Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jabbo Smith, born as Cladys Smith on December 24, 1908 in Pembroke, Georgia. At the age of six he went into the Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston, South Carolina where he learned trumpet and trombone. By the age of 10 was touring with the Jenkins Band and at the age of 16, he left the Orphanage to become a professional musician, first playing in bands in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Around 1925 he made his home in Manhattan, New York City, where he made the first of his well-regarded recordings till 1928.
In 1928 Jabbo toured with James P. Johnson’s Orchestra until the show broke up in Chicago, Illinois. He stayed for a few years and his series of twenty recordings for Brunswick Records in 1929 are his most famous of which 19 were issued. Billed as a rival to Louis Armstrong, unfortunately, most of these records did not sell well enough for Brunswick to extend his contract.
1935 Chicago had him featured in a recording session produced by Helen Oakley under the name of Charles LaVere & His Chicagoans, which included vocals by him and LaVere on LaVere’s composition and arrangement of Boogaboo Blues. In the 1930s, he made his base in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for many years, alternating with returns to New York. While there he collaborated with saxophonist Bill Johnson. Subsequently, Smith dropped out of the public eye, playing music part-time in Milwaukee, and worked a regular job at an automobile hire company.
He made a successful comeback in the late 1960s playing with bands and shows in New York, New Orleans, Louisiana, London, and France through the 1970s and into the 1980s.
He recorded concerts in France, Italy, Switzerland and Netherlands with the Hot Antic Jazz Band. Trumpeter Jabbo Smith, known for his virtuoso playing, passed away on January 16, 1991.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pleasant Joseph, known as Cousin Joe, was born on December 20, 1907 in Wallace, Louisiana. He worked at Whitney Plantation throughout his childhood.
Until 1945 Cousin Joe toured Louisiana, and it was in that year he participated in the King Jazz recording sessions organized by Mezz Mezzrow and Sidney Bechet.
In the 1970s, he toured extensively throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, both individually and as part of the American Blues Legends ’74 revue organised by Big Bear Music. He recorded the album Gospel-Wailing, Jazz-Playing, Rock’n’Rolling, Soul-Shouting, Tap-Dancing Bluesman From New Orleans for Big Bear.
Blues and jazz singer Cousin Joe passed away on October 2, 1989 in his sleep from natural causes in New Orleans, at the age of 81.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Budd Johnson was born Albert J. Johnson III on December 14, 1910 in Dallas, Texas. He initially played drums and piano before switching to tenor saxophone. In the 1920s he performed in Texas and parts of the Midwest, working with Jesse Stone among others.
Making his recording debut while working with Louis Armstrong’s band from 1932 to 1933, he is more known for his work, over many years, with Earl Hines. He was an early figure in the bebop era, doing sessions with Coleman Hawkins in 1944. The 1950s saw Budd leading his own group and doing session work for Atlantic Records, being the featured tenor saxophone soloist on Ruth Brown’s hit Teardrops From My Eyes.
In the mid-1960s he began working and recording again with Hines. His association with Hines is his longest lasting and most significant. In 1975 he began working with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra. In 1993 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
Throughout his career, he recorded ten albums as a leader and played and recorded thirty~two albums as a sideman with among others, Cannonball Adderley, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Bud Powell, Carrie Smith, Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones, Count Basie, Roy Eldridge, Claude Hopkins, Etta Jones, Jimmy Smith, Randy Weston, Gil Evans, and Billie Holiday.
Tenor and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Budd Johnson passed away of a heart attack on October 20, 1984 at the age of 73 in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Louis Raphael Mucci was born on December 13, 1909 in Syracuse, New York and began as a baritone horn player. By age ten, he was appearing in professional settings. As a teenager, he switched to trumpet and worked in the late 1930s with Mildred Bailey and Red Norvo before joining Glenn Miller’s ensemble in 1938-1939.
During World War II he played in the bands of Bob Chester, Hal McIntyre, Claude Thornhill, and Benny Goodman. In the first half of the 1950s, he worked as a house musician for CBS and also recorded with Buddy DeFranco and Artie Shaw.
The late 1950s saw him working with Miles Davis, Helen Merrill, and John LaPorta. His association with Davis lasted into the early 1960s and he played with Kenny Burrell in 1964. Trumpeter Lou Mucci passed away on January 4, 2000.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gil Rodin was born in Russia on December 9, 1906 and studied saxophone, clarinet, flute, and trumpet in his youth. He played in Chicago, Illinois with Art Kahn in the middle of the 1920s. Moving to California and played with Harry Bastin before joining Ben Pollack in 1927, remaining in his band until 1934.
He simultaneously did studio work and played with Red Nichols’s radio band. Making his only recordings as a leader in 1930-31, amounting to four tracks which included Jack Teagarden on vocals, he also enlisted Eddie Miller and Benny Goodman as sidemen.
After Pollack’s band dissolved in 1934, Gil played with some of the players in the group until Bob Crosby regrouped them into his own ensemble. Rodin remained with Crosby through 1942, when he was drafted. While serving in the Army he played in the Artillery Band and after his discharge in 1944 he played with Ray Bauduc for a year, then with Crosby again.
His major composition was Big Noise from Winnetka, for which he wrote the lyrics with Bob Crosby. The music was written by Ray Bauduc and Bob Haggart. The song appeared in the films Raging Bull, Cannery Row, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Saving Mr. Banks, and What If.
Later in his career, Gil worked radio and television production, with Bill Cosby among others. He produced the soundtracks to the films American Graffiti and The Sting. Saxophonist, songwriter, and record producer Gil Rodin passed away on June 10, 1974.
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