Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bill DeArango was born William Louis DeArango on September 20, 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio. A self-taught on guitar, while attending Ohio State University, he played with Dixieland bands at night. After serving in the Army from 1942–44, he moved to New York City and worked first with Don Byas and Ben Webster. 

A year later, Bill was playing on an album with Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. Working as a sideman with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Ike Quebec, Slam Stewart, he then led his own band with Terry Gibbs.

In 1947, DeArango returned to Cleveland and performed locally for two decades, recorded an album with pianist John Williams in 1954. By the 1960s had opened up a guitar store, taught guitar lessons, and late in the decade, he managed the rock band Henry Tree. Performing regularly in the Seventies at Cleveland’s Smiling Dog Saloon working with Ernie Krivda and Skip Hadden, mixing hard rock and free jazz.

His next recording was on the album Another Time/Another Place by Barry Altschul, then 298 Bridge Street by Kenny Werner, and Names by Jamey Haddad. In 1993, he released his second solo album, Anything Went, with Joe Lovano. 

He entered a nursing home in 1999 and suffered dementia until his death seven years later, although he continued performing locally until late 2001. Guitarist William DeArango passed away on December 26, 2005 in his hometown. 

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Don D.T. Thompson was born in Drumheller, Alberta on September 19, 1932. He played saxophone and clarinet at twelve and began promoting his own jazz concerts, Jammin’ the Blues, in Edmonton at 17. Moving to Toronto, Canada in 1952, he toured Canada and the United States from 1954 to 1958 with Anne Marie Moss.

Save for a period in 1965 and 1966 with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in the United States, Thompson was a mainstay of the Toronto jazz scene through the 1960s. During the early 1960s, he led singer Tommy Ambrose in a big band ensemble. He appeared regularly at the First Floor Club with small groups and a big band from 1959 until 1965, and was seen in the NFB’s Toronto Jazz with a quintet.

He performed on many CBC TV pop music shows, Club Six and Music Hop and played in several Toronto studio orchestras. In 1961 he recorded as a member of the Pat Riccio Big Band in Ottawa and 1963 saw him with pianist Wray Downes and trombonist Rob McConnell. He also released a record as part of a quintet that included trumpeter Fred Stone.

After touring for ten years beginning in 1971 and recording with pop singer Anne Murray, he returned to jazz. In 1981 moving away from his early bebop-based style he landed on a simpler, full-toned, melodic approach in the manner of a Stanley Turrentine. D.T. wrote and recorded several jazz themes; his pop-song arrangements appear on albums by Murray, John Allan Cameron and Gordon Lightfoot.

Saxophonist, composer, and arranger Don D.T. Thompson passed away in Vancouver, Canada on March 21, 2004.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bobby Nichols was born on September 15, 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts. He began playing trumpet when he was nine and later attended the New England Conservatory. His biggest job before joining the military was as a trumpeter with Vaughn Monroe’s Orchestra from 1940 to 1943, impressive for a 15-year old. Joining the Army in 1943 he became a member of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band and during its two years of existence, his advanced swing solos gave the huge group much of its jazz credibility.

After his discharge, staying busy for the next 15 years, Bobby never became known to the general public. He worked with Tex Beneke between 1946-47, led his own group, and worked with Ray McKinley in 1948. After playing with Tommy Dorsey in 1951, he became a longtime member of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra from 1952-61 and a studio musician. When the Sauter-Finegan big band eventually broke up, having never led his own record date, he slipped completely into obscurity.

Trumpeter Bobby Nichols, who at nineteen exhibited fire in his playing but never made it big despite his many solos, at 95 years old is sought by collectors of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band recordings, died in 1975 in Aruba.

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Three Wishes

Baroness Pannonica inquired of Stan Getz that if granted three wishes what would he ask for and he told her: 

1. 1. “Justice.”

   2. “Turth.”

   3. “Beauty..”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Harry Percy South was born on September 7, 1929 in Fulham, London, England. Coming into prominence in the 1950s, he subsequently performed with Joe Harriott, Dizzy Reece, Tony Crombie, and Tubby Hayes. In 1954, he was in the Tony Crombie Orchestra, together with Dizzy Reece, Les Condon, Joe Temperley, Sammy Walker, Lennie Dawes, and Ashley Kozak.

After returning from a nine-month stint in Calcutta, India, with the Ashley Kozak Quartet, he spent four years with the Dick Morrissey Quartet, where he both wrote and arranged material for their subsequent four albums.

Forming his own jazz big band in 1966, featuring UK musicians Hayes, Dick Morrissey, Phil Seamen, Keith Christie, Ronnie Scott, and Ian Carr, and recorded an album for Mercury Records. In the mid-1960s, he began working with British rhythm & blues singer and organist Georgie Fame, with whom he recorded the album Sound Venture. At that time he was also composing and arranging for Humphrey Lyttelton, Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, and Jimmy Witherspoon.

Working for a time as the musical director to Annie Ross, Harry later branched out into session work, writing themes for television and music libraries, and having written the scores for the Pete Walker films, he is also credited with the arrangements for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, again arranged for Annie Ross and Georgie Fame in collaboration on what was to be Hoagy Carmichael’s last recording, In Hoagland.

Pianist, composer, and arranger Harry South, who was honored with the CD Portraits ~ The Music of Harry South released by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, passed away on March 12, 1990 in Lambeth, London at age 60.

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