Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jackie McLean was born John Lenwood McLean on May 17, 1931 in New York City. His father played the guitar in Tiny Bradshaw’s orchestra and started the young man’s musical education until he was eight when the senior John passed away. His godfather, his stepfather who owned a record store and several noted teachers continued his education. He received informal training by neighbors Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Charlie Parker.
In high school Jackie played in a band with Kenny Drew, Sonny Rollins and Andy Kirk Jr. By the time he was twenty he was playing alongside Rollins on Miles Davis’ Dig album and went on to record with Gene Ammons, Charles Mingus, George Wallington and to become one of Art Blakey’s Messengers, joining the group after reportedly being punched by Mingus and pulling a knife on the bassist. Fortunately for the jazz world no one was stabbed.
Throughout his early career he was addicted to heroin, which resulted in the loss of his New York City cabaret card. To make a living he undertook a large number of session dates that produced an extensive body of recorded work in the 1950s and 1960s. He recorded for Prestige, then Blue Note both as a leader and sideman. His early recordings as leader were in the hard bop school but later McLean became an exponent of modal jazz without abandoning his foundation in hard bop. His adaptation of modal jazz and free jazz innovations to his vision of hard bop made his recordings from 1962 on distinctive.
He worked with the greats of the time not limited to Donald Byrd, Sonny Clark, Lee Morgan, Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Redd, Billy Higgins, Freddie Hubbard, Grachan Moncur III, Bobby Hutcherson, Mal Waldron, Chalres Tolliver, Tony Williams, Michael Carvin, Carl Allen, Bill Hardman, Larry Wilis and Tina Brooks.
By 1967 he abandoned recording for touring and the following year started his teaching career at The Harrt School at the University of Hartford. He would establish the university’s African American Music Department that evolved into the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz) and its Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies program.
Along with his wife Dollie, they founded the Artists Collective, Inc. of Hartford, and his bands were drawn from his students including Steve Davis, his adopted son Rene and pianist Mark Berman. He received an American Jazz Masters fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, inducted into the DownBeat Hall of Fame, and a biography titled Sugar Free Saxophone, as well as numerous other national and international awards. McLean is the only American jazz musician to found a department of studies at a University and a community-based organization almost simultaneously and they each have existed for over three decades.
After a long illness, alto saxophonist, composer, educator and bandleader Jackie McLean passed away on March 31, 2006 in Hartford, Connecticut.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Billy Cobham was born William Emanuel Cobham on May 16, 1944 in Panama but moved to New York City with his family during his early childhood. A drummer from his youth, he attended New York’s High School of Music and Art. Graduating in 1962, he played in a U.S. Army Band from 1965 to 1968, followed by joining Horace Silver’s ensemble for a year. He went on to work with Stanley Turrentine, Shirley Scott and George Benson.
Branching out into jazz fusion Cobham blended elements of jazz, rock and funk to create a signature sound and recorded with the Brecker Brothers in their 1970 group Dream. From here he performed with John Abercrombie, then touring extensively with Miles Davis and recording on may albums including A Tribute To Jack Johnson.
By 1970s, Cobham was working with John McLaughlin, co-founding the Mahavisnu Orchestra, released his first solo debut titled Spectrum, and played with Carlos Santana, George Duke and Jan Hammer. It was during this period that he began recording a series of groundbreaking fusion records and experiencing astral projections during his concerts.
He would record extensively for the fusion-oriented CTI Records, while simultaneously becoming a member of the New York Jazz Quartet. By the Eighties he was working with Jack Bruce & Friends, joined up with the Grateful Dead for a performance at Radio City Music Hall, formed his Glass Menagerie, releasing two albums with Michael Urbaniak, Gil Goldstein, Tim Landers and Mike Stern. The Nineties saw Billy with an all-star cast Live At The Greek with Stanley Clarke, Larry Carlton, Najee and Deron Johnson.
In the millennium a number of solo albums have followed with drummer Billy Cobham releasing more than 30 recordings under his own name, and continuing to record, perform and teach.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Grace Kelly was born Grace Chung on May 15, 1992 in Wellesley, Massachusetts of Korean ancestry. A move to Brookline, Massachusetts, mother remarried and a legal adoption and her name became Kelly. Growing up in an environment of music appreciation of American standards, Broadway and jazz.
Hearing Stan Getz during the ritual Sunday brunch she fell in love with the sound, however, too young to play saxophone she started taking classical piano lessons at age six. She hanged to jazz because she liked making up her own melodies. She wrote her first song On My Way Home at age seven, took up the clarinet in 4th grade the switched to saxophone later the same year and by 12 recorded her debut CD Dreaming. While in the recording stages Kelly met An Hampton Callaway who offered to write liner notes for her first CD.
At age 14, Kelly appeared as special guest artist for two nights with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, at 15 with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the following year for the Let Freedom Swing Celebration of America concert with Dave Brubeck as part of the inaugural festivities for President Obama. She left Brookline High at 16, got her GED, recorded her CD with Lee Konitz titled GRACEfulLEE, attended Berklee College of Music on full scholarship and graduated in 2011.
She has studied with Lee Konitz, Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, James Merenda, George Garzone, Jeremy Udden and Allan Chase; played National Anthem for the Celtics preseason and playoff games, and has opened the Newport Jazz Festival in 2010.
Her list of collaborations is extensive but includes Harry Connick, Esperanza Spalding, Kenny Barron, Teri Lyne Carrington, Chris Potter, Dianne Reeves, Marian McPartland, Adam Rogers, Bob Dorough, Frank Morgan and Phil Woods among others. She has to date amassed more than two-dozen awards, recorded 10 sessions as a leader and continues to perform at some of the 600 concerts, clubs and festivals all over the world.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Creed Taylor was born May 13, 1929 in Bedford, Virginia and played trumpet in the high school marching band and symphony orchestra. He grew up surrounded by country music and bluegrass but gravitated more toward the sounds of jazz after listening to Dizzy Gillespie in high school. He spent countless evening listening to Symphony Sid broadcast live from Birdland in New York City. He went on to attend Duke University, perform with the Duke Ambassadors and The Five Dukes.
After graduation, a couple of years in the Marines, and a year of graduate school, he made his way to New York City to pursue becoming a record producer. Convincing the Duke alum running Bethlehem Records to allow him to record vocalist Chris Connor with the Ellis Larkins Trio and the album becoming a success, led Taylor to become head of A&R. He was at Bethlehem during its two most significant years, recording Oscar Pettiford, Ruby Braff, Carmen McRae, Charles Mingus, Herbie Mann, Charlie Shavers and the J.J. Johnson/Kai Winding Quintet.
Creed went on to join ABC-Paramount, founded the subsidiary Impulse label four years later dubbing it “The New Wave In Jazz”. He recruited John Coltrane and released gatefold albums by Ray Charles, Gil Evans, Kai Winding, J.J. Johnson and Oliver Nelson. His use of photographers for cover art that blurred the lines of jazz and popular music would set him apart and come in handy in later years.
By 1961 Taylor left and went to Verve Records introducing bossa nova to the US through recordings such as “The Girl From Ipanema” with Antonio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz. The music was picked up by Dizzy Gillespie, and caught the ear of jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd and the sound exploded through the jazz community. Never leaving jazz, he also produced albums by Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, Bill Evans and many others.
From Verve Creed went to A&M Records in 1967 and formed his own label, CTI (Creed Taylor Inc.), the following year. A&M distributed CTI releases until 1969, when he left to establish CTI as an independent record company. CTI became one of the most popular and successful jazz record companies of the 1970s, achieving fame for his unrivalled ability to balance the artistic with the commercial. He recorded Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, George Benson, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Nina Simone, Paul Desmond, Art Farmer, Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter as well as forming the Kudu label and recording the likes of Hank Crawford, Grover Washington, Jr. and Esther Phillips.
Facing financial problems in 1974 Taylor caused by setting up his own network to distribute CTI labels and made a new distribution deal with Motown. This, however, was the beginning of the end with litigation, losing artists and bankruptcy. Finally Columbia agreed to distribute but he gave up his rights to the masters.
Record producer Creed Taylor has won numerous Grammy Awards for his decades of production work including sessions by Stan Getz’s Focus 1961, Desafinado by Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd, 1962, Bill Evans’ Conversations With Myself 1963, The Girl from Ipanema by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto 1964, Willow Weep For Me by Wes Montgomery in 1969 and First Light by Freddie Hubbard in 1972. His CTI label changed the way music was produced for the decade of the 70s and forever left an indelible stamp on the genre of jazz.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wu Fei was born on May 12, 1977 in Beijing, China. From the age of four she began her music studies first on the guzheng and then piano the following year, practicing two to four hours everyday. At fourteen she tested into the China Conservatory of Music and studied composition before and then at Mills College in the United States.
Wu Fei, who is also a composer, vocalist and improviser, combine East with West in her approach to her music. In 2007 she released her debut solo album A Distant Youth with accompanying guitar, violin and percussion. Her sophomore project titled Yuan followed the following year.
She has recorded with Abigail Washburn Carla Kihlstedt, Helge Andres Norbakkeh and two Fred Firth albums, as well as on his soundtrack for the PBS documentary film The Happy End Problem. Her performance was highlighted in the 2009 Shan Qi music DVD and she gave a live performance on guzheng and voice at the Hermes fashion show during Paris Fashion Week. Wu Fei, avant-garde and experimental jazz musician, continues to perform, compose and record.
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