Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Albert was born Albert Anité Dominique, on August 5, 1908 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His uncle was Natty Dominique, and he was also a relative of Barney Bigard. He got his start playing in parade brass bands in New Orleans at the beginning of the 1920s. He toured with the territory band of Alphonse Trent through the Southwest United States in 1925, then played with Troy Floyd at the Shadowland Ballroom in San Antonio from 1926 to 1929.
Leading his own territory bands out of Texas in the 1930s and 1940s, Albert had in his band sidemen that included Alvin Alcorn, Louis Cottrell, Jr., and Herb Hall. After 1932 he acted more in a manager’s capacity than as a performer. His bands played in Mexico, Canada, and New York City in 1937 and won rave reviews from newspapers, but the band only recorded eight sides for Vocalion Records.
Disbanding this group around 1939 due to economic conditions, Don found work in civil service and managing a San Antonio nightclub in the early to mid-1940s, only to be shut down in 1948 by local authorities. By 1949 his group played the Palace Theater in New York.
The 1950s saw him returning to active performance, playing with Buddy Tate in 1966, the New Orleans Jazz Festival in ‘69, and in small groups through the 1970s. Trumpeter and bandleader Don Albert passed away on March 4, 1980 in San Antonio, Texas.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles James Shavers was born on August 3, 1920 in New York City and took up piano and banjo before switching to trumpet. In the mid-Thirties he performed with Tiny Bradshaw and Lucky Millinder. In 1935 he joined the trumpet section with Dizzy Gillespie and Carl “Bama” Warwick in Frankie Fairfax’s Campus Club Orchestra.
1936 saw him as a member of John Kirby’s Sextet as trumpet soloist and arranger. Only 16 at the time he gave his birth date as 1917 to avoid child labor laws, Charlie’s arrangements and solos helped make the band one of the most commercially successful and imitated of its day. In 1937, he performed with Midge Williams and her Jazz Jesters. By 1944 he began playing sessions in Raymond Scott’s CBS staff orchestra.
Leaving John Kirby’s band In 1945 he joined Tommy Dorsey’s Orchestra, with whom he toured and recorded, off and on, until Dorsey’s passing in 1956. In 1949, he sang and played the hit The Hucklebuck with Dorsey. He was a member of Dorsey’s Orchestra on numerous Stage Show telecasts for CBS, including early Elvis Presley appearances. During this time he continued to play at CBS while also appearing with the Metronome All-Stars and making a number of recordings as trumpet soloist with Billie Holiday.
From 1953 to 1954 he worked with Benny Goodman and toured Europe with Norman Granz’s popular Jazz at the Philharmonic series, where he was a crowd favorite. He formed his own band with Terry Gibbs and Louie Bellson.
Swing era trumpeter Charlie Shavers passed away from throat cancer in New York City on July 8, 1971 at the age of 50. While on his deathbed his close friend Louis Armstrong passed away, and his last request was that his trumpet mouthpiece be buried with Armstrong.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Kelly was born on July 31, 1915 in Miami, Florida. In the 1930s Panama Francis was a sideman in Kelly’s band. During the Forties, he played in Al Cooper’s band.
Kelly played in Francis’s Savoy Sultans band in the 1970s, and had played of the same name in the 1940s. Leading his own bands he was also a sideman who worked with Tiny Grimes, Rex Stewart, and Cozy Cole.
Tenor saxophonist, vocalist, bandleader, and arranger George Kelly, who recorded seven albums as a leader, passed away at the age of 82 on May 24, 1998.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Tobin McDonough was born on July 30, 1904 in New York City and began playing banjo and mandolin in high school. While matriculating through Georgetown University, he performed professionally at weekend dances and two years later started a band. Attending Columbia Law School he played with bands in New York City.
McDonough played with Red Nichols in 1927 as a banjoist, and soon after played with Paul Whiteman. He began studying the guitar and eventually was in demand for session work, recording with The Dorsey Brothers, Red Nichols, and Miff Mole. In the 1930s, he performed in a duo with jazz guitarist Carl Kress and cut several sessions with an orchestra under his own name, in addition to backing numerous other recording artists.
His session work with Mildred Bailey, Smith Ballew, The Boswell Sisters, Rube Bloom, Chick Bullock, The Charleston Chasers, Cliff Edwards, Gene Gifford, Benny Goodman, Adelaide Hall, Annette Hanshaw, Billie Holiday, Baby Rose Marie, Glenn Miller, Irving Mills, Red McKenzie, Johnny Mercer, Red Norvo, Fred Rich, Adrian Rollini, Pee Wee Russell, Ben Selvin, Artie Shaw, Frank Signorelli, Jack Teagarden, Claude Thornhill, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, Don Voorhees, and Ethel Waters. He played in the Jam Session at Victor with Fats Waller, Bunny Berigan, and George Wettling.
Struggling with alcohol abuse during his adult life and guitarist Dick McDonough passed away of pneumonia on May 25, 1938 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Paul Moer was born Paul Moerschbacher on July 22, 1916 in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Miami, graduating in 1951, and following this moved to the West Coast. There he frequently played on the jazz scene with Benny Carter, Vido Musso, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, Bill Holman, and Shorty Rogers.
He did extensive work in Los Angeles, California studios as a pianist and an arranger. In the late 1950s, Paul led his own trio with Jimmy Bond and Frank Butler. In 1960 he toured Australia with Benny Carter and also recorded with Charles Mingus, Jack Montrose, John Graas, Paul Horn from 1960 to ‘63, then with Ruth Price, and Buddy DeFranco.
As a sideman he recorded with Jack Montrose, John Graas, Paul Horn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Dave Pell, Jack Sheldon, Emil Richards, Paul Whiteman, Rosemary Clooney, and Maynard Ferguson. Playing little after the 1960s, he made a comeback with a release in 1991 of Elmo Hope tunes and released his final album, Get Swinging, in 2005. Pianist Paul Moer passed away on June 9, 2010.
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