Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Matt Dusk was born Matthew-Aaron Dusk on November 19, 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and from an early age wanted to become a performer. At seven, he was accepted into St. Michael’s Choir School and for the next eleven years performed opera and classical music. It wasn’t until hearing Tony Bennett and Sarah Vaughan records at age 17 that he began to change his musical style and direction.
In 1998 Matt won the top spot in the Canadian National Exhibition Rising Star Competition, entered York University for economics but a year later change to music studying jazz theory and jazz vocal, graduating with honors in 2002.
Dusk recorded four independent CDs before his major record deal, making his mark on the MP3 web circuit. This was followed by a 2003 record deal with Decca Records, the next year played Las Vegas at the Golden Nugget, and became the house entertainer for the reality TV show Casino.
Matt has recorded with Capitol Records, worked with a 58-piece orchestra, is the first jazz artist in Japanese history to reach #1 on the pop radio charts, recorded the soundtrack for the TV series Call Me Fitz, and has shot a live DVD concert special with a 17-piece band and has six albums to his credit alongside his independent project. He currently performs, tours and records.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Cherry was born Donald Eugene Cherry on November 18, 1936 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His father, trumpeter and club owner moved the family to Watts in Los Angeles, California when he was four. He would skip high school at Fremont to play with the swing band at Jefferson High, resulting in his transfer to reform school at Jacob Riis, where he first met drummer Billy Higgins.
By the early 50s Cherry was playing with jazz musicians in Los Angeles, sometimes acting as pianist in Art Farmer’s group. While trumpeter Clifford Brown was in L. A. he would informally mentor him. He became well known in 1958 when he performed and recorded with Ornette Coleman quintet. He co-led The Avant-Garde session with John Coltrane replacing Coleman, toured with Sonny Rollins, joined the New York Contemporary Five and recorded with Albert Ayler and George Russell.
Don’s first recording as a leader was Complete Communion for Blue Note in 1965 with Ed Blackwell and Gato Barbieri. He would begin leaning toward funk/fusion and play sparse jazz during his Scandinavia years. He would go on to play with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Lou Reed, and Sun Ra, and then ventured into developing world fusion music incorporating Middle Eastern, African and Indian into his playing.
Cherry appeared on the Red Hot Organization’s compilation CD, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool, was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, played piano, pocket trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn and bugle. He recorded some two-dozen albums as a leader and some 48 as a sideman. Don Cherry died on October 19, 1995 at age 58 from liver cancer in Málaga, Spain.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Kennedy, Jr. on November 17, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was introduced to the violin by his grandfather. During his induction in the Army he performed with the Camp Lee Symphony Orchestra in Petersburg, Virginia. Returning home he cut his jazz teeth as a member of the Four Strings along with Ahmad Jamal, with Mary Lou Williams supervising their debut recording session.
Kennedy would go on to study and earn degrees at Carnegie Mellon, Virginia State College, Duquesne University. As an educator with the Richmond Public Schools he was the Instrumental Music Supervisor, Supervisor of Music and Supervisor of Secondary Arts and Humanities, Director of Jazz Studies at Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University developing “An Introduction to African American Music” at the latter.
Joe would be one of the first Blacks to become the Resident Violinist with the Richmond Symphony from 1963 – 1981, traveled abroad with the Benny Carter All-Stars and performed at numerous concerts and festivals throughout the United States, and Europe.
Kennedy performed and recorded several albums as a leader as well as with pianist Ahmad Jamal. He performed with Benny Carter, Toots Thielemans, Billy Taylor and the Modern Jazz Quartet among others. Violinist, composer, arranger and educator Joe Kennedy, Jr., recipient of the 2001 Legacy Award, passed away on April 17, 2004.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Diana Jean Krall was born on November 16, 1964 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. At age four she was playing piano and playing jazz in a local restaurant at 15. She went to the Berklee College of Music on scholarship before heading out to Los Angeles, California.
In 1993, Krall released her debut album, Stepping Out, with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton. Her sophomore project hit the stands two years later followed by a third, a dedication to Nat King Cole in 1996. She teamed up with guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Christian McBride on her next release Love Scenes that quickly became a hit recording in 1997.
Diana has been on tour with Tony Bennett, teamed up with Claus Ogerman, incorporated orchestral arrangements by Johnny Mandel, performed closing credit music for the DeNiro film The Score, joined Ray Charles on his Genius Loves Company, featured in a Lexus ad campaign, produced Barbra Streisand’s Love Is The Answer album.
She has been awarded the Order of British Columbia, an honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria, inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame, has had a plaza named after her, has won two Grammy and eight Juno awards. Pianist and contralto vocalist Diana Krall continues to perform, record and tour.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kevin Tyrone Eubanks was born November 15, 1957 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into a musical family, his mother a gospel and classical pianist and organist, his uncle, Ray Bryant, was a jazz pianist, brother Robin, a trombonist and brother Duane, a trumpeter. He studied violin and trumpet, before settling on the guitar.
As an elementary school student, Eubanks was trained in violin, trumpet, and piano at the Settlement Music School and later attended Berklee College of Music. Following graduation he moved to New York to begin his professional career. He began performing with such jazz musicians as Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Slide Hampton, Sam Rivers, Bill Dryden and Dave Holland.
In 1983 Kevin formed his own quartet and went on a State Department tour of Jordan, Pakistan and India. He first recorded as a leader with his debut album, Guitarist, at age 25. This led to contracts for 11 albums with GRP and Blue Note labels. He has also appeared on over 100 albums and in 2001, he founded the label Insoul Music releasing six albums to date.
As an educator, Eubanks has taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts, Rutgers University and the Charlie Parker School in Perugia, Italy. In 1992 he moved to Los Angeles, California and took the guitar seat on the Tonight Show, composed the show’s closing theme “Kevin’s Country” and three years later replaced Branford Marsalis as leader of the Tonight Show band. He continues to compose, perform and record.
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