Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harry Gold, born Hyman Goldberg on February 26, 1907 in Leytonstone, London, England the eldest of six children to a Romanian/Polish heritage. Raised in the East End of London, he decided on a career in music after his father took him to see the Original Dixieland Jazz Band during their famous visit to Britain in 1919–1920.
He studied saxophone, clarinet, oboe and music theory under Louis Kimmel, a professor at the London College of Music. Harry began working professionally as a musician in the early 1920s playing with the Metronomes, Vic Filmer, Geraldo, Ambrose and many other bands. It was, however, his tenure as the star tenor saxophonist with the nationally popular dance band of Roy Fox from 1932 to 1937 that brought him to wide public attention.
In 1937, while working with Oscar Rabin, he formed a band within the Rabin orchestra, performing break sets as “The Pieces of Eight”. This band continued to perform throughout World War II, dodging bombs during the London Blitz and across the country. After the war Harry Gold and his Pieces of Eight became household names in Britain through the late 1940s and 1950s. During this time his Pieces of Eight accompanied the singer and composer Hoagy Carmichael on a well-received tour of the UK.
Gold carried on working into his late 80s and early 90s, playing occasionally. He left an extensive back catalogue of recordings on 78 rpm discs, Formally trained in composition and orchestration, Gold also wrote and arranged music outside of the jazz genre, and most of his career was spent actively in union duties and in efforts to promote the welfare of other musicians.
Dixieland jazz saxophonist and bandleader Harry Gold, whose career spanned almost the whole history of jazz in Britain in the 20th century, died on November 13, 2005.
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Jazz Poems
CHARLES PARKER 1920~1955
Listen
This here
Is what
Charlie
Did
To the Blues.
Listen
That there
Is what
Charlie
Did
To the Blues.
This here,
bid-dle-dee-dee
bid-dle-dee-dee
bopshop
have you any cool?
bahdada
one horn full.
Charlie
Filled the Blues
With
Curly-cues.
That’s what
Charlie
Did
To the Blues.
Play
That again
Drop
A nickel in,
Charlie’s
Dead
Charlie’s
Gone,
But
John Birks
Carried on.
Drop
A nickel in,
Give
The platter
A spin,
Let’s listen
To what
Charlie
Did
To the Blues.
WARING CUNEY
from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Stark was born on January 6, 1906 in New York City and started playing music at age 15. He played piano, clarinet, saxophone, and alto horn before deciding on trumpet. In the mid-1920s he played with June Clark, Edgar Dowell, Leon Abbey, Duncan Mayers, Bobbie Brown, Bobby Lee, Billy Butler, Charles Turner, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, and Chick Webb, the last in 1926-27.
From 1927 to 1933, he played in the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra as a featured soloist. He returned to duty under Chick Webb behind Taft Jordan from 1934 to 1939. After Webb’s death, he remained in the orchestra, now under the direction of Ella Fitzgerald.
In 1940, he left the group to freelance, however, from 1942 to 1943 he served in the Army. Discharged in 1944 he then played with Garvin Bushell and Benny Morton shortly before his death.
Trumpeter Bobby Stark, who never led a recording session, transitioned on December 29, 1945 in New York City at the age of 39.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Connell Elrick was born on December 29, 1903 in Aberdeen, Scotland. His first ambition was to be a doctor but financial constraints prevented this. Still in his teens, he began playing drums for local dance bands and by 1928 had formed his own band, the Embassy Band. The group swept the prizes in the All-Scottish Dance Band Championship that year.
Turning professional, George moved to London, England where he became friends with the crooner Al Bowlly, and began singing himself. He joined the Henry Hall Orchestra as a vocalist and drummer and their 1936 recording of The Music Goes Round and Round made him a star. Leaving Hall in 1937 he formed his own band, and two years later began his solo career, which was moderately successful through the years of World War II.
In 1948, he took a touring revue around Britain, and was asked by the BBC to stand in for two weeks as disc-jockey on the morning record request show Housewives’ Choice. The temporary job lasted almost twenty years, as his Scottish accent and liberal use of catchphrases became highly popular.
In later years, he became something of an impresario and acted as an agent for numerous musicians such as Mantovani. He was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, and was also a life member of the Variety Club of Great Britain.
Drummer George Elrick, who published his autobiography titled Housewives’ Choice: The George Elrick Story, died on December 15, 1999.
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DailyDose Of Jazz…
Leonard Ware was born in Richmond, Virginia on December 28, 1909. He went to college at the Tuskegee Institute and learned to play the oboe.
By 1938 Ware was playing electric guitar on recordings by Sidney Bechet. He then started working with Jimmy Shirley, who was one of the first groups to have two electric guitarists.
In December 1938, he played at Carnegie Hall with the Kansas City Six alongside Lester Young and Buck Clayton. 1939 saw him recording Umbrella Man with Benny Goodman. He performed in a trio during the 1940s and recorded as a leader in 1947. Leonard also recorded with Don Byas, Albinia Jones, Buddy Johnson, and Big Joe Turner.
Ware was the co-composer of Hold Tight, which he recorded with Bechet and I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem with Jerry Gray and Buddy Feyne, which was recorded by Glenn Miller and The Delta Rhythm Boys in 1941.
Dropping out of music a few years later, guitarist Leonard Ware, who was one of the first American jazz guitarists to play electric guitar, died at the age of 64 on March 30, 1974.
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