Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Pass was born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua on January 13, 1929 in Brunswick, New Jersey but was raised in Johnston, Pennsylvania. Inspired by Gene Autry’s portrayal of a guitar-playing cowboy. His father gave him his first guitar on his 9th birthday and encouraged him to pick up tunes by ear, play pieces not specifically written for guitar and practice scales leaving no spaces between the notes of the melody.
As early as 14, Joe started gigging with bands fronted by Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet as he honed his guitar skills and learned the music business. He began traveling with small jazz groups, eventually ending up in New York City. Unfortunately, he fell victim to drug abuse spending a good portion of the 1950s in relative obscurity, reappearing only after a two-and-a –half year stay in rehab at Synanon that resulted in the 1962 album “The Sounds of Synanon”.
Throughout the sixties Pass recorded a series of albums for the Pacific Jazz label, received Downbeat magazine’s “New Star Award” in ’63, toured with George Shearing, was a sideman with Louis Bellson, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Williams, Della Reese and Johnny Mathis, and worked on TV shows including The Tonight Show with Carson, Merv Griffin, Steve Allen and others.
By the early 1970s, Pass and guitarist Herb Ellis were performing together regularly at Donte’s in Los Angeles, a collaboration that led to the recording of Jazz/Concord with Ray Brown and Jake Hanna in tow. During this time he also collaborated on a series of music books, and his Joe Pass Guitar Style is considered a leading improvisation textbook for students of jazz.
In 1970 Norman Granz signed pass to his Pablo records in which he released as a leader and worked with Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and many, many others. In 1974, along with Oscar Peterson and Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson they won a Grammy with their album “The Trio” for Best Jazz Performance by a group. Throughout the late 70sto mid 80s, Joe and Ella Fitzgerald would record six albums together as her career was nearing its end. In 1994, guitarist Joe Pass died from liver cancer in Los Angeles on May 23rd at the age of 65.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Tucker was born Robert Nathaniel Tucker on January 8, 1923 in Morristown, New Jersey. His rise to recognition came On November 12, 1946 when during Billie Holiday’s stay at the Down Beat Club he was drafted to accompany Holiday because Eddie Heywood refused his opportunity. Billie’s stay at the Down Beat was so successful due to Tucker’s playing that she decided to keep him as her accompanist. The partnership lasted until 1949, where Tucker quit due to Holiday’s abusive lover, John Levy (not the bassist) threatening him.
After leaving Holiday, Tucker began playing with Billy Eckstine, a partnership and friendship that last more than forty years. He recorded on multiple sessions with Billy but was featured on the 1960 album “No Cover, No Minimum”, in which he arranged and conducted the orchestra behind Eckstine. That same year Tucker also released his only known album under his own name “Too Tough”.
Bobby was especially sought out as an accompanist for singers among them Johnny Hartman, Lena Horne and Antonio Carlos Jobim. He was a musician’s musician whose quiet yet prolific career renders little biographical information, yet spanned the jazz age from the 40s to the 60s and beyond with his friend Billy Eckstine.
Pianist, arranger and conductor Bobby Tucker passed away of a heart attack on April 12, 2007 in his hometown of Morristown, New Jersey at the age of 85.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sam Woodyard was born January 7, 1925 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He learned to play the drums by teaching himself, with no instruction. He began playing locally around Newark, New Jersey area in the 1940s. Sam gigged with Paul Gayten in an R&B group, moving on in the early 50s to play with Joe Holiday, Roy Eldridge, and Milt Buckner. It was in 1955 that Woodyard would join Duke Ellington’s orchestra, remaining the ensemble’s drummer until 1966.
After his time with Ellington, Sam played behind Ella Fitzgerald prior to moving to Los Angeles, California. In the 1970s he played less due to health problems, but recorded with Buddy Rich and toured with Claude Bolling. In 1983 he played in a band with Teddy Wilson, Buddy Tate and Slam Stewart. His last recording was on Steve Lacy’s 1988 album “The Door”.
A little more than a month after this recording was completed, drummer Sam Woodyard passed away on September 20, 1988 in Paris, France.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Keith Ronald Christie was born January 6, 1931 in Blackpool, England and began playing trombone at 14 while attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He formed a band with his brother Ian in the late 1940s, and soon after the pair joined the band of Humphrey Lyttleton, recording copiously.
Keith served in the military early in the 1950s, reconvening to lead an ensemble with his brother in 1951 that lasted until 1953. He went on to work with other jazz musicians like John Dankworth, Cleo Laine, George Chisholm, Vic Ash and others in the mid 50s. He worked with Ted Heath as well as Allan Ganley in the Jazzmakers from the late 50s to early 60s, with brief stints in other bands through the end of the decade.
During this period he joined Benny Goodman on a European tour, also playing with Tubby Hayes, Paul Gonsalves, Kenny Wheeler, Ronnie Ross, and Bobby Lamb among others. In the mid-1970s Keith Christie suffered and recovered from a fall but his continuing battles with alcoholism eventually resulted in the trombonist’s early death on December 16, 1980 in London, England.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Laten John Adams was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 5, 1932 the oldest of ten children and became a professional musician after leaving school. He began his career-singing gospel with the Soul Revivers and Bessie Griffin’s Consolators, but crossed over to secular music in 1959. He recorded Dorothy LaBostrie’s “I Won’t Cry” on the RIC label and produced by teenager Mac Rebennack a.k.a. Dr. John who would later give him a #27 hit in 1962 with “A Losing Battle”.
In 1963, Adams went on to record for Modern Records and Watch Records with limited success until he signed with SSS International. Having three hits on the billboard charts and an album “Heart and Soul” he moved unsuccessfully to other labels like Atlantic and Ariola. During this period he held down a regular gig at Dorothy’s Medallion Lounge in New Orleans and toured the southern nightclub circuit.
In 1983 signing with Rounder Records, Johnny recorded a series of nine critically acclaimed albums beginning with “From the Heart” in 1984, encompassing a wide range of jazz, blues and R&B styles while highlighting Adams’ voice. By 1991 “The Real Me” album brought him a number of accolades, including a W.C. Handy Award. He began touring internationally, working and recording with such musicians as Aaron Neville, Harry Connick Jr. Lonnie Smith and Dr. John.
Johnny Adams, jazz, blues and gospel singer, passed away on September 14, 1998 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana after a long battle with prostate cancer.
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