Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Vance was born on November 28, 1915 in Mayfield, Kentucky, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He learned violin before concentrating on trumpet and by 1932 was playing with J. Frank Terry before joining Lil Armstrong’s band in 1934.
He moved to New York City and played with Willie Bryant, Kaiser Marshall, and Fletcher Henderson between 1936 to 1938. In Henderson’s band he was lead trumpeter and occasionally sang. By 1939 he joined Chick Webb’s orchestra, remaining in the group when Ella Fitzgerald took over leadership. His next move had him becoming the staff arranger for Glen Grey’s band and, in 1942, joined the Lucky Millinder Orchestra.
From 1944–45 he worked with Charlie Barnet, Don Redman, Eddie Heywood and Ben Webster. From 1944 to 1947 he studied at Juilliard, and moonlighted as a pit orchestra musician and an arranger for Harry James, Cab Calloway, Earl Hines and Duke Ellington. During this time Dick played on notable Broadway productions including Pal Joey, Beggar’s Holiday, and in the off-stage band for Streetcar Named Desire.
In 1950, Vance reunited with Fletcher Henderson, playing in his New York sextet. 1951 to 1952 saw him as a member of Duke Ellington’s trumpet section where he arranged most of the items for the album Ellington ‘55. In 1958 he co-composed Jazz Festival Suite with Ellington for performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. He led Sonny Stitt’s trumpet section on the 1962 album Sonny Stitt & The Top Brass. He toured abroad with his own band in 1969, which later appeared in the film L’aventure du jazz.
He toured with Redman in 1953 and was a regular at the Savoy Ballroom throughout the 1950s. He released two albums in the 1960s and toured with Eddie Barefield in 1969. He appears briefly in episode 9 of the music documentary series All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music. In 1979, he composed for the documentary film No Maps On My Taps, starring Lionel Hampton and Howard Sims.
Trumpeter, vocalist, composer and arranger Dick Vance passed away on July 31, 1985 in New York City at the age of 69.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ernesto Caceres was born on November 22, 1911 in Rockport, Texas and learned to play the clarinet, guitar, alto and baritone saxophone. He first played professionally in 1928 in local Texas ensembles. He and his brother Emilio moved to Detroit, Michigan before moving to New York City, taking work as session musicians. In 1937 they made live nationwide appearances on Benny Goodman’s popular radio series Camel Caravan which created a sensation and made them jazz stars.
In 1938 Ernesto became a member of Bobby Hackett’s band, then worked as a sideman with Jack Teagarden and Glenn Miller’s orchestra from 1940 to 1942. While with Miller, he made an appearance in the films Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives. Time with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, and Tommy Dorsey followed later in the 1940s. In 1949 he put together his own quartet, playing at the Hickory Log in New York. He was a frequent performer with the Garry Moore Orchestra on television.
At the beginning of the 1960s he played with the Billy Butterfield Band. In 1964 he moved back to Texas and played in a band with brother Emilio from 1968 until his death. He spent some time in 1965 and 1966 at Mint Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Holiday Hotel in Reno, Nevada with the Johnny Long Band. Saxophonist, clarinetist and guitarist Ernesto Caceres passed away from cancer on January 10, 1971.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Claire Austin was born Augusta Marie on November 21, 1918 to Swedish-American parents in Yakima, Washington. She played in nightclubs throughout the northwest in the 1930s and toured with the Chuck Austin Band in the 1940s.
Retiring from professional singing by the early 1950s, Claire began working as an accountant in Sacramento, California. After singing with Turk Murphy, she frequently performed in San Francisco, California for two years. She remained active through the 1970s.
Vocalist and pianist Claire Austin, whose singing style has been compared to Peggy Lee, passed away on June 19, 1994.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Clifton “Skeeter” Best was born on November 20, 1914 in Kinston, North Carolina. Playing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1940, he recorded with Slim Marshall and Erskine Hawkins. By 1940, he was a member of Earl Hines’s orchestra, playing with him until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942.
After the war, he played with Bill Johnson, toured East Asia with Oscar Pettiford, and formed his own trio in the 1950s. He did a critically acclaimed session with Ray Charles and Milt Jackson in 1957 called Soul Brothers.
In 1958, he recorded with Mercer Ellington and taught in New York City. He also recorded with Harry Belafonte, Etta Jones, Nellie Lutcher, Milt Hinton, Osie Johnson, Paul Quinichette, Jimmy Rushing, Sonny Stitt, Charles Thompson, and Lucky Thompson.
Guitarist Skeeter Best passed away on May 27, 1985 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Henry “Boots” Mussulli was born in Milford, Massachusetts on November 18, 1915. His first instrument was clarinet, which he first played at age 12.
By the Forties he was playing with Mal Hallett in Massachusetts and joined Teddy Powell’s group in 1943-44. He played with Stan Kenton from 1944 to 1947, then returned to play with Kenton again on tour in 1952 and 1954.
He played with Vido Musso, Gene Krupa, Charlie Ventura, Serge Chaloff, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Herb Pomeroy.
In 1949, Boots opened a jazz club in his hometown, called The Crystal Room and from the mid-1950s, he concentrated more on music education, leading a local youth orchestra, the Milford Youth Band. They performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1967.
Saxophonist Boots Mussulli, based chiefly out of Boston, Massachusetts, passed away from cancer on September 23, 1967 in Norfolk, Massachusetts.
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