Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Skeeter Best was born Clifton Best was born on November 20, 1914 in Kinston, North Carolina. From 1935 to 1940 he played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania recording with Slim Marshall and Erskine Hawkins. In 1940, he joined the Earl Hines Orchestra, playing with him until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942.
After his Naval discharge, he played with Bill Johnson from 1945 to 1949. He toured East Asia with Oscar Pettiford in 1951 and 1952, forming his own trio in during the decade. 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.
From 1959 to 1980 he recorded twenty-six albums as a sideman with Eugenie Baird, Aretha Franklin, Bennie Green & Paul Quinichette, Lionel Hampton, Erskine Hawkins, Earl Hines, Marva Josie, Mahalia Jackson, Milt Jackson, Ray Charles, Etta Jones, Frankie Laine, Buck Clayton, Ellis Larkins, Howard McGhee, The Modern Jazz Sextet, Mel Powell, Ike Quebec, Freddie Roach, Jimmy Rushing, Charles Thompson, Lucky Thompson, Cootie Williams. Guitarist Skeeter Best passed away on May 27, 1985, New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Clarence “Shorty” Sherock was born on November 17, 1915 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and attended the Illinois Military Academy. In the 1930s he was a soloist with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and with the Gene Krupa Orchestra. He led a big band in the 1940s. In 1944 he was a featured soloist in Los Angeles, California at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert, a series started by Norman Granz. The concert included Nat King Cole, Illinois Jacquet, J. J. Johnson, Jack McVea, and Les Paul.
1946, Sherock recorded Leonard Feather’s composition Snafu, and in 1955 he recorded three tracks for Freddie Slack’s Boogie Woogie on the 88. As a member of the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, he recorded with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Van Alexander, Benny Carter, Bobby Darin, Bing Crosby, Pete Fountain, Mel Henke, Freddy Martin, Matty Matlock, and Mavis Rivers.
He only recorded two albums as a leader during his career. Swing trumpeter passed away on February 19, 1980 in Northridge, Los Angeles, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Albert Bennington Lucas was born on November 16, 1912 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada and took piano lessons as a child from his mother, Francis Bradley Lucas, a concert pianist. By the age of twelve, he had switched to bass and tuba. After his move to New York City in 1933, he played with Kaiser Marshall before joining the Royal Sunset Orchestra, where he played until 1942.
During the 1940s Albert appeared on record with Hot Lips Page, Coleman Hawkins, Eddie Heywood, Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, James P. Johnson, J.J. Johnson, Ben Webster, Erroll Garner, and Eddie South.
Throughout his career he toured and recorded with Illinois Jacquet from 1947–53, recording in Detroit with Jacquet’s all-star band which included Sonny Stitt, Leo Parker, Sir Charles Thompson, Maurice Simon and Shadow Wilson before returning to play with Heywood again from 1954–56. He also recorded in the 1950s with Ruby Braff, Charlie Byrd, Teddy Wilson, Bill Doggett, Dexter Gordon, Oliver Nelson.
Working primarily as a studio musician in his last two decades, backing up groups at Apollo Theater performances, he played jazz only occasionally. Double-bassist Albert Lucas passed away on June 19, 1983, in New York City.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Tyson Ewell was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 14, 1916. He played with Bill Reinhardt’s Jazz, Ltd. band in Chicago, Illinois in 1947, 1948, and 1949. From 1956 to 1962, he was a member of the Jack Teagarden band and after Teagarden’s death, he went on tour in Europe.
Returning to New Orleans, Louisiana he performed in clubs and hotels. From 1976 to 1978 he performed in concert while battling alcoholism, he lived with his friend King Denton, the manager of a jazz club where Don was Artist in Residence.
He worked with Sidney Bechet, Kid Ory, George Lewis, George Brunis, Muggsy Spanier, and Bunk Johnson. He recorded twenty-one albums as a leader and seven as a sideman with Barbara Dane, Doc Evans, Bunk Johnson, Jack Teagarden. Moving back to Maryland. After his daughter’s death from cancer and after two strokes, stride pianist Don Ewell passed away on August 9, 1983.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sonny White was born Ellerton Oswald White on November 11, 1917 in Panama City, Panama. He took the nickname Sonny while a member of Jesse Stone’s band in the middle of the 1930s. Later in the decade, he played with Willie Bryant, Sidney Bechet, Frankie Newton, and Teddy Hill alongside Dizzy Gillespie and Kenny Clarke.
He recorded several sessions with Billie Holiday, with whom he had a yearlong affair in 1939, and their engagement was announced in Melody Maker that May. A member of different line-ups backing Holiday in New York between January 1939 and October 1940, Sonny performed on the classic recording of Strange Fruit.
The 1940s saw him spending time in the bands of Artie Shaw, Benny Carter, with whom he played before and after his World War II military service. He would play again with Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Big Joe Turner, Lena Horne, Dexter Gordon from 1944 to 1946, and Hot Lips Page in 1947.
In the 1950s he played with Harvey Davis and then with Wilbur De Paris, remaining with the latter until 1964. In the 1960s he freelanced with Eddie Barefield, among others, and was working with Jonah Jones at the time of his death. Pianist Sonny White passed away on April 28, 1971 in New York City.
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