Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Wallington was born Giacinto Figlia on October 27, 1924 in Palermo, Italy but his family moved to the United States in 1925. He didn’t arrive on the New York scene until the 40s at around 18 years old, but from 1943 to 1953 he played with Joe Marsala, Charlie Parker, Serge Chaloff, Allen Eager, Terry Gibbs, Zoot Sims, Red Rodney, Kai Winding, Annie Ross, Al Cohn, Gerry Mulligan, and a host of other musicians.
He was Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist in his first bop band at the Onyx club in 1944, where his contributions reflected his innate creative ability, a talent that established him as one of the best composers in the progressive field. His astonishing, fast-moving eloquence as a pianist, contrasted strangely with his introvert, laconic manner as a person.
Wallington recorded as a leader for Savoy and Blue Note and led groups in New York that included newcomers Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean and Paul Chambers, Art Taylor and Phil Woods from 1954 to 1960. He would record with these groups for Prestige and Atlantic record labels. In 1960 he retired to work in the family business, but returned to music in 1984 and recording three albums. His style is often compared to the legendary Bud Powell.
George’s best known compositions are the bop standards “Lemon Drop”, played by Woody Herman‘s band, and “Godchild”, played for The Birth of the Cool recordings led by Miles Davis. He sat in on the recording of Lady Fair on the Verve release Metronome All-Stars 1956 and was closely associated with the progressive jazz movement in Harlem and on 52nd Street during the 1940s.
Bop pianist, arranger and composer George Wallington, one of the first bop pianists alongside Al Haig and Bud Powell, who left music in 1960 and moved to Florida, then returned in 1984 to record three albums, passed away in New York City on February 15, 1993. He left a ten record discography as a leader with several more as a sideman.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roberto Menescal was born on October 25, 1937 in Vitoria (ES) Brazil and by eighteen the guitarist and vocalist was making his debut as a professional along with Elis Regina, Silvia Telles and others. By the late 50s he spawned a brilliant career as a composer being in good company with Carlos Lyra, Tom Jobim and Ronaldo Boscoli.
Menescal was important to the founding of the Bossa Nova movement in which many of his songs are references to the sea, such as his best-known composition “O Barquinho” (“Little Boat”). He was one of the musicians who promoted the swing of bossa nova around the world with his compositions “The Barquinho”, “You” and “We and the Sea” and was a part of the famous 1962 Bossa Nova Concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Choosing to return to Brazil to raise a family, his fame is mostly relegated to his home country and with bossa nova fans around the world. Roberto very easily moves between musical mediums playing Latin, Brazilian pop, Musica Popular Brasiliera, Bossa Nova and Samba. He provided music for the film Bye Bye Brasil and was nominated for a Latin Grammy for his work with his son’s bossa group Bossacucanova in 2002.
With a career spanning over 50 years, he has worked with the likes of Carlos Lyra, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Jorge Ben Jor, Caetano Veloso, Nara Leão, Jair Rodrigues, Joe Henderson, Joao Bosco, Maysa and Alcione. Donning his producer and arranger hats he has recorded Elis Regina, Leila Pinheiro, Nara Leão, Wanda Sá, Ale Vanzellan, Chico Buarque, Emilio Santiago, Fagner, Gal Costa, Nara Lion, Jeanne, Ivan Lins and Oswaldo Montenegro who are a fraction of a long list of artists.
From 1970 to 1985, Menescal was at Polygram Records as producer, director and general manager but left to found his own production company – Albatross. Since the late Nineties he has been a part of “Tokyo-River Road” to Japan, was musical director for “Nara – A Lady Say” that ran five months in Rio de Janiero, and released a three instrumental CD “Zen” set of bossa nova, bolero and jazz.
In 2008 Roberto not only celebrated his 50 years of bossa nova but also the 50th anniversary of the music genre. That same year he was the musical director for the show “50 Years of Bossa Nova” held on Ipanema Beach to an audience of over 60,000 people. Composer, producer, arranger, guitarist and vocalist Roberto Menescal is also an educator, who between performances and recordings conducts numerous workshops at universities, conferences and musical events around the world.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Elliott was born on October 21, 1926 in Somerville, New Jersey. He played mellophone in his high school band and played trumpet for an army band. After study at the University of Miami he added vibraphone to his arsenal of instruments. He recorded with Terry Gibbs and Buddy Rich before forming his own band.
From 1953 to 1960 he won the Down Beat readers poll several times for “miscellaneous instrument-mellophone.” Known as the “Human Instrument”, Elliott additionally performed jazz as a vocalist, trombonist, flugelhornist and percussionist. He pioneered the art of multi-track recording, composed over 5000 jingles with a countless number being prize-winning advertising jingles, prepared film scores, recorded over 60 albums and built a thriving production company.
Don scored several Broadway productions, such as The Beast In Me and A Thunder Carnival, the latter of which he performed with the Don Elliott Quartet, provided one of the voices for the novelty jazz duo the Nutty Squirrels, and lent his vocal talents to such motion picture soundtracks as The Getaway, $ (Dollars), The Hot Rock and The Happy Hooker.
His album Calypso Jazz is considered by some jazz enthusiasts to be one of the definitive calypso jazz albums. He worked with Paul Desmond, Ruby Braff, Bill Evans, Michel Legrand, Art Farmer, George Shearing and Mundell Lowe among others over his career. Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, publisher and producer Don Elliott, who was a longtime associate of Quincy Jones, passed away of cancer in Weston, Connecticut on July 5, 1984.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Johnny Lytle was born John Dillard Lytle on October 13, 1932 in Springfield, Ohio, the son of a trumpeter father and an organist mother. He began playing the drums and piano at an early age. Before studying music in earnest, he was a boxer and was a successful Golden Gloves champion. During the late ’50s, Lytle continued to box, but landed jobs as a drummer for Ray Charles, Jimmy Witherspoon and Gene Ammons.
Switching from drums to vibraphone Johnny toured with organist Hiram “Boots” Johnson in 1955 and then formed his first group in 1957 with saxophonist Boots Johnson, organist Milton Harris and drummer William “Peppy” Hinnant. He so impressed Grammy winning producer Orrin Keepnews who signed him to his Jazzland label in 1960.
Known for his great hand speed and showmanship, Lytle was also a songwriter, penning many of his own hits, including “The Loop,” “The Man,” “Lela,” “Selim” (honoring Miles Davis), and the jazz classic “The Village Caller”. He recorded more than 30 albums for various jazz labels including Tuba, Jazzland, Solid State and Muse. Throughout his career he performed and recorded with a host of jazz greats including Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Timmons and Roy Ayers.
Johnny never recorded with any of the major record labels fearing loss of control of his music and creative development, thus never gaining the status of a jazz icon like some of his peers, but finding success early in his career with chart-topping albums like A Groove, The Loop, and Moonchild. Nicknamed “Fast Hands,” he always kept an audience’s attention, was popular on the jazz circuit and built a respectable catalog of music with recordings in the ’70s,’80s and ’90s. Johnny toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, with his last performance one month before his passing on December 15, 1995 in his hometown of Springfield. The street where the vibraphonist and drummer used to live was renamed Johnny Lytle Avenue in his honor.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Monk Montgomery was born William Howard Montgomery on October 10, 1921 in Indianapolis, Indiana the older brother of Wes and Buddy. A student of the double bass, his professional career did not start until age 30, after Wes’ career began, and from 1951 to 1953 he worked in Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra.
Following that stint Monk worked with his brothers and Alonzo Johnson in the Montgomery Johnson Quintet. He would go on to record with his brothers as the Montgomery Brothers, releasing a number of albums together. 1955 saw him moving to Seattle, Washington to form The Mastersounds from 1957–1960. From 1966–1970, he freelanced with Cal Tjader, settled in Las Vegas, Nevada and continued to play with the Red Norvo Trio and worked with Kenny Burrell, Hampton Hawes, Jon Hendricks, Art Farmer, Hugh Masekela, The Jazz Crusaders and Eddie Harris among others.
In his final years he founded and was active in the Las Vegas Jazz Society and was planning a world jazz festival. He is perhaps the first electric bassist of significance to jazz, introducing in 1951 the Fender Precision Bass to the genre. Bassist Monk Montgomery died of cancer in Las Vegas on May 20, 1982.
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