Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Muhal Richard Abrams was born on September 19, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois. He didn’t start his musical training until his enrollment in Roosevelt University but not hearing what he heard in the streets caused him to study piano on his own. His natural ability to study and analyze things allowed him to read, identify the key the music was in, then the notes and how to play the piano. Listening to Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and many others, he concentrated on the composition of Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson pieces. Although it took a lot of time and sweat, he was soon playing on the scene.
Abrams’ first gigs were playing the blues, R&B, and hard bop circuit in Chicago and working as a sideman with everyone from Dexter Gordon and Max Roach to Ruth Brown and Woody Shaw. In 1950 he began writing arrangements for the King Fletcher Band, and in 1955 played in the hard-bop band Modern Jazz Two + Three, with tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris.
After this group folded he kept a low profile until he organized the Experimental Band in 1962, a contrast to his earlier hard bop venture in its use of free jazz concepts. This band, with its fluctuating lineup, evolved into the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), emerging in May 1965 with Abrams as its president. Opting not to play in smoky nightclubs they often rented out theatres and lofts where they could perform for attentive and open-minded audiences.
His landmark album “Levels and Degrees of Light” in 1967 saxophonists Anthony Braxton and Maurice McIntyre, vibraphonist Gordon Emmanuel, violinist Leroy Jenkins, bassist Leonard Jones and vocalist Penelope Taylor. However, he never strayed too far from hard bop during this period playing with Eddie Harris, Dexter Gordon and other hard boppers.
Moving to New York in 1975, Abrams became a part of the local Loft Jazz scene and in 1983 he established the New York chapter of the AACM. Over the course of his career he composed for symphony orchestras, classical works, string quartets, solo piano, voice, and big bands in addition to making a series of larger ensemble recordings that include harp and accordion. He has recorded extensively under his own name frequently on the Black Saint label and as a sideman on others’ records, working with the likes of Marion Brown, Chico Freeman, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Art Farmer, Sonny Stitt, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and numerous others.
Muhal Richard Abrams, educator, administrator, composer, arranger, cellist, clarinetist and pianist was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Vision Festival, New York City’s premier jazz festival and in 2010 was honored as a NEA Jazz Master. He continues to perform and record.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
“Brother” Jack McDuff was born Eugene McDuffy on September 17, 1926 in Champaign, Illinois. He began his musical career playing bass first with Joe Farrell followed by Willis Jackson who encouraged him to take up the organ. In the late 50’s he moved to his new instrument and began attracting the attention of Prestige Records. He soon became a bandleader, leading groups that featured then, young guitarist George Benson, saxophonist Red Holloway and drummer Joe Dukes.
McDuff’s debut recording “Brother Jack” for Prestige was followed by his sophomore project, The Honeydripper, featuring Jimmy Forrest and Grant Green. After his Prestige tenure he joined the Atlantic Records family for a brief period and then by the 70s was recording for Blue Note.
The decreasing interest in jazz and blues during the late 70s and 1980s meant that many jazz musicians went through a lean time and it wasn’t until the late 1980s, with The Re-Entry, recorded for the Muse label in 1988, and once again began a successful period of recordings, initially for Muse, then on the Concord Jazz label from 1991. George Benson appeared on his mentor’s 1992 Colour Me Blue album.
Despite health problems, Brother Jack continued working and recording throughout the 1980s and 1990s, touring Japan with Atsuko Hashimoto in 2000. “Captain” Jack McDuff, as he later became known, was one of the most prominent jazz organist and organ trio bandleader during the hard bop and soul jazz era of the Sixties. He passed away of heart failure on January 23, 2001 at the age of 74 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jon Hendricks was born John Carl Hendricks on September 16, 1921 in Newark, Ohio and along with his 14 siblings moved around a lot until his A.M.E. pastor father settled in Toledo. As a teenager, Jon’s first interest was in the drums, but before long he was singing on the radio regularly with another Toledo native, pianist Art Tatum. Out of high school Jon served in the Army during WWII and after his discharge entered pre-law at the University of Toledo but stop at the graduate level because his G.I. benefits ran out. Charting a new course on the advice and encouragement given him by Charlie Parker, he moved to New York and began his singing career.
In 1957, he teamed with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross to form the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. With Jon as lyricist, the trio perfected the art of vocalese and took it around the world, earning them the designation of the “Number One Vocal Group in the World” for five years in a row from Melody Maker magazine. After six years the trio disbanded for solo careers but not before leaving behind a catalog of legendary recordings, most of which have never gone out of print.
Pursuing a solo career, Hendricks moved his young family to London, England in 1968, toured Europe and Africa, performed frequently on British television, and appeared in British and French films and his sold-out club dates drew fans such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Five years later the Hendricks settled in California, worked as the jazz critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, and taught classes at California State University, Sonoma and the University of California, Berkeley.
Over the course of his career Hendricks wrote a stage piece about the history of jazz, “Evolution of the Blues” that ran an unprecedented five years at the Off-Broadway Theatre in San Francisco and another year in Los Angeles; and his television documentary, “Somewhere to Lay My Weary Head” received an Emmy, Iris and Peabody awards; has recorded several critically-acclaimed albums on his own, collaborated with his wife and daughters, with the Manhattan Transfer on 7 Grammy winning “Vocalese”, has served on the Kennedy Center Honors committee under Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton; has been appointed distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Toledo; selected as the first American jazz artist to lecture at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Jon has toured worldwide with the “Four Brothers” comprised of Kurt Elling, Mark Murphy and Kevin Mahogany as well as working with his 15 member vocal group Vocalstra. Countless of singers and critics cite him as the one of the originators of vocalese and he has influenced just as many from Van Morrison and Al Jarreau to Bobby McFerrin and Georgie Fame. Time Magazine dubbed him the “James Joyce of Jive” while Leonard Feather called him the “Poet Laureate of Jazz”.
Vocalist Jon Hendricks endlessly performed, toured and recorded until he transitioned on November 22, 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, at age 96.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Cannonball Adderley was born Julian Edwin Adderley on September 15, 1928 in Tampa, Florida but moved with his parents to Tallahassee when his parents accepted teaching positions at Florida A&M University. While there both he and his brother Nat played with Ray Charles during the early forties, with Cannonball becoming a local legend prior to moving to New York in 1955.
It was in New York during this time that Adderley’s prolific career began when he visited Cafe Bohemia and witnessed the Oscar Pettiford group playing that night. Bringing his saxophone into the club with him, for fear of it being stolen, he was asked to sit in, as the saxophone player was late. In true Cannonball style, he soared through the changes, and became a sensation in the following weeks.
Cannonball formed his own group with his brother Nat after signing onto the Savoy jazz label in 1957. He was noticed by Miles Davis and it was because of his blues-rooted alto saxophone that Davis asked him to play with his group in October, three months before Coltrane’s return to the group. This group released the seminal “Milestones” and “Kind of Blue” and the association with Bill Evans produced “Portrait of Cannonball” and Know What I Mean”.
By the end of ‘60s, Adderley’s playing began to reflect the influence of the electric jazz avant-garde producing such albums as “Accent on Africa” and “The Price You Got To Pay to Be Free”. In 1970 his quintet played the Monterey Jazz Festival and a brief scene of that performance was featured in the Clint Eastwood film “Play Misty For Me”, and shortly before his death in 1975 he was casted in an episodic role alongside Jose Feliciano and David Carradine in Kung Fu.
His interest as an educator led him to teach applied instrumental music classes at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale; and carried over to him narrating and recording “The Child’s Introduction to Jazz” released in 1961 on Riverside Records.
Joe Zawinul’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and “Walk Tall”, “This Here” written by Bobby Timmons, “The Jive Samba” and “Work Song” are a few of the songs made famous by Cannonball. Joe Zawinul composed “Cannon Ball” that was recorded on the Weather Report album Black Market as a tribute to his former leader.
Alto saxophonist and educator Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, who added so much to the hard bop era of the ‘50s and ‘60s, died of a stroke on August 8, 1975. Later that year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Melvin Howard Tormé was born on September 13, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois to Russian-Jewish parents whose surname was Torma but was changed to Torme as they came through Ellis Island. A child prodigy, his first professional engagement was singing “You’re Driving Me Crazy” with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra at the Blackhawk at age 4. Between 1933 and 1941, he acted in the network radio serials “The Romance of Helen Trent” and “Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy”.
Mel wrote his first song at 13, and three years later, his first published song, “Lament to Love,” became a hit recording for Harry James. He played drums in Chicago’s Shakespeare Elementary School drum and bugle corps in his early teens. While a teenager, he sang, arranged, and played drums in a band led by Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers. His formal education ended in 1944 with his graduation from Chicago’s Hyde Park High School.
In 1943, Tormé made his movie debut in Sinatra’s first film, the musical “Higher and Higher” and an appearance in the 1947 film musical “Good News” made him a teen idol for a few years. He went on to sing and act in many films and television episodes throughout his career, even hosting his own television show in 1951–52.
In 1944 he formed one of the first jazz-influenced vocal groups, a quintet called “Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones.” They had several hits on his own and fronting Artie Shaw’s band and blazed a path that was later followed by the Hi-Lo’s, The Four Freshman and The Manhattan Transfer. A solo act by 1947, Mel hit New York’s Copacabana and a local disc jockey in the audience, Fred Robbins, gave him the nickname “The Velvet Fog” for his smooth vocals and high tenor, a name detested by Tormé.
Mel went on to have a long and prosperous career recording for Decca, Musicraft, Capitol and Bethlehem; worked with Marty Paich in the fifties; “Blue Moon” became his signature tune; helped pioneer cool jazz; in the 60s wrote songs and musical arrangements for Judy Garland; co-wrote “The Christmas Song” with Bob Wells; and weathered the drought of vocal jazz until fertile ground reappeared in the 70s, a period that for him, lasted nearly to the end of his life.
Mel Tormé, vocalist, drummer, actor, author, composer and arranger passed away after suffering a stroke on June 5, 1999.