Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Andrew Hill was born June 30, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois and took up the piano at the age of thirteen, and was encouraged by Earl Hines. He studied informally until 1952. While a teenager he performed in rhythm and blues bands and toured with jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.
Hill first recorded as a sideman in 1954, but made his reputation recording as a leader for Blue Note from 1963 to 1970, featuring important post-bop musicians including Joe Chambers, Richard Davis, Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Woody Shaw and Tony Williams.
Hill is recognized as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s but rarely worked as a sideman after the 1960s, preferring to play his own compositions, which may have limited his public exposure.
As an educator he held positions at Portland State University, held residencies at Colgate University of Hamilton, Wesleyan University, University of Michigan, University of Toronto, Harvard University and Bennington College.
Returning to New York City in 1990, composer and pianist Andrew Hill, whose unique idiom of chromatic, modal and free improvisation, made his final public appearance on March 29, 2007 at Trinity Church. Suffering from lung cancer during his later years he died in his home on April 20, 2007. In May 2007, he became the first person to receive a posthumous honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gildo Mahones was born on June 29, 1929 in New York City and early in his career the pianist played with Joe Morris and Milt Jackson in the late Forties. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, he played with Lester Young from 1953 to 1956, where he made his recording debut.
By the late 50s he was touring with the Jazz Modes comprised of Charlie Rouse, Julius Watkins, Sonny Stitt and Benny Green. From 1959 to 1964 he played behind Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. When LHR split, Mahones relocated to Los Angeles working both as a studio musician and as a jazz sideman. Yet he would labor in obscurity for many years.
During this time he led his own trio, and as a mainstay in the West Coast jazz world, he appeared on recordings with such luminaries as O.C. Smith, Lou Rawls, James Moody, Harold Land, Frank Wess, Coleman Hawkins, Blue Mitchell, Leon Thomas, Jim Hall, Big Joe Turner, Lorez Alexandria, Benny Carter, Kenny Burrell, Pony Poindexter, Booker Ervin and Jimmy Witherspoon.
He led two record dates for Prestige in 1963 and 1964 and another for Interplay Records in 1990. For many years he was Lou Rawls music director, worked regularly at the Lighthouse and in 2013 played Berkeley’s Jazzschool. He continues to seek work and be active on the jazz scene.
Take A Dose On The Road
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pete Candoli was born Walter Joseph Candoli in Mishawaka, Indiana on June 28, 1923. And his professional career began 13 years later when he became a member of the American Federation of Musicians. Quickly finding a spot as lead trumpeter, by 1940 had become a member of Sonny Dunham’s band, a year later in Tommy Dorsey’s band and during this time from ’41 to ’43 he performed in three films – Las Vegas Nights, Girl Crazy and Upbeat In Music. By 1944 he was playing with the Teddy Powell and bringing his younger brother Conte into the major leagues of big band.
After 1945, Candoli worked with several bands including Stan Kenton’s, then drifted into the West Coast jazz and studio scenes. Despite his range, he rarely played lead, reserved instead for feature roles and became a sought after studio musician and favorite collaborator of many influential musicians and performers, including Peggy Lee, Henry Mancini and Frank Sinatra.
Pete was inducted into The International Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997, the “Big Band Hall of Fame” in 2003 and won the Down Beat, Metronome and Esquire “All American Band Trumpet Bronze Award”, and Look magazine named him one of the seven all-time outstanding jazz trumpet players—the others being Louis Armstrong, Bix Biederbecke, Harry James, Bunny Berigan, Dizzy Gillespie and Bobby Hackett.
Candoli’s solo work is notable for his eloquent roles, supportive of the efforts of others, was adroit in the use of staccato and had a reputation for his high-note ability, that was used in West Side Story’s Dance at the Gym sequence. Trumpeter Pete Candoli passed away from complications due to prostate cancer on January 11, 2008.
Dose A Day – Blues Away
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Madeline Eastman was born June 27, 1954 in San Francisco, California. It wasn’t until she turned 18 while watching Lady Sings The Blues that she became enchanted with jazz singing. Listening to Miles Davis’ mid-‘60s quintet and the vocals of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan but gleaned her greatest inspiration from Carmen McRae.
In 2004, Ms. Eastman won 3rd place in the Down Beat Reader’s Poll “Best Female Jazz Vocalist” and was recognized in Down Beat Magazine’s International Critics Poll as “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition.” Eastman has long been heralded for her vocal gifts, interpretive savvy, and irrepressible sense of adventure.
Splitting her time between touring and teaching at Stanford Jazz Workshop and being named Department Chair of Jazz Vocal Studies at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, California, Madeline has performed in Asia and Europe and major clubs in the U.S. such as Yoshi’s, Jack London Square, New York nightclubs and festivals like the Cotati, Monterey and Glasgow.
She has released five CD’s on her own Mad Kat label that she co-founded with vocalist Kitty Margolis and has recorded with such luminaries as Cedar Walton, Kenny Barron, Phil Woods, Rufus Reid and Tony Williams. Vocalist Madeline Eastman continues to record and perform in her bold and original interpretations of the jazz canon and lively onstage persona.
Inspire A Young Mind
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Cunliffe was born June 26, 1956 in Andover, Massachusetts. His musical introduction began as a child listening to his mother play piano and listening to Sixties and Seventies music, especially the jazz oriented music.
Attending Phillips Academy he played in rock and roll bands, spent several years at Wesleyan University, heard an Oscar Peterson record and overnight converted to jazz. Graduating from Duke University he received his masters from Eastman School of Music where he studied with Mary Lou Williams.
Over the course of his career taught music at Central State University at Wilberforce, Ohio, toured as pianist and arranger with the Buddy Rich Big Band, worked with Frank Sinatra, played piano in various hotels and wrote jingles for several music production houses. A move to Los Angeles gave him the opportunity to work with such jazz notables as Ray Brown, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson and James Moody and joined the Clayton Brothers band.
Pianist and composer Bill Cunliffe, has received several Emmy, Grammy and Down Beat awards, has written several books on jazz, has delved into the music of Latin America and Brazil and in between recording and performing, he teaches at California State University.
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