Daily Dose OF Jazz…
Donny Edward Hathaway was born on October 1, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois and was raised by his grandmother in the projects of St. Louis, Missouri. He began singing at age three in a church choir with his grandmother, a professional gospel singer. Graduating from high school he studied music at Howard University. Forming a jazz trio to work around D.C. but left Howard in 1967 without a degree, after receiving job offers in the music business.
Hathaway worked as songwriter, session musician and producer in Chicago at Twinight Records, arranged for The Unifics, worked with the Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, The Impressions and Curtis Mayfield. He became house producer for Curtom Records, recorded as a member of the Mayfield Singers and dropped his first single “The Ghetto” in 1970. He recorded several albums following this debut.
Donny went on to contribute to soundtracks, recorded the theme to the TV series Maude, composed and conducted the soundtrack for the 1972 film Come Back Charleston Blue and wrote several hits such as his collaboration with Roberta Flack – Where Is The Love – that garnered them both a Grammy and This Christmas that has become a seminal holiday song.
However, genius has its detractors and during the best part of his career he began to suffer from severe bouts of depression and was found suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. On January 13, 1979 the body of Donny Hathaway was discovered on the sidewalk outside the luxury Central Park South hotel Essex House in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Oscar Pettiford was born September 30, 1922 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma to a Choctaw mother and Cherokee/African American father. Growing up playing in the family band in which he sang and danced, he switched to piano at the age of 12 then to double bass when he was at the age of 14. Despite being admired by the likes of Milt Hinton, he stopped playing in 1941, feeling he couldn’t make a living. Five months later, he once again met Milt, who persuaded him to return to music.
In 1942 he joined the Charlie Barnet band and 1943 saw him gaining wider public attention after recording with Coleman Hawkins on his “The Man I Love.” He also recorded with Earl Hines, Ben Webster, led a group with Dizzy Gillespie and went to California with Hawkins to play in the film The Crimson Canary and on the soundtrack.
Following this he joined Duke Ellington, then Woody Herman but by the 50s mainly became a leader. It was in this role he inadvertently discovered Cannonball Adderley after one of his musicians tricked him into letting Adderley, an unknown music teacher, onto the stand, he had Adderley solo on a demanding piece, on which Adderley performed impressively.
Pettiford is considered the pioneer of the cello as a solo instrument in jazz music, first played the cello as a practical joke on Woody Herman. However, in 1949, after breaking his arm and finding it impossible to play his bass, he started playing the cello allowing him to perform during his rehabilitation. He made his first recordings with the instrument in 1950. The cello thus became his secondary instrument, and he continued to perform and record with it throughout the remainder of his career.
He recorded extensively during the 1950s for the Debut, Bethlehem and ABC Paramount labels among others, and for European companies after his move to Copenhagen, Denmark in 1958. Oscar Pettiford passed away from a virus associated with polio on September 8, 1960 in Copenhagen and along with his contemporary, Charles Mingus, he stands out as one of the most-recorded bassist and bandleader/composers in jazz
Dose A Day – Blues Away
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nefertari Bey was born on September 29, 1980 in Oakland, California, but had the privileged of growing up in places such as Detroit, Chicago, South Carolina & North Carolina. Having such strong musical influence at home she naturally gravitated toward music and began singing at the age of 5. By 16, Nefertari was embarking on her first European tour.
With a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance/Music Engineering Technology from Hampton University, and a Masters in Music from Georgia State University, Nefertari has used her musical education and talent to master the powerful art of musical storytelling and become a profound advocate of music education for all ages.
Bey, who is also a pianist, composer and arranger draws her musical style from influences such as Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, John Coltrane and Liz Macomb. She has lent her rhythmic skill, style and sound to performances with notable artist such as Kenny Barron, Curtis Lundy and Louis Hayes.
Nefertari Bey unparalleled talent and sultry voice continues to perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lammar Wright, Jr. was born September 28, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri to a big band trumpeter father. He began playing with local bands and by 16 the young trumpeter performing professionally with the Lionel Hampton band. Stints with Dizzy Gillespie and as principal soloist with the Charlie Barnet big band followed.
Often substituting for one another on recordings, Sr. or Jr. were never put in the credits on discographies, leaving the two to become ambiguous. However it was only the younger that hired out as a session player in the genres of R&B, rock and roll, doo-wop and others forms of music backing such artists as Wynonie Harris, Esther Phillips, The Coasters and Otis Redding during the ‘50s and ‘60s.
He later even had a brief association with Stan Kenton, whose modernistic charts were obviously influenced by some of the Hampton band’s more eccentric traits. Lammar Wright Jr. eventually settled on the West Coast, where he passed away on July 8, 1983 in Los Angeles.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Red Rodney was born Robert Roland Chudnick on September 27, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He became a professional musician at age 15 working in the mid-Forties Jerry Wald, Jimmy Dorsey, George Auld, Benny Goodman and Les Brown. Inspired by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker he turned to bebop and began playing with Claude Thornhill, Gene Krupa and Woody Herman.
Red joined Parker’s quintet in 1949 and was billed as Albino Red when playing in the racially segregated South. Leaving Parker he moved to join Charlie Ventura. Recording extensively over the next ten years he left jazz in 1958 due to diminishing opportunities, lack of acceptance as a white bebop trumpeter, and problems with the police about his drug addiction.
He continued to work in other musical fields and although he continued to be paid well, he supported his drug habit through theft and fraud, eventually spending 27 months in prison. In the early 1970s he was bankrupted by medical costs following a stroke and returned to jazz.
From 1980 to 1982, Rodney made five highly regarded albums with multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan, worked with The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, provided an early showcase for saxophonist Chris Potter, a member of his working group when Rodney recorded “Red Alert” in late 1990. Bebop and hard bop trumpeter Red Rodney passed away on May 27, 1994.
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