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Alec Wilder was born Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder in Rochester, New York on February 16, 1907 into a prominent family that now has a building bearing the family name. As a young boy, he traveled to New York City with his mother and stayed at the Algonquin Hotel that would later become his home for the last 40 or so years of his life. Unhappily attending several prep schools as a teenager, he hired a lawyer and essentially “divorced” himself from his family, gaining for himself some portion of the family fortune.
Wilder was largely self-taught as a composer; he studied privately with the composers Herman Inch and Edward Royce, who taught at the Eastman School of Music in the 1920s, but never registered for classes, never received his degree but eventually was awarded an honorary degree in 1973. While there, he edited a humor magazine and scored music for short films directed by James Sibley Watson.
Alec would eventually become good friends with Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett and others in the American pop canon. He wrote hits like his most famous song “I’ll Be Around” (lyrics also), as well as “While We’re Young”, “Where Do You Go” and “Trouble Is A Man”.
Over the years Alec worked with lyricists Loonis McGlohon, William Engvick, Fran Landesman and Johnny Mercer. Not tied to popular song, Wilder composed classical pieces, operas, jazz influenced numbers for television, songs for a theme park and arranged a series of Christmas carols. He wrote the definitive book American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950.
His love of puzzles led him to create his own cryptic crosswords and spend hours on jigsaw puzzles. He would compose music for twelve operas, four musicals, six films, two large ensembles, and twenty-two songs. His octet, that included Eastman classmate Mitch Miller, would record many of his compositions.
Composer Alec Wilder passed away on December 24, 1980 at age 73 in Gainesville, Florida and is buried in Avon, New York, outside his hometown of Rochester.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dena DeRose was born on born February 15, 1966 in Binghamton, New York and began playing the piano at age three and soon became a fan of jazz. As a child she also played the organ and percussion, and played the piano in school bands. By her teenage years, she would to drive to New York City to see jazz musicians like Hank Jones and Mulgrew Miller.
After high school, Dena was offered a scholarship to Concordia College but chose to attend Binghamton University. At 21,she was diagnosed with capel tunnel syndrome and arthritis cusing her suffering severe pain in her right hand. Forced to stop playing the piano for close to a year she became depressed and turned to drugs and alcohol to help her cope. One night she was in a bar listening to Doug Beardsley’s trio when someone suggested that she get up and sing and she started singing regularly with the trio.
After approximately another 18 months, she had two surgeries on her right hand that enabled her to begin playing piano again. She moved to New York City in 1991 to further her career. Her debut album Introducing Dena DeRose came in 1995 on the Amosaya Records label and a year later was renegotiated and leased to the Sharp Nine label. Her sophomore album, Another World, was released in 1998 with a septet of musicians including Steve Davis, Steve Wilson, Ingrid Jensen and Daniel Sadownick, followed by two more releases. Moving to the MaxJazzlabel she released her fifth album with Martin Wind and Matt Wilson.
She has worked with Ray Brown, Clark Terry, Benny Golson, Bill Henderson, Houston Person, Bruce Forman, Judy Neimack, John Clayton, Jeff Hamilton, Steve Turre, Mark Murphy, Gene Bertoncini, Wycliffe Gordon, Marvin Stamm, Jay Clayton, Alex Riel, Billy Hart and Ken Peplowski, to name a few.
As an educator, DeRose has been the Vocal Professor and Head of Jazz Vocals at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria, a regular teacher at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and also teaches periodically at other summer camp and workshop programs including the Litchfield Summer Camp, Taller de Musics in Spain and the Prince Claus Conservatoire in Groningen, Holland.
Discography[edit]
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chris Pyne was born Norman Christopher Pyne on February 14, 1939 in Bridlington, England and played piano as a child before switching to trombone.
Beginning in 1963 he played with Fat John Cox, Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, John Stevens’s Spontaneous Music and the London Jazz Orchestra before settling in with Humphrey Littleton from ’66 until 1970.
During the Sixties he recorded with John Dankworth, Ronnie Scott and Stan Tracey. Staying very busy in the 70s Chris played with Mike Gibbs off and on from 1967-1979, toured with Frank Sinatra’s backing bands from 1970 and 1983, and was also performing with the John Taylor Sextet between 1971 and 1981.
Pyne also performed or recorded with Kenny Wheeler, John Surman, Philly Joe Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Tony Coe, Bobby Lamb, Ray Premru, Ronnie Ross, Barbara Thompson, John Stevens, Norman Winstone and Alan Cohen.
He toured with Gordon Beck in the Eighties, joined Surman’s Brass Project from ’84-’92 and later in his musical life became a member of the Charlie Watts Big Band. Trombonist Chris Pyne passed away on April 12, 1995 in London, England without ever recording as a leader.
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Les Hite was born in DuQuoin, Illinois on February 13, 1903. He attended the University of Illinois and played saxophone with family members in a band in the 1920s. Following this, he played with Detroit Shannon, then with the Helen Dewey Show, but when this group disbanded abruptly, he relocated to Los Angeles, California.
In L.A. he played with The Spike Brothers Orchestra, Mutt Carey, Curtis Mosby and Paul Howard. He became leader of Howard’s band in 1930, and played at the Cotton Club in Los Angeles for several years, accompanying Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller among others. The band also recorded frequently for film soundtracks and occasionally appeared on camera.
Hite’s big band, known as Sebastian’s Cotton Club Orchestra, primarily played in Los Angeles, though they occasionally went on tour. Musicians who played in the band included Lionel Hampton, Marshal Royal, Lawrence Brown, Britt Woodman, Joe Wilder, T-Bone Walker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Rarely recorded, for this reason much of the details of his life and work are poorly documented. The only sessions he did were 14 numbers recorded between 1940 and 1942. Saxophonist and bandleader Les Hite passed away at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California on February 6, 1962 from complications following a heart attack one week before his 59th birthday.
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Buddy Childers was born Marion Childers in Belleville, Illinois on February 12, 1926. He came to fame in 1942 at the age of 16 when he took over the first trumpet chair in the Stan Kenton Orchestra. For years he worked with Kenton as well as performing with Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Charlie Barnet, Dan Terry and other big bands.
He would go on to work with Gene Ammons, Elmer Bernstein, Maynard Ferguson, Clare Fischer, Milt Jackson, Carmen McRae, Oliver Nelson and Lalo Schifrin among others. No stranger to television programs and or films, Childers put together a big band that recorded for Candid Records in the 1980s and 1990s. He also recorded quintet and quartet sessions with Herbie Steward, Arnold Ross, Bob Harrington and Harry Babasin on the Jazz City label.
Trumpeter, composer and ensemble leader Buddy Childers passed away of cancer on May 24, 2007, at the age of 81.
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