Daily Dose OF Jazz…
Carson Raymond Smith was born on January 9, 1931 in San Francisco, California and his older brother, Putter, was also a notable bassist & composer. His early work was in West Coast jazz, playing with Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Russ Freeman, and Chico Hamilton and recorded with Clifford Brown, Dick Twardzik, and Billie Holiday at Carnegie Hall through the Fifties.
In 1959, he toured with Stan Kenton, then in 1960 recorded with Charlie Barnet. 1962 saw Carson moving to Los Angeles, California and playing with Charlie Teagarden and Lionel Hampton. He toured Japan with Georgie Auld in 1964.
Later in the 1960s, he played with Buddy Rich, Arno Marsh, and Carl Fontana. He held a longtime residency at the Four Queens Hotel in Las Vegas, where he accompanied visiting musicians such as Art Farmer, Lew Tabackin, Zoot Sims, and Chet Baker. Double-bassist Carson Smith passed away on November 2, 1997, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Charlesworth was born Richard Anthony Charlesworth on January 8, 1932 and brought up in Sheffield. He attended King Edward VII School and at age 16 he became a clerk in the Ministry of Labour and in due course was transferred to London. He bought a clarinet and started playing jazz as a hobby in 1952-53.
Entirely self-taught, Dick became good enough to play saxophone and clarinet in a dance band and performed with jazz bands in south London including Jim Weller’s Jazzmen. While still working his day job, 1956 saw him form his first group, Dick Charlesworth’s Jazzmen and winning the South London Jazz Band Championship in 1957. The group was signed by the Melodisc label, recorded an EP in 1957 and produced an album for Doug Dobell’s 77 Records.
Leaving the Civil Service in 1959 he became a professional musician. He signed a recording contract with EMI and his group was remarketed as Dick Charlesworth’s City Gents. Light jazz was popular in the British charts and Charlesworth’s group sported pinstripes and bowler hats and had a motto, while we live, let us enjoy life. Their only chart single was Billy Boy, which reached 43 in the UK Singles Chart in 1961.
The City Gents appeared on television, worked the cruise ship circuit, disbanded the group, then settled in Spain and ran a music bar before returning to England in 1977. He went on to be active in the London jazz scene until early in the new millennium. He worked with many artists including Keith Smith, Rod Mason, Alan Littlejohn and Denny Wright. He appeared on the BBC Radio series, Jazz Score, a quiz show which encouraged its participants to relate anecdotes about their lives in jazz.
In his later years, Charlesworth lived in Thames Ditton, Surrey, and played a residency at the George and Dragon pub every Tuesday and at various other local pubs. English jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and bandleader Dick Charlesworth passed away following a heart attack on April 15, 2008, at the age of 76.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Ray Payne was born on January 7, 1933 in Wellington, Texas but was raised in California, He initially played trumpet before switching to double bass in high school. His first major gigs came in the mid-1950s and he worked in the second half of the decade with Georgie Auld, Ornette Coleman, Maynard Ferguson, Calvin Jackson, Joe Maini, and Art Pepper.
1958 saw Don relocating to New York City, where he played with Tony Bennett, Chris Connor, and Mundell Lowe. He then joined Herbie Mann and Astrud Gilberto for international tours and also worked with Stan Getz around this time. He led his own ensemble with a rotating cast of sidemen, including Mike Abene, Joe Beck, and Gene Bertoncini.
Payne began playing bass guitar in 1964 and worked in popular and rock idioms as well as in jazz as a session musician for New York studio recordings. He played on releases by Loudon Wainwright III, Judy Collins, Roy Buchanan, Leonard Cohen (New Skin for the Old Ceremony, 1974), Janis Ian, Luiz Henrique, Harry Chapin, and Melanie Safka. His later jazz associations included Bobby Hackett, Jackie Cain, and Roy Kral.
Double bassist and bass guitarist Don Payne passed away on February 25, 2017 in Plantation, Florida. He was 84.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harold “Geezil” Minerve was born in Havana, Cuba on January 3, 1922, and raised in Florida and began playing music at age 12. He played with drummer Jeff Gibson and vocalist Ida Cox early in his career, then worked as a freelance musician in New Orleans, Louisiana. Following stints with Clarence Love and Ernie Fields, Minerve served in the Army from 1943–46, then returned to play with Fields for a short time.
He worked with Buddy Johnson from 1949~1957, then with Mercer Ellington in 1960, Ray Charles from 1962 to 1964, and then worked as musical director for Arthur Prysock. In 1971 he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra, filling Johnny Hodges’s spot after Hodges’s death. Minerve remained with the Ellington Orchestra until 1974, then returned to play with Mercer Ellington with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Following the success of the Broadway hit Sophisticated Lady when he played with the orchestra on stage and the touring company, Harold left for a brief time, playing with Ruth Brown’s Black and Blue Review in Paris, returning to Ellington in the Eighties. He did further freelance work later in the 1970s.
He would go on to work freelance in and around New York. Alto saxophonist, flutist, and clarinetist Harold Minerve passed away on June 4, 1992.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jackie Williams was born on January 2, 1933 in Harlem, New York City, New York. Taking on the role of the sideman, he has played and recorded with Doc Cheatham for 18 years at Greenwich Village’s Sweet Basil. He played and recorded with Buck Clayton on a U.S. State Department tour of the Middle East and Africa.
Jackie’s list of performances and recordings is a who’s who not limited to Benny Golson, Bobby Hackett, Illinois Jacquet, Duke Ellington, Alberta Hunter, Buddy Tate, Junior Mance Quintet, The Cliff Smalls Septet, The Dan Barrett Octet, The Howard Alden / Dan Barrett Quintet, Warren Vaché Quartet, Warren Vaché, Jr. And His All-Stars, Earl Hines, Milt Hinton, Alberta Hunter, Illinois Jacquet, Jay McShann, Bobby Short, Buddy Tate and Teddy Wilson, as well as many others.
Drummer Jackie Williams is a recipient of Yale University’s Duke Ellington Fellowship Medal. He is the drummer for the Junior Mance Trio and though he has not recorded as a leader but has continued a prolific career, in part, as a member of the Floating Jazz Festival Trio.
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