Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jean-Paul Bourelly was born November 23, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois to American and Haitian parents. He sang at the Lyric Opera when he was ten years old and learned piano and drums, picking up guitar by age 14. When he was nineteen he moved to New York City and began his career playing with Muhal Richard Abrams, Roy Haynes, McCoy Tyner, and Elvin Jones.

In 1984 Jean-Paul landed a role in the Francis Ford Coppola film The Cotton Club, three years later released his debut solo album, and played with Miles Davis in 1988. Not limited to jazz he has branched out into rock music, catching the attention of the Black Rock Coalition, founded by Vernon Reid of Living Colour. He has spent time playing with Buddy Miles, Robin Trower, Jack Bruce, Terry Bozzio, and Matalex.

Bourelly has performed and recorded with Cassandra Wilson on several of her albums, as well as with Mike Ellis, Charles & Eddie, and Craig Harris among others, and is a member of the Stone Raiders and Blackstone Riders bands. He has released a dozen albums  that have found their most success in Japan. Jazz fusion and blues rock guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly continues to perform, record and tour.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mel Wanzo was born Melvin F. Wanzo, November 22, 1930 in Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of twenty-two he served in the 36th Army Band with the Adderley Brothers and Junior Mance during the Korean conflict from 1952-54. After his discharge he returned home and joined Joe Cooper’s All-Stars at the Ebony Lounge, that hosted most of the national acts coming through the city.

By 1956 he was gaining experience playing with Choker Campbell’s band who baked such R&B-oriented singers as Joe Turner and Ruth Brown in the Fifties, after which he worked mainly with big bands. Leaving Campbell, he studied at Cleveland Institute of Music and then joined the studio band at WEWS TV.

The latter-day big band trombonist played with the Glenn Miller Orchestra under the direction of Ray McKinley from 1966-1968. Woody Herman in the ’60s before joining Count Basie, with whom he worked from 1969-1980. He also recorded with the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut in 1981.

Wanzo rejoined the Basie band after its leader’s death in 1984. He continued with the group during the ’80s and ’90s under leaders Thad Jones, Frank Foster, and Grover Mitchell.

As an educator he was a mentor to the Wayne State University Trombone Ensemble from 1997 to 2002, and the Jazz Lab I Band beginning 2000. For the over forty years he has spent on the road he has performed with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan among other jazz luminaries.

Trombonist Mel Wanzo, who has had command performances for the Queen of England, King of Thailand, the President of Finland and has performed at six Grammy Awards retired from the Basie band, moved to Detroit and remained active until his passing away on September 9, 2005.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Alvin Burroughs was born on November 21, 1911 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He played in Kansas City, Missouri with Walter Page’s Blue Devils in 1928-29 and then joined Alphonse Trent’s territory band before moving to Chicago, Illinois around 1930.

Through the Thirties he went on to play with Hal Draper’s Arcadians, Horace Henderson and Earl Hines with whom he recorded extensively. By the 1940s Burroughs worked with Bill Harris, Milt Larkin, Benny Carter and Red Allen, in addition to leading his own groups. He was in George Dixon’s quartet in 1950 when he died of a heart attack.

Swing drummer Alvin Burroughs, who never recorded as a leader, passed away on August 1, 1950.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Meredith Jane Monk was born November 20, 1942 in New York City and her mother was a professional singer in the popular and classical genres. Known primarily known for her avant-garde vocal innovations with a wide range of extended techniques, she first developed them during her solo performances prior to forming her own ensemble.

By the end of 1961 she was solo dancing on Off Broadway in the Actor’s Playhouse production of Scrooge, graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1964 and four years later founded The House, a company dedicated to an interdisciplinary approach to performance. 1978 saw her forming Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble to explore new and wider vocal textures and forms, which often were contrasted with minimal instrumental textures.

Monk began a long-standing relationship with the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as with the ECM record label that released her debut album in 1981. She has written and directed two films, Ellis Island and Book of Days, composed an opera called Atlas, has written pieces for instrumental ensembles and symphony orchestras, and composed Stringsongs for string quartet, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. She has worked with Björk, Terry Riley, DJ Spooky, Ursula Oppens, Bruce Brubaker, John Zorn, Alarm Will Sound, Bang On A Can All-Stars and the Pacific Mozart Ensemble.

Meredith has received a MacArthur Fellowship, the Creative Capital Award, honorary Doctor of Arts degrees from Bard College, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, the Juilliard School, the San Francisco Art Institute and the Boston Conservatory.She received the Demetrio Stratos International Award for musical experimentation in Italy and U.S. President Barack Obama presented Monk with a National Medal of Arts, the highest honor in the United States specifically given for achievement in the arts.

Avant-garde vocalist, composer, performer, director, filmmaker and choreographer continues to record extensively and create multi-disciplinary works combining music, theatre and dance.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Matthew-Aaron Dusk was born November 19, 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and from an early age he wanted to become a performer. At seven he was accepted into St. Michael’s Choir School, and remained for eleven years. Originally performing opera and classical music until hearing Tony Bennett, Bob Fenton, and Sarah Vaughan records at the age of 17, when he decided to change his musical style and direction.

In 1998 Matt won the top spot in the Canadian National Exhibition Rising Star Competition, however he was on a path to take over the family business, and the same year attended York University to study economics. After his first year he changed his major for BFA in music studying jazz theory with John Gittins, jazz vocal with Bob Fenton, and masterclasses with Oscar Peterson. Awarded the university’s Oscar Peterson Scholarship he graduated with honors.

Dusk recorded four independent CDs before securing a major record deal with Decca Records. In 2004 he became the in-house entertainer at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada throughout the filming of the reality TV show The Casino. His 2004 debut album Two Shots went gold in Canada, the title song was The Casino’s theme song and was written by Bono and The Edge. Matt’s second project was a holiday EP titled Peace On Earth the following year. Since 2006 he has recorded a sophomore album Back In Town at Ca[ito; Records with a 58 piece orchestra, has worked with Patrick Williams and Sammy Nestico and Al Schmitt. And was the first male artist ever to reach #1 on the Japanese charts.

He has gone on to record several more albums, score the soundtrack for Call Me Fitz television show, record a live DVD concert special for PBS  with a 17 piece big band. His fifth album My Funny Valentine: The Chet Baker Songbook features an eighty piece orchestra with Arturo Sandoval, Guido Basso, Emilie-Claire Barlow and Ryan Ahlwardt.

Vocalist Matt Dusk has been certified gold twice for his albums Two Shots and Good News, and once platinum for his Baker project, and has recorded a duet project with Edyta Górniak, and continues to perform, record and tour.

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