Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Booker Pittman was born on March 3, 1909 in Fairmount Heights, Maryland, was the son of Portia Pittman and a grandson of Booker T. Washington. He became an accomplished jazz clarinetist and played with greats like Louis Armstrong and Count Basie in the US and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s.
Leaving the States for the first time in 1933, he went with Lucky Millinder’s orchestra to France and stayed there for four years. During that period, he met a Brazilian musician named Romeo Silva, who took him on a tour of Brazil along with other musicians. They sailed to Bahia aboard the Siqueira Campos.
In 1937, Booker moved to Brazil, where he was known by the nickname “Buca“, and continued his musical career there, playing at the Urca Casino. He lived in Copacabana and befriended Jorge Guinle and Pixinguinha. He also played in Argentina and other countries.
He performed and recorded with his singer/actress stepdaughter Eliana Pittman. On October 19, 1969 clarinetist and saxophonist Booker Pittman, sometimes spelled Pitman, transitioned in his home in the São Paulo quarter of Vila Nova Conceição of laryngeal cancer at the age of 60. On behest of his wife Ofélia he was transferred to Rio de Janeiro and there laid to rest at the Cemitério São João Batista in the quarter of Botafogo.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lennie Hayton was born Leonard George Hayton on February 14, 1908 in New York City into a Jewish family. He developed a penchant for the piano when he was six years old, showing unusual interest in the early classics from the rolls of the family player piano. His parents disliked jazz, so it wasn’t until he was sixteen that he really discovered it. He left high school to become pianist with the Broadway Hotel Orchestra of Cass Hagen, a boyhood friend.
While playing at the Park Central, Hayton was heard by Paul Whiteman and immediately engaged by him in 1928 as second pianist, playing piano and celeste as well as acting as a part-time arranger. Whilst with the orchestra, he played with Frankie Trumbauer, Bix Beiderbecke, Red Nichols, Joe Venuti and became friendly with Bing Crosby, then a member of The Rhythm Boys. However, by 1930 due to the impact of radio on audiences, Whiteman released ten members of the band. Hayton then joined the Charles Previn Orchestra.
Rejoining Crosby he embarked on a cross-country tour, landing in Hollywood. 1932 saw Hayton leading an orchestra for his first recordings of Cabin in the Cotton, Love Me Tonight, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? and Some of These Days all became Bing hits. The following year , Hayton became the musical director for the Chesterfield radio series Music That Satisfies which again featured Crosby and ran for 13 weeks.
His involvement with Crosby continued as musical director for the singer’s 1933 film Going Hollywood at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This led to a major career for Hayton who continued to work with Crosby and became a musical director for MGM and guided it through its prime years as foremost producer of movie musicals. Up until his retirement from the post in 1953, Lennie racked up four Oscar nominations: The Harvey Girls, The Pirate, Singin’ in the Rain and Star! He won the Academy Award for music for On the Town and Hello, Dolly!.
He arranged for Frank Sinatra, composed Apple Blossoms with Joe Venuti, Frankie Trumbauer, and Eddie Lang, and his other compositions included Flying Fingers, The Stage is Set, Mood Hollywood with Jimmy Dorsey, and Midnight Mood. Hayton also co-arranged the Hoagy Carmichael composition Stardust with Artie Shaw for Bluebird Records.
His first marriage to Helen Maude Gifford ended in her death in 1943. Three years later he married Lena Horne whom he met on the MGM lot. Throughout the marriage, Hayton also acted as Horne’s music director. Facing the stresses and pressures of an interracial relationship, they had a tumultuous marriage, first based upon her desire to advance her career and cross the color-line in show business, but she had learned to love him very much.
Pianist, composer, conductor and arranger Lennie Hayton, whose trademark was a captain’s hat worn at a rakish angle, died of a heart attack while separated from Horne, in Palm Springs, California on April 24, 1971.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bert Niosi was born on February 10, 1909 in London, Ontario, Canada into a family of musicians, having two brothers who became musicians. As a teenager he briefly played clarinet with Guy Lombardo in Cleveland, Ohio.
Proficient on several instruments he played clarinet, flute, saxophone, trombone, and trumpet and formed a dance band in 1931. This began a long association with the Palais Royale dance hall in Toronto, Canada which lasted until 1950.
His orchestra, and a smaller group made up of some of its members, was broadcast frequently on CBC Radio. Bert played alto saxophone and clarinet in the small band. He was also a member of CBC radio’s The Happy Gang musical series from 1952 to 1959.
Alto saxophone, clarinetist and bandleader Bert Niosi, known as Canada’s King of Swing, died in Toronto, Canada on August 3, 1987.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Sands was born January 28, 1907 in Brooklyn, New York. Learning to play the tenor and baritone saxophones he worked with bandleader Charlie Skeets in the late ’20s. By the end of the decqade his eyes were on an outfit known as the Strand Roof Orchestra under the direction of Billy Fowler. His performances during the 1930s solidified the band’s reputation, both live and recorded.
Sands joined pianist and bandleader Claude Hopkins, sharing star soloing duties with the leader as well as clarinetist Edmond Hall in his early years. The band featured a program of both high-spirited novelty songs and a serious jazz repertoire. I Can’t Dance, I’ve Got Ants in My Pants and In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree were the necessary recordings Hopkins made in order to stay attractive to label producers throughout the ’30s.
A superb arrangement of Jelly Roll Morton’s King Porter Stomp joins with Hopkins’ own Minor Mania in which Bobby is in both section and solo capacity. Tenor and baritone saxophonist Bobby Sands retired from music in the 1940s and became a printer. The date and place of his death are unknown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hank Frederic Gregson Wayland was born January 21, 1906 in Fall River, Massachusetts. He learned music from his father who was a musician and played in high school bands. He moved to New York City in 1926, where he played the double bass in theater orchestras and in the studios.
In the 1930s he performed and/or recorded with Benny Goodman, Red Norvo, Artie Shaw, Bunny Berigan, and Larry Clinton. During The Depression, Wayland was forced to send his sons to Florida to live with his wife’s brother while he toured the US and in Europe.
In the early Forties Hank played with Bob Chester, then moved to California the following year where he played with Eddie Miller and Wingy Manone in addition to more work as a studio musician. He appeared in bit parts in low budget Hollywood films, however he did appear without credit in the film Stars and Stripes Forever.
During The Depression, Wayland was forced to send his sons to Florida to live with his wife’s brother while he toured the US and in Europe. He eventually relocated his family to Glendale, California and faded from the scene after the 1950s. He officially retired from his music career in 1968.
Diagnosed with colon cancer in 1978 he underwent a colectomy. Later that year he was suspected of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Double bassist Hank Wayland, who never led a recording session, died peacefully on March 27, 1983 while living in a retirement home.
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