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.
Give A Gift Of Jazz – Share
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Johnny Smith was born John Henry Smith on June 25, 1922 in Birmingham, Alabama but his family moved north during the Depression living in several cities before their final destination ending in Portland, Maine.
Smith taught himself to play guitar in pawnshops, which let him play in exchange for keeping the guitars in tune. At thirteen years of age he was teaching others to play the guitar. He got his first guitar after one of his students bought a new guitar and gave him his old guitar becoming the first guitar Smith owned.
Dropping out of high school, Johnny joined a local hillbilly band, Uncle Lem and the Mountain Boys, and travelled around Maine earning four dollars a night. His interest in jazz peaked after hearing jazz bands on the radio, started practicing playing jazz, left The Mountain Boys at eighteen and founded a jazz trio called The Airport Boys.
Equally at home playing Birdland or sight-reading scores in the orchestral pit of the New York Philharmonic and was one of the most versatile guitarists of the 1950s. He recorded for Roost Records, with his most critically acclaimed Moonlight In Vermont was named one of Down Beat magazine’s top jazz albums in 1952. His most famous musical composition is the tune “Walk Don’t Run” in 1955. Johnny Smith stepped out of the public eye/ear in the 1960s, having moved to Colorado in 1958 to teach and run a music store and to raise his daughter after the death of his second wife. The cool jazz and mainstream guitarist who actively participated in the jazz scene from 1935 to 1960 passed away on June 11, 2013.
Jazz Is Global – Share
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