Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eldee Young was born January 7, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois. He started playing upright bass at the age of 13, helped by his eldest brother who played guitar.
In 1955 Eldee joined the Ramsey Lewis Trio and after a decade together recording more than twenty albums, split along with band mate Isaac “Red” Holt to form the Young-Holt Trio. They would change their name to the Young-Holt Unlimited in 1968. After they dissolved six years and ten records later, he continued playing, mainly with small groups in Chicago.
He also played with pianist Jeremy Monteiro for more than 20 years, appeared on recording sessions with James Moody, Eden Atwood and Lorez Alexander, among others.
Double bassist and cellist Eldee Young, who performed mainly in the cool jazz, post bop and R&B mediums passed away of a heart attack in Bangkok, Thailand on February 12, 2007.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Paolo Conte was born January 6, 1937 in Asti, Piedmont, Italy. He began performing as a vibraphonist in local jazz bands and started songwriting with his brother, guitarist Giorgio, eventually writing songs of his own. As a poet, painter and lawyer as well as a musician, he first earned attention during the late ’60s and early ’70s as the creative force behind hits from Adriano Celentano and Patty Pravo.
Beginning his solo career with a 1974 self-titled LP, with subsequent efforts enjoyed considerable success throughout Europe. His 1998’s Paolo Conte, a greatest-hits collection, was his first U.S. release. He had hits used in movies like I Am David, Mickey Blue Eyes, French Kiss and No Reservations, as well as the Fritz Coca Cola commercial.
Paolo has recorded and released fifteen studio, five live and seven compilation albums, has been honored with handprints on the Rotterdam Walk of Fame, and awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for Outstanding Cultural Achievements. He has been given the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France and has received honorary doctorates from several universities. Singer, pianist, and composer Paolo Conte continues to perform, composer, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Wellington Wess was born on January 4, 1922 in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of a principal father and a schoolteacher mother. He began with classical music training and played in Oklahoma in high school. He later switched to jazz after moving to Washington, DC and by nineteen was working with big bands.
Although his career was interrupted during World War, he played with a military band in the period. After leaving the military, he joined Billy Eckstine’s orchestra, then a few years later he returned to DC and received a degree in flute at the Modern School Of Music. He played tenor saxophone and flute with Count Basie from 1953 to 1964.
Wess was considered one of the best jazz flautists of his time and from 1959 to 1964 he won the Down Beat Critic Poll for flute. He went on to be a member of Clark Terry’s big band from 1967 into the 1970s, played in the New York Jazz Quartet with Roland Hanna and did a variety of work for TV.
In 1968 Frank contributed to the landmark album The Jazz Composer’s Orchestra. Over the course of his career he played with Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, Buck Clayton, Benny Carter, Billy Taylor, Harry Edison, Mel Torme, Ernestine Anderson, Louie Bellson, John Pizzarelli, Milt Jackson, Quincy Jones, Yusef Lateeef, Howard Alden, Dick Hyman, Jane Jarvis, Frank Vignola, Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, Hank Jones and the list continues.
NEA Jazz Master, flautist, alto and tenor saxophonist Frank Wess passed away from a heart attack related to kidney failure on October 30, 2013.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Manny Oquendo was born on January 1, 1931 in New York City of Puerto Rican ancestry. Growing up he began studying percussion in 1945 and went on to work in the tropical bands and Latin music ensembles like Carlos Valero, Luis del Campo, Juan “El Boy” Torres, Chano Pozo, Jose Budet, Juanito Sanabria, Marcelino Guerra, Jose Curbelo and Pupi Campo.
In 1950, he became the bongo player for Tito Puente followed by Tito Rodriguez four years later. He moved on to Vicentico Valdes the next year and freelanced in the City before joining Eddie Palmieri’s Conjunto La Perfecta in 1962, where he helped develop the New York style of the mozambique rhythm.
Manny co-led Conjunto Libre with bassist Andy González from 1974 and had a worldwide hit with the Freddie Hubbard composition Little Sunflower in 1983 on the album Ritmo, Sonido y Estilo. He also was a sideman with Paul Quinichette.
His timbales solos were famous for their tastefully sparse, straight forward “típico” phrasing and his solos also incorporated the rhythmic language of the folkloric quinto, the lead drum ofrumba. Percussionist Manny Oquendo, who also played bongos, timbales, and left a small catalogue of nine albums as a leader, passed away on March 25, 2009.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lonnie Liston Smith, Jr. was born into a musical family on December 28, 1940 in Richmond, Virginia. With his father a member of Richmond Gospel music group The Harmonizing Four, as a child he was privy to groups such as the Swan Silvertones and the Soul Stirrers with a young Sam Cooke at his house. He learned piano, tuba and trumpet in high school and college, graduating from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland with a degree in music education.
Influenced by Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis, while still a teenager at college, Smith became well known locally as a backing vocalist and pianist. He played the Baltimore area with Gary Bartz, Grachan Moncur, Mickey Bass, backed Betty Carter and Ethel Ennis and played in the house band at the Royal Theatre.
1963 saw him moving to New York, once again with Carter for a year followed by Rahsaan Roland Kirk and recording Here Comes The Whistleman. After this stint with Kirk he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers sharing the piano seat with Mike Nock and Keith Jarrett and then with Max Roach. He would go on to play with Pharoah Sanders improvising and pushing the creative boundaries of free jazz. It is at this point that Smith began experimenting with electric keyboards:
In 1969 Lonnie also backed Sanders vocalist Leon Thomas on his first album Spirits Known and Unknown, played with Gato Barbieri on The Third World, and with Miles Davis for On The Corner. He formed the Cosmic Echoes in 1973 with Cecil McBee, George Barron, Joe Beck, David Lee, James Mtume, Sonny Morgan, Badal Roy and Geeta Vashi. The group blended fusion, soul and funk on several recordings for Flying Dutchman Records over the next twelve years.
After the crossover success of the 1970s, he moved into the smooth jazz format, however, public interest slowly waned. By the mid-Eighties he returned to his acoustic roots with McBee and Al Foster recording a session of standards for Bob Thiele’s Startrak label. But dealing with the labels bottom line he returned to smooth jazz working with Phyllis Hyman and Stanley Turrentine. He also delved into hip-hop working with rapper Guru on his groundbreaking Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1. Pianist and keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith established his own label Loveland, gathered greater recognition with Sony International distributing his Cosmic Echoes years, and has since continued to compose, record and tour to festivals worldwide.
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