Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Louis Bacon was born on November 1, 1904 in Louisville, Kentucky. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois when he was a young child. After a short stint playing with Zinky Cohn in Michigan, he relocated to New York City in 1928. There he worked through 1938 with musicians Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, Bingie Madison, Bessie Smith, and Chick Webb among others.
Contracting tuberculosis in 1938, resulting in a performance hiatus, but by early 1939 he was playing with Benny Carter once more. Later that same year, he embarked on a tour of Europe with Willie Lewis and remained there for two years. He recorded under his own name as well as with Lewis and Freddy Johnson.
After his return to the United States he worked with Garvin Bushell, Cootie Williams, and Jesse Stone. Shortly after the end of World War II, he stopped playing once again due to persistent health problems. He did play trumpet again briefly in 1959–60, working in New York, and late in his career taught voice and sang with Wilbur De Paris.
Trumpeter and vocalist Louis Bacon transitioned on December 8, 1967.
Three Wishes
Pannonica finally got the opportunity to ask Lionel Hampton what he would wish for and his retort was:
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- “To be in tune with jazz. Jazz to me is like the human emotion of the Negro. From the time he was in bondage praying to God to give him freedom – that was the blues then, coming from the spiritual vein – and when he was freed some, he would make jazz more happy. It was coming from the Negroes. From the time of the slave in the cotton fields, swinging up, you dig? From the time it got popularized and commercial, and left the cotton fields and railroad tracks, and they were putting it in the cafes. It was the days of King Oliver and Sidney Bechet..”
- “The colored man always has been the one to change the color of jazz. As the country advanced, they changes the music. It’s always been moving along, integrated by Negroes, turning to his feelings as he advanced. From Louis Armstrong up to Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Edgar Sampson, and Sy Oliver. They started changing the picture of jaz. It was their orchestrations, their chart that made jazz. They began writing arrangements for Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and so on – for the ofay bands. fats Waller, Jimmie Lunceford, those guys were all great arrangers. Then Monk, Dizzy, Prez, Don Byas, and Charlie Parker, they came in, all influencing the music, all great instrumentalists. As the Negro got free he added more ingredients. You’d need an encyclopedia to tell it all. I hope I’ll always be tuned so I can dig the transitions in jazz. Because there are more transitions coming.”
- “Lots of white folks write about jazz, but they don’t know the pains of it. You should be the one to write about it, because you understand. And musicians will talk to you. Gotta get down on that stand now, but I’ll be over to your pad tomorrow, and we’ll do this with the tape recorder. It’ll take another three of four hours, at the very least. I’ve not done more than get started on the first answer yet, you dig?”
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rolland Pierce “Rollie” Culver was born on October 29, 1908 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. His first entry into professional entertainment was as a tap dancer, but after 1930 he concentrated on drumming.
He played in the territory band of Heinie Beau for most of the 1930s, then, in 1941, began playing with Red Nichols. He drummed behind Nichols for more than twenty years, working with him right up to Nichols’s death in 1965.
Other associations include work with Jack Delaney and Raymond Burke. He became a session musician for film soundtracks. Drummer Rollie Culver transitioned on December 8, 1984 in Culver City, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Conrad Lanoue was born on October 18, 1908 in Cohoes, New York. He started on piano when he was ten years old and attended the Troy Conservatory.
Beginning his career in his 20s, he played piano at hotels in his hometown. Conrad recorded with Red McKenzie in 1935, and under the combined leadership of trumpeter Eddie Farley and trombonist Mike Riley in 1935–36. During the 1930s he worked for Louis Prima, then Wingy Manone from 1936 to 1940 followed by playing with pianist Joe Haymes.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, he was a member of bands led by Lester Lanin, Charles Peterson, and Hal Landsberry. He also wrote big band arrangements. Pianist and arranger Conrad Lanoue, who never recorded as a leader, retired in 1968 due to illness and transitioned in Albany, New York on October 15, 1972.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Bee was born on October 17, 1903 in Brussels, Belgium. He was a multi-instrumentalist adept on clarinet, harp, piano, and alto and tenor saxophone. For a year in 1924 he played with the group Bistrouille ADO before co-founding an ensemble with Peter Packay called Red Beans. The group toured widely throughout western Europe.
After returning to Belgium, David joined Robert De Kers’s band, and also played in Paris, France at Chez Florencewith Benny Carter and Willie Lewis. He recorded with Gus Deloof in the early Forties and after World War II he played with Robert Bosmans and Chas Dolne later in the decade. He led his own bands and groups at various times in the 1950s and continued recording late into the decade and the 60s.
As a composer, Bee pennedr the tunes High Tension recorded by Luis Russell) and Obsession recorded by Ted Heath and Reg Owen.
Clarinetist, harpist, pianist, alto and tenor saxophonist, arranger and composer David Bee, also known as Ernest Craps, Ernie Sparks, and Manuel Travo, transitioned in 1992.
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