Stars between 1947 and 1949.
Catlett was one of the few drummers to successively transition into bebop, appearing on Dizzy Gillespie’s progressive recordings in 1945. In 1950 he performed with Hoagy Carmichael at the Copley Plaza Hotel. In early 1951, he began to suffer from pneumonia. On March 25, 1951 drummer Sid Catlett passed away at the age of 41 after suffering a heart attack while visiting friends backstage at a Hot Lips Page benefit concert in Chicago, Illinois. In 1996, he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Spike Wells was born Michael Wells in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Wells on the 16th of January 1946 and was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral Choir School. He became interested in jazz after coming across a recording by Dizzy Gillespie, which he found very exciting. He took up playing drums in his early teens and later had lessons from former Miles Davis drummer Philly Joe Jones, who lived in London from 1967 to 1969 He was also very influenced by another of Davis’s drummers, Tony Williams. At Oxford University, Wells put together a quartet with tenor player Pat Crumly and pianist Brian Priestley that played with visitors including saxophonists Bobby Wellins, Tony Coe and Joe Harriott, and blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon.
In 1968 Wells began a Ph.D. course in philosophy at London University, living in a house that was also home to bass player Ron Mathewson, alto sax player Ray Warleigh, trombonist Chris Pyne and pianist Mick Pyne. Mathewson was then playing in the quartet of tenor player Tubby Hayes and asked Wells if he would be interested in joining the group. He arranged an audition with Hayes and guitarist Louis Stewart, at which time Tubby asked if they wanted the job. Wells abandoned his Ph.D. and became a professional musician.
As well as playing with Hayes, in both his quartet and his big band, until the saxophonist’s death in 1973, he spent a year in Humphrey Lyttelton’s band, and also worked with many visiting soloists at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, including Stan Getz, Roland Kirk, Art Farmer, Johnny Griffin and James Moody.
Qualifying as a solicitor, Wells then practiced law for 22 years, eventually working as an in-house legal adviser for Lloyds Bank. He became a deacon in the Church of England at 49, took early retirement from the bank, and took a stipend to curate at St Peter’s Church, Brighton. With music as well as ministry important to him, he went on to decline the stipend and now works as both a priest and a drummer. A selected discography has him recording fifteen albums with one as a leader titled Reverence in 2006.
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