Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Sy Johnson was born on April 15, 1930 in New Haven, Connecticut and learned to play the piano in his youth. He first performed in New York City with Charles Mingus at the jazz club Showplace, with Booker Ervin on tenor, Ted Curson on trumpet, Dannie Richmond on drums, and Mingus on bass. and on his first night with Mingus, Eric Dolphy performed on alto, bass clarinet, and flute.

In 1971, eleven years later, Mingus gave Johnson Let My Children Hear Music to arrange, which featured two Mingus pieces, Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife (Are Some Jiveass Slippers) and Don’t Be Afraid, the Clowns Afraid Too. The album’s emergence was heralded with a live concert, Mingus And Friends At Philharmonic Hall, also arranged by Johnson and released as an album.

Performing We Did It on Soul Train in 1973 and continued to work with Mingus until his death from Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1979. Mingus recorded two of Johnson’s compositions, Wee and For Harry Carney, and nominated Johnson for a Guggenheim award following his own in Jazz Composition.

Johnson continues to work with Sue Mingus arranging charts for all the Mingus repertory ensembles—the Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Orchestra and the Mingus Dynasty. He would go on to collaborate with arrangements for Joe Williams, Frank Sinatra, Wes Montgomery, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Quincy Jones, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Mel Torme, Terry Gibbs, Lee Konitz and Sarah Vaughan, among others.

He has also worked on Broadway and in films such as the1984 movie The Cotton Club. Arranger Sy Johnson is also a jazz photographer, writer, pianist, singer, and teacher.

More Posts: arranger,history,instrumental,jazz,music,photographer,pianist,singer,teacher,writer

Three Wishes

When the Baroness asked Art Davis what he would have as his three wishes he said: 

1. 1. “Tho be successful and to help people.”

   2. “To have anything and everything I want.”

   3. “To be loved and admired by everyone.”

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

More Posts: baroness,bass,history,instrumental,jazz,music,pannonica,three,wishes

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bill Harris was born on April 14, 1925 in Nashville, North Carolina He studied guitar in Washington, D.C. at the Columbia School of Music and in 1950 began playing with the R&B vocal group The Clovers. He remained with the group through 1958, playing on many of their most successful hit records.

During this time he also recorded as a jazz musician, including two LPs for EmArcy Records, his 1956 self-titled Bill Harris and The Harris Touch In 1957. Through the Sixties, he played in the DC area and in the 1970s taught music, and published several books on guitar technique.

He was awarded a compositional fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1972. Moving to France he performed there for much of 1972-1973, and after returning to the States, Harris began managing his own jazz club, Pigfoot, in the DC, but by 1981 the club was repossessed by the Internal Revenue Service due to back taxes.

Guitarist Bill Harris worked as an impresario late in life, organizing and presenting concerts in a variety of genres until passing away on December 6, 1988, Washington, D.C.

More Posts: bandleade,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ian Armit was born on April 11, 1929 in Fife, Scotland. He played in Sandy Brown’s band in 1957, and that same year he released the solo EP Jazz Club Piano on Decca Records. The late 1950s saw him as part of the band by Humphrey Lyttelton and was part of the recording sessions by Al Fairweather, Cy Laurie, and Wally Fawkes.

In the 1960s Armit worked in the British blues scene with Alexis Korners Blues Incorporated, with Rod Stewart and toured the United States with the singer Long John Baldry in 1971. As a session musician, he worked with Sandy Denny, Bob Wallis, and went on a European tour.

Moving to Switzerland, he led his own quartet, recorded his Ian’s Boogie Woogie with the Old Rivertown Jazz Band and performed with Piccadilly Six, the Harlem Rambler and other local blues bands. Pianist Ian Armit, who recorded five albums as a leader from 1954 to 1976, passed away on February 18, 1992, in Zurich, Switzerland.

More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Monty Sunshine was born on April 9, 1928 in Stepney, London, England. Along with Lonnie Donegan, Jim Bray, and Ron Bowden, formed the backline of what was the embryo Chris Barber Band. A few personnel changes between 1953 and ‘54 with the departure of Ken Colyer whose name headed the band for a time until they adopted Baber’s name permanently.

The band quickly gained an international reputation following their inaugural tour of Denmark, before their professional debut in the United Kingdom. Sunshine stayed with the band for several years, until leaving in 1960 and forming his own band, staying true to the original six-man lineup.

In January 1963, the British music magazine NME reported that the biggest trad jazz event to be staged in Britain had taken place at Alexandra Palace. The event included Sunshine, George Melly, Diz Disley, Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer, Alex Welsh, Bob Wallis, Bruce Turner, and Mick Mulligan.

Sunshine returned to play a reunion concert with the original Chris Barber Band at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon in June 1975. This was well-received, and the band reformed once again for an international reunion tour in 1994. Sunshine retired from music around 2001. His discography is extensive, and compact discs have been issued of recordings with Colyer and Barber, as well as with his own band. He has also worked with Beryl Bryden, Johnny Parker, the Crane River Jazz Band, and Donegan’s Dancing Sunshine Band.

Clarinetist Monty Sunshine, who is known for his clarinet solo on the track Petite Fleur, a million-seller for the Chris Barber Jazz Band in 1959, passed away on November 30, 2010, at the age of 82.

More Posts: bandleader,clarinet,history,instrumental,jazz,music