Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Cecil Percival Taylor was born March 25, 1929 in New York City and began playing piano and classical training at age six. He studied at the New York College of Music and New England Conservatory. After first steps in R&B and swing-styled small groups in the early 1950s, he formed his own band with soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy in 1956, in which he release his first recording Jazz Advance.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Taylor’s music grew more complex and moved away from existing jazz styles. Gigs were often hard to come by, and club owners found Taylor’s approach to performance (long pieces) unhelpful in conducting business. Forming his group The Unit in 1961 with Jimmy Lyons, Sunny Murray and later Andrew Cyrille produced landmark recordings, like “Unit Structures” in 1966, they continued to record although sporadically and many of his recording sessions remained unreleased for sometimes decades.

By the 70s he was performing solo concerts and Taylor’s work began to be released for the next two decades, garnering critical if not popular acclaim. He began lecturing at universities, was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, performed a White House lawn concert for President Jimmy Carter, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, returned to the trio setting, collaborated with ballet companies and as an accomplished poet often incorporates his poems into his musical performances.

He is the co-founder of the Jazz Composers Guild to enhance the working possibilities of avant-garde musicians. Acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz, his music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and intricate polyrhythms. His piano technique has been likened to percussion, described as “eighty-eight tuned drums” referring to the number of keys on a standard piano. He continues to perform, compose and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Renee Rosnes was born Irene Louise Rosnes on March 24, 1962 in Regina, Saskatchewan but grew up in North Vancouver, B.C. where she attended Handsworth Secondary School. She was three when she began taking classical piano lessons and became interested in jazz in high school. She went on to the University of Toronto pursuing classical performance, was awarded a Canada Council of the Arts grant in 1985 and moved to New York City to further her studies.

Saxophonist Joe Henderson hired her to play with his quartet that kick-started her international career. Since then, Rosnes has worked with many of the top names in jazz including J.J. Johnson, Wayne Shorter, James Moody, Bobby Hutcherson and Jon Faddis among others.

Renee is a founding member of the San Francisco Jazz Collective, whose members have included the likes of Joshua Redman, Brian Blade, Bobby Hutcherson, Dave Douglas, Eric Harland, Nicholas Payton, Joe Lovano, Stefon Harris and others.

The pianist, composer and arranger performs and records in the hard bop and post-bop mediums, has nearly two dozen albums as a leader and several more as a sidewoman with her latest project “Double Portrait” recorded with her husband Bill Charlap. Renee Rosnes continues to perform, tour and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Stefon Harris was born March 23, 1973 in Albany, New York and started playing the piano at age 6 and learned to read music by the time he began elementary school. By the time he reached 8^th grade Stefon played nearly twenty different instruments from string bass to trombone. After seeing the Empire State Youth Orchestra on television, he auditioned for the ensemble and was accepted as the principal percussionist.

A few years later, he earned a full merit scholarship to attend Eastman School of Music in Rochester, where his roommate introduced him to jazz via Charlie Parker records. Smitten by the music, Harris moved to New York City and began gigging on the jazz scene as a vibraphone player while finishing his B.A. and Master’s degrees at the Manhattan School of Music.

Harris has released several critically acclaimed albums, composed numerous works and is one of the foremost young artists in demand today having played with such luminaries as Kenny Barron, Steve Turre, Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter, Joe Henderson, Steve Coleman, Cassandra Wilson, Buster Williams, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. In 2011 he ventured to Havana, Cuba with saxophonist David Sanchez and trumpeter Christian Scott to record their critically acclaimed Ninety Miles. Having performed worldwide, vibraphonist Stefon Harris sits at the forefront of New York music.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Melvin Sparks was born on March 22, 1946 in Houston, Texas. He got his first guitar when he was eleven and two years later he was sitting in with B.B. King. By 1963 he had joined the “Upsetters”, an R&B show band that backed Little Richard, Sam Cooke and other big names.  Following this he did a year stint with Jack McDuff from 1966-67, then became quite in demand for his ability to improvise.

Sparks released his first album as a leader on Prestige in 1970 followed by a number of recording dates for the Prestige and Savant record labels and also appeared as a sideman and guest artist on several recordings with musicians including Lou Donaldson, Houston Person, Jimmy McGriff, Hank Crawford, Charles Earland, Sonny Stitt, Leon Spencer and Johnny Hammond Smith.

His Grant Green influenced guitar style placed him firmly in the soul jazz, hard bop and jazz blues genres. Melvin Sparks died on March 13, 2011 in Mount Vernon, New York from complications from diabetes.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Toru “Tiger” Okoshi was born in Ashiya, Japan on March 21, 1950. An autodidact on trumpet, he studied at Kwansei Gakuin University prior to moving to the United States in 1972. He then matriculated through the Berklee School of Music.

Okoshi first gained attention with his collaboration in the Seventies with Gary Burton, then played with the Mike Gibbs Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1974. Following this came a tour with Buddy Rich and in the early 90s he played in George Russell’s Living Time Orchestra and recorded with Rakalam Bob Moses.

Tiger has recorded regularly as a leader and sideman with Jay Anderson, Peter Erskine, Bela Fleck, Gil Goldstein, Mike Stern, Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Barron, Mino Cinelu and Bernard Purdie among others. He is currently a professor at Berklee.

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