Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Cosimo Di Ceglie was born October 21, 1913 in Andria, Italy and played with local bands in Andria before joining Herb Flemming’s group in the mid-1930s. He recorded with Piero Rizza and the Orchestra del Circolo Jazz Hot di Milano, as well as under his own name, in the period 1936-1938.
He went on to work with Enzo Ceragioli and Gorni Kramer around 1940. Active during World War II on radio, playing with a six-piece ensemble, he made further recordings under his own name in the late 1940s and into the 1950s. He also played with Adriano Celentano, Kai Hyttinen, and others later in his career.
Guitarist Cosimo Di Ceglie passed away in 1980 in Milan, Italy.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ray Linn, born in Chicago, Illinois on October 20, 1920 experienced his first major engagements in the late 1930s playing with Tommy Dorsey, from 1938 to 1941 and Woody Herman until the outbreak of World War II. He would return to play with Herman again several times after the war during the Forties and Fifties.
In the 1940s he spent time playing with several big bands led by Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Boyd Raeburn. Moving to Los Angeles, California in 1945, he worked extensively as a studio musician, in addition to playing with Bob Crosby in the early 1950s.
The Fifties decade would be his final extended tenure with Herman. He spent much of the 1960s playing music for television, including The Lawrence Welk Show.
He recorded eight tunes as a leader in 1946, and full-length albums in 1978 and 1980, the latter of which are Dixieland jazz. Trumpeter Ray Linn passed away in November 1996 in Columbus, Ohio.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nellie Rose Lutcher was born on October 15, 1912 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The eldest daughter of the 15 children, her father was a bass player and her mother a church organist. She received piano lessons and her father formed a family band with her playing piano. At age 12, she played with Ma Rainey, when her regular pianist fell ill and had to be left behind in the previous town. Searching for a temporary replacement in Lake Charles, one of the neighbors told Rainey that there was a little girl who played in church who might be able to do it.
At 15, Lutcher joined her father in Clarence Hart’s Imperial Jazz Band and in her mid-teens also briefly married the band’s trumpet player. In 1933, she joined the Southern Rhythm Boys, writing their arrangements and touring widely. 1935 saw her moving to Los Angeles, California where she began to play swing piano, and also to sing, in small combos throughout the area. At this point she began developing her own style, influenced by Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and her friend Nat “King” Cole.
Not widely known until 1947 when she learned of the March of Dimes talent show at Hollywood High School, and performed. The show was broadcast on the radio and her performance caught the ear of Capitol Records scout Dave Dexter. Signing to the label she made several records, including The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else) and her first hit single, the risqué Hurry On Down.
In 1950, Lutcher duetted with Nat “King” Cole on For You My Love and Can I Come In For A Second. The same year, her records were released in the UK and were actively promoted by radio DJ Jack Jackson. She headlined a UK variety tour, emceed by Jackson, with great success, later returning there to tour on her own.
With an orchestra for the first time, Lutcher recorded The Birth of the Blues and I Want to Be Near You in 1951, but losing her appeal with the record-buying public and was dropped by Capitol the following year. She went on to record, much less successfully, for other labels including Okeh, Decca and Liberty, and gradually wound down her performance schedule.
In 1952, Lutcher was contacted to perform on a happy new years television special, however, after she finished her song it was revealed that she was on the set of and the honoree on a This Is Your Life episode.
Pianist and vocalist Nellie Lutcher, most recognizable for her diction and exaggerated pronunciation and was credited as an influence by Nina Simone among others, passed away in Los Angeles on June 8, 2007, aged 94.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marvin Ash was born Marvin E. Ashbaugh was born on October 4, 1914 in Lamar, Colorado. Growing up in Junction City and Emporia, Kansas he started playing with bands during high school. He worked with Count Basie, Wallie Stoeffer, Con Conrad, Herman Waldman and Jack Crawford. On a visit to Abilene, Texas in 1931 he found inspiration when he heard pianist Earl Hines perform. A fortunate encounter at Jenkins’ Music Store afforded him the opportunity to hear Joe Sullivan play his Little Rock Getaway for Fats Waller and Arthur Schutt, seated at two other pianos. He adapted his style similar to the three of them.
Moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma at 22 he worked in radio as a studio pianist, musical director, and announcer at KVOO-FM. This allowed him to learn about different piano styles, his favorite musicians being stride pianists James P. Johnson and Waller, Pete Johnson, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and long-time friend Bob Zurke.
1942 saw Marvin in the Army, assigned to Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where he remained for six months after the end of the war. After the end of his service he moved to Los Angeles, California where found work with trumpeter Wingy Manone’s band. This resulted in some of his earliest ensemble recordings, performances at Club 47 led to sessions with Clive Acker’s Jump Records as a soloist in late 1947, and with Rosy McHargue’s Memphis Five.
Ash’s playing caught the attention of Capitol Records producer and A&R man Lou Busch who hired him to record a few more sides in 1949 with a small ensemble. In the 1950s, he played in cocktail lounges in Los Angeles but had few recording dates as a soloist, instead working as a sideman with Jack Teagarden, Matty Matlock, Pud Brown and Pete Daily. Ash’s sessions resulted in a suite for Decca Records entitled New Orleans at Midnight.
He found employment at Walt Disney Studios music department as a performer on movie and television soundtracks, and acting as the resident arranger and pianist for the Mickey Mouse Club. Marvin frequently performed with George Bruns’ group or with his own small ensemble at Disneyland.
Retiring in the mid Sixties, Ash spent his last few years playing vintage jazz, stride, and ragtime in the cocktail lounge of a large bowling alley in Los Angeles. He continued to be hired for special appearances until his death. Pianist Marvin Ash passed away on August 21, 1974 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 59.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nelson “Cadillac” Williams was born on September 26, 1917 in Montgomery, Alabama and began playing piano at age 13, however, he settled on the trumpet soon afterwards. It has been speculated that while still a teenager he may have played with blues pianist/singer Cow Cow Davenport.
In the 1930s, he played in the territory bands Trianon Crackerjacks and Brown Skin Models, and acted as musical director for the Dixie Rhythm Girls. Around 1940, he left Alabama for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he played with Tiny Bradshaw’s band before joining the U.S. Army during World War II.
After the war, Billy Eckstine hired Williams, before working with John Kirby and pianist Billy Kyle. In 1949, he began the first of several stints with Duke Ellington, who bestowed upon him the nickname “Cadillac”.
In 1951, he left Ellington’s employ and moving to Paris, France he led his own bands and recorded for French labels. He returned to Ellington in 1956, and played with him again in 1969 on a tour of Europe. Trumpeter Nelson “Cadillac” Williams settled in the Netherlands and passed away in 1973 in Voorburg.
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