Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Horace Webb was born on October 8, 1917 in London, United Kingdom to a former music hall artiste. He grew up with a love of early jazz recordings, principally those made by the New Orleans musicians. A keen jazz enthusiast, he was a self-taught amateur pianist.
Working as a machine gun fitter in the Vickers-Armstrong factory at Crayford, he organized lunchtime entertainment at the factory, assembling scratch bands from among the workers. With his band, George Webb’s Dixielanders, he played regularly and famously at The Red Barn public house at Barnehurst, Kent, beginning in the early 1940s. They made several recordings and BBC radio broadcasts but by 1948 they had disbanded.
Webb was then part of Humphrey Lyttelton’s band from 1948 to 1951. After a short-term reformation of the Dixielanders in 1952, he concentrated on running a jazz club. In the mid-Sixties he was a musician agent and manager. Early in the following decade, he returned to more frequent playing and toured Europe as a soloist. Another version of the Dixielanders operated for a year and then ran a pub for 12 years.
A move back to Kent had him guest performing in various bands into the 2000s with Humphrey Lyttelton, Wally Fawkes and Eddie Harvey. In his playing he tried to re-create the style of such bands as King Oliver’s.
Pianist George Webb, who is considered by many as the father of the traditional jazz movement in Britain, transitioned on March 10, 2010.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Johnny Meijer was born Jan Cornelis Meijer on October 1, 1912 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Widely recognized as a virtuoso jazz accordionist not only did he play popular songs but also fast swing numbers. In 1974 he recorded the Dutch Swing College Band’s Johnny Goes Dixie LP, which went gold.
He will also be remembered for his proficiency with classical and folk music in his native city. was typically seen during performances with a cigar in his mouth. He was a major influence on French accordionist Richard Galliano.
Unfortunately, due to his short temper and drinking, during the last years of his life, Meijer was rarely invited to play large performances, mainly in connection with his short temper and his drinking, the King of the Accordion saw out his final days mostly in silence, occasionally playing weddings and parties.
The subject of a film, Amsterdam erected a statue to the musician. Accordionist Johnny Meijer, who celebrated his 75th birthday at the North Sea Jazz Festival, transitioned on January 8, 1992 in Amsterdam.
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Three Wishes
Al Timothy and the Baroness were talking one night when she asked him what his three wishes would be and responded with:
- “There’s one thing I wish I could be is a really great arranger, and a really great singing voice, and I’ll take care of the rest. I’ve been in this business over twenty years, you know, but if I had to start all over again, I’d do all the same things over again.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Three Wishes
Pannonica made an inquiry about three wishes when she was talking with Walter Miller and he responded with the following:
- “It should be very simple to answer. How do I start? Well, number one is freedom. I have never been actually able to accept the fact that I’ve ever been that way.”
- “Then, I’d like to be fully secured~towards my obligations to others, I mean. Neighbors, you know, sometimes you feel you have to run from them. You don’t have an answer for them. Though I usually have an answer.”
- “I wan to say that no one is really independent. Everyone is dependent on others. So I would think-how can I explain this? My life has been devoted to music. I don’t know. I’d like to further my studies. And yet most of the good people are naturally talented. There seems to be a conflict. You don’t know which way to start. It’s bad to be ignorant. I’d like to help the teenagers. They’re so fiery, so sensitive. You know? The kids, today? They don’t seem to be content, at all! I’d like to help them.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William Henry Graham was born on September 8, 1918 in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in Denver, Colorado. During his years in Denver he led his own ensemble which included Paul Quinichette among its members. He went on to study at Tuskegee University and then Lincoln University of Missouri after a stint in the Army during World War II.
He worked with Count Basie, Lucky Millinder, Herbie Fields, and Erskine Hawkins early in his career. From 1946 to 1953, he worked with Dizzy Gillespie as a baritone saxophonist. As a composer under Gillespie, he penned the tune Oh-Sho-Be-Do-Be.
Following his Gillespie years he led his own band in New York City, in addition to touring Europe with Sarah Vaughan in 1953. From 1955 to 1957, Bill was back with Basie, including on the 1956 release April in Paris and the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1956-57 he teamed again with Quinichette, then in 1958 he found work with Duke Ellington and Mercer Ellington from 1958–59.
Outside of jazz, Graham also played on numerous R&B recordings, including those of Wynonie Harris, Joe Williams, and Little Willie John. In the 1960s he quit active touring and became a teacher in the New York City Public Schools system.
Saxophonist Bill Graham transitioned on December 29, 1975 in New York at the age of 57.
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