Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Skeets Herfut was born Arthur Relsmond Herfut on May 28, 1911 in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Denver, Colorado. While attending the University of Colorado he played in different bands. By 1934 he was performing with Smith Ballew, and through the decade with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, and Ray Noble.
After moving to California, Herfut worked with Alvino Rey, then served in the Army from 1944 to 1945. After the war, he flourished as a studio musician in Hollywood, California and led his own band. Between 1946 and 1947 he performed with Benny Goodman and Earle Spencer.
Into the 1960s Skeets’ studio sessions were with Billy May, Louis Armstrong, Georgie Auld, Jack Teagarden, Stan Kenton and again with Goodman. By the end of the 1960s he joined the Ray Conniff orchestra for several tours of Japan and Germany as well as recording sessions during the 1970s.
Herfurt bacme a member of Lawrence Welk’s orchestra and weekly television show from 1979 to 1982, performing on lead alto saxophone. During his career he recorded with Glen Gray, Ray Anthony, Joe “Fingers” Carr, Frankie Carle, Larry Clinton, Bob Eberly, Helen O’Connell, The Four Freshmen, Bob Keene and Pete Rugolo.
Saxophonist and clarinetist Skeets Herfut, who appeared as a saxophonist in the 1956 film The Nightmare, playing clarinet on the soundtrack, and performed on the soundtrack to the 1974 film The Fortune, transitioned in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 80 on April 17, 1992.
More Posts: clarinet,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Three Wishes
The question of three wishes came up during the laughter and music one night and Paul Gonsalves simply said:
- “May I wish you happiness, prosperity, and all that you desire for here and ever after.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
More Posts: baroness,history,instrumental,jazz,music,pannonica,saxophone,three,wishes
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Moon Edward Mullens was born on May 11, 1916 in Mayhew, Mississippi and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He played locally around the city early in his career, including with Half Pint Jaxon.
He moved to New York City and played with Chris Columbus before joining Hot Lips Page’s band in 1938, where he first recorded. He played with Earl Bostic, Columbus again in 1941, and Benny Carter before serving in the military during World War II.
After the war he played with Louis Armstrong between 1946 and 1947, Cab Calloway, Joe Thomas, and with Lionel Hampton on and off between 1949 and 1959. From 1959 to 1961 he worked with Duke Ellington, then left music permanently, setting up a photography business, never recording as a leader.
Trumpeter Moon Mullens transitioned on April 7, 1977.
More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,trumpet
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Born near Kyiv, Ukraine on April 22, 1920 Benjamin “Buzzy” Drootin moved to Boston, Massachusetts with his family when he was five. His father played the clarinet, and two of his brothers and his nephew were musicians. He began playing drums professionally as a teenager. At age twenty, he toured with the Jess Stacy All-Stars, a band that includeded Lee Wiley.
In 1940, he also toured with Ina Ray Hutton, then joined the Wingy Manone band. From 1947 until 1951, he worked as the house drummer at Eddie Condon’s night club in New York City. He was a bandleader at El Morocco club in New York City, and a member of the house band with his brother Al at George Wein’s Storyville club in Boston. During these years he worked with Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Bobby Hackett, Ruby Braff, Claude Hopkins, Jimmy McPartland, Pee Wee Russell, and Arvell Shaw.
Drootin recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Bobby Hackett, Jack Teagarden, Eddie Condon, Ruby Braff, Anita O’Day, George Wein, the Newport All-Stars, Lee Konitz, Sidney Bechet, PeeWee Russell and The Dukes of Dixieland. In 1968–69, he toured and recorded with Wild Bill Davison’s Jazz Giants and then formed Buzzy’s Jazz Family, borrowing some of Davison’s sidemen, Herb Hall and Benny Morton, plus added Herman Autrey on trumpet and his nephew, Sonny Drootin, on piano.
In 1973, after touring Europe and America, he returned to his hometown of Boston, where he and his brother Al and nephew Sonny formed the Drootin Brothers Band. They played at the Newport Jazz Festival. He played at the first Newport festival and at many festivals after that. He also played at the Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival in the 1980s.
Drummer Buzzy Drootin transitioned on May 21, 2000 from cancer at the age of 80 at the Actors Fund Retirement and Nursing Home in Englewood, New Jersey.
More Posts: bandleader,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Burton Franklin Bales was born on April 20, 1916 in Stevensville, Montana and began to play piano at age twelve. By the 1930s he was in California playing in hotels and nightclubs. He played regularly in San Francisco, California in the 1940s, with Lu Watters’s Yerba Buena Jazz Band until he was drafted in 1943 and only recorded with that group on one brief session with Bunk Johnson.
After he was discharged for myopia he led his own band from 1943 to 1946 before taking an extended residency at San Francisco’s 1018 Club. He played with Turk Murphy (1949–50), Bob Scobey, and Marty Marsala, then played mostly solo between 1954 and 1966 where one of his regular gigs was at Pier 23.
He recorded extensively for Good Time Jazz, Arhoolie, ABC-Paramount, and Euphonic. Stride pianist Burt Bales transitioned on October 26, 1989, in San Francisco.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano