Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Irving C. Ashby was born December 29, 1920 in Somerville, Massachusetts. After playing rhythm guitar in Lionel Hampton’s orchestra, he played in the Nat King Cole Trio from 1947 to 1951. He then briefly replaced drummer Charlie Smith in the Oscar Trio, producing a lineup of piano, guitar and bass similar to the Cole Trio’s, a substitution that continued until 1958.
After leaving the Peterson Trio, Ashby concentrated on session work for the labels. His subsequent recordings included sessions with Norman Granz, Sheb Wooley, LaVern Baker, Howard Roberts, B.B. King, Louis Jordan, Pat Boone and Illinois Jacquet.
In addition to performing on guitar, Irving Ashby also played the upright bass until his passing on April 22, 1987 in Perris, California at the age of 66.
Dose A Day – Blues Away
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Una Mae Carlisle was born on December 26, 1915 in Zanesville, Ohio and was trained to play the piano by her mother. Performing in public by age three, still a child, she performed regularly on radio station WHIO AM in Dayton, Ohio.
In 1932, while a teenager, Fats Waller discovered Carlisle while she worked as a live local Cincinnati performer live and on radio. Her piano style was much influenced by Waller’s, playing in a boogie-woogie stride style that incorporated humor into her sets. Una Mae played solo from 1937, repeatedly touring Europe and recording with Waller in the late 1930s.
By the 1940s Carlisle recorded as a leader for Bluebird Records with Lester Young, Benny Carter and John Kirby. She had a longtime partnership with producer/publisher/manager Joe Davis, which began after her contract with Bluebird expired. Her records during this period enlisted the talents of Ray Nance, Budd Johnson and Shadow Wilson.
As a songwriter she also found success as Cab Calloway and Peggy Lee were just two among those who covered her tunes. She had her own radio and television programs in the late 1940s Una Mae recorded her last session for Columbia Records with Don Redman early in the 1950s.
With her suffering from chronic mastoiditis that required repeated surgeries and hospitalizations, the vocalist was forced her to retire in 1952. Pianist and songwriter Una Mae Carlisle passed away of pneumonia in a Harlem hospital on November 7, 1956.
Give The Gift Of Knowledge
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Danny Polo was born on December 22, 1901 in Toluca, Illinois. His father was also a clarinetist and he learned to play from a young age, working in marching bands from age eight. During his youth Polo played with Claude Thornhill as a duo.
In the 1920s, Polo played with Elmer Schoebel, Merritt Brunies, Arnold Johnson,, Ben Bernie, Jean Goldkette and Paul Ash. 1927 saw him in Europe with Dave Tough, playing with several Continental bandleaders including Ben Firman, Lud Gluskin, George Carhart, Ben Berlin and Arthur Briggs. From 1930-1935 he played with Ambrose & His Orchestra, then returned to the U.S. in December of that year.
In 1938, Danny returned to Britain to play with Ambrose again, and worked with Ray Ventura in Paris in 1939. Late that year he moved back to the States for good and spent the early Forties working with Joe Sullivan, Jack Teagarden, worked on the Bing Crosby film Birth of the Blues and with Claude Thornhill again.
The clarinetist led his own Midwestern territory band, Danny Polo and His Jive Five, for a time, then returned to play with Thornhill once more in 1947. He recorded two sessions as a leader with His Swing Stars, which include Alix Combelle, both in Europe, in 1938-39. He also played in several experimental sessions with Miles Davis around 1947-48. While performing with Thornhill, Danny Polo became ill, and passed away rather suddenly on July 11, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sy Oliver was born Melvin James Oliver on December 17, 1910 in Battle Creek, Michigan. His mother was a piano teacher and his father was a multi-instrumentalist who made a name for himself demonstrating saxophones at a time that instrument was little used outside of marching bands. Showing a proclivity for singing as a child, he also learned to lay trumpet during these formative years.
Oliver left home at 17 to play with Zack Whyte and his Chocolate Beau Brummels and later with Alphonse Trent. He sang and played trumpet with these bands, becoming known for his “growling” horn playing. In 1933, he joined the Jimmie Lunceford band, contributing many hit arrangements for the band, including My Blue Heaven and Ain’t She Sweet as well as his original composition For Dancers Only which in time became the band’s theme song.
By 1939 Sy became one of the first Black musician with a prominent role in a white band when he joined Tommy Dorsey as an arranger, though he ceased playing trumpet at that time. He led the transition of the Dorsey band from Dixieland to modern big band. His joining was instrumental in Buddy Rich’s decision to join Dorsey. His arrangement of On The Sunny side Of The Street, Yes Indeed!, Opus One, The Minor Is Muggin’ and Well, Git It were big hits for Dorsey,
After leaving Dorsey, Oliver continued working as a freelance arranger and as music director for Decca Records. One of his more successful efforts as an arranger was the Frank Sinatra album I Remember Tommy, a combined tribute to their former boss.
In 1950 the Sy Oliver Orchestra released the first American version of C’est Si Bon with the interpretation of Louis Armstrong to worldwide success. In his later years, up until 1980, he reformed his own big and small bands, with which he also played his trumpet again after having set it aside so many years earlier.
He arranged and conducted many songs for Ella Fitzgerald during her Decca years. As a composer, one of his most famous songs was T’ain’t What You Do (It’s The Way You Do It, which he co-wrote with Trummy Young. On May 28, 1988 arranger, composer, bandleader, trumpeter and singer Sy Oliver passed away in New York City. He was 77.
Jazz Is Global – Share
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Stanley Newcomb Kenton was born on December 15, 1911 in Wichita, Kansas and was raised in Colorado, then in California. Conceived out of wedlock, his parents told everyone he was born on February 19, 1912 and believing this as fact well into adulthood, he recorded an album Birthday in Britain in 1973 and his grave marker even reflects this erroneous date.
Kenton learned piano as a child, influenced by Earl Hines, attending Bell High School, graduating in 1930 and while still a teenager toured with various bands. He played in the 1930s in the dance bands of Vido Musso and Gus Arnheim, but his natural inclination was as a bandleader.
In June 1941 he formed his own band, which developed into one of the best-known West Coast ensembles of the 1940s. It was later named Artistry in Rhythm after his theme song. In the mid-1940s, Kenton’s band and style became known as “The Wall of Sound”, a tag later used by Phil Spector.
Much more important in the early days as an arranger, Stan was an inspiration for his loyal sidemen in his first band such as Howard Rumsey and Chico Alvarez. Influenced by Jimmie Lunceford and his high note trumpeters and thick-toned tenors, the orchestra struggled after its initial success. Record sales were low and even being Bob Hope’s backup band was not a pleasant experience.
By 1942 Kenton was in New York City, the band was catching on with an endorsement by Fred Astaire on the Roseland Ballroom marquee. He had Art Pepper, Stan Getz, Boots Mussulli and Anita O’Day as part of the ensemble. Lyricist Joe Greene put words to the songs And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine and Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin. Stan would bring in Pete Rugulo as his chief arranger along with Bob Cooper and June Christy. The band’s popularity increased with Christy hits Tampico and Across The Alley From The Alamo, and recorded the popular tune Laura, the song from the film.
Calling his music “progressive jazz,” Kenton sought to lead a concert orchestra as opposed to a dance band at a time when most big bands were starting to break up. Over the years he would employ Kai Winding, Buddy Childers, Ray Wetzel, Al Porcino, Jack Costanzo, Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank, Laurindo Almeida, Maynard Ferguson, Gerry Mulligan, Marty Paich, Bill Holman, Mel Lewis, Pete and Conte Candoli, Bill Perkins, Stan Levey, Lucky Thompson, Jack Sheldon, Frank Rosolino, Sam Noto, Carl Saunders, Lee Konitz, Chris Connor and the list goes on.
Kenton won Grammy awards in 1962 and 1963 for his Kenton’s West Side Story and Adventures In Jazz, respectively. He had several Top 40 hits, founded his own label, “The Creative World of Stan Kenton”, recording several live concerts. As an educator he encouraged big band music in high schools and colleges, instructing what he called progressive jazz, making available his charts to the bands. He donated his entire library to the music department of the University of North Texas and the Stan Kenton Jazz Recital hall is named in his honor.
Entering Midway Hospital on August 17, 1979 after suffering a stroke, pianist, arranger, composer, bandleader and educator Stan Kenton, who recorded over seven-dozen albums with an innovative and often controversial jazz orchestra, passed away on August 25, 1979.
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