Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Colin James Bailey was born July 9, 1934 in Swindon, England and learned to play drums as a child, studying formally from age seven. Living in Australia from 1958 into the early 1960s, he played with Bryce Rohode and the Australian Jazz Quartet. While the AJQ toured the U.S., Bailey was hired by Vince Guaraldi to play alongside Jimmy Witherspoon and Ben Webster until 1963.

Settling in California, Bailey worked throughout the sixties with Claire Fischer, Victor Feldman, Joe Pass and Miles Davis; toured worldwide with Benny Goodman and George Shearing, played on a television program with Terry Gibbs and played with Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Joao Gilberto and Blossom Dearie in 1975.

In 1970, Bailey became an American citizen and spent six years as Ed Shaughnessy’s backup in the Tonight Show band, and starred in Fernwood Tonight in a drumming role in 1977-78. After a move to Texas in 1979, he became a faculty member at North Texas State University from 1981-84.

Drummer Colin Bailey’s later work includes time with Richie Cole, Jimmy Rowles, Red Mitchell, Stefan Scaggliari, Ron Affif, John Pisano, Weslia Whitfield, George H. Russell, Shelly Manne, Victor Feldman and re-teaming with Joe Pass.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Della Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early on July 6, 1931 in Detroit, Michigan to an African-American steelworker and Cherokee cook. At age 6 she began singing in church becoming an avid Gospel singer. Her mother would take her to the movies on weekends to see the portrayals of glamorous life by Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Lena Horne, whereupon afterwards she would act out scenes from each movie. By 1944 she was directing the young people’s choir, nurturing her acting and her obvious musical talent.

She was often chosen on radio, as a regular singer and by age thirteen she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson’s Gospel group. Upon entering Cass Technical High School in Detroit, attending with Edna Rae Gillooly, later known as movie star Ellen Burstyn, Reese was a brilliant, no-nonsense student. She continued touring with Mahalia and with higher grades she was the first in her family to graduate from high school in 1947, at only 15.

After graduation Della formed her own gospel group called the Meditation Singers but her mother’s death and father’s illness interrupted her singing and education at Wayne State University. Taking odd jobs as a truck driver, dental receptionist and even elevator operator she continued to perform in clubs but realizing her name was too long for the marquee, shortened it to Della Reese.

Della’s career has spanned more than half a century and during that time she has taken her gospel roots and added jazz, pop and R&B. Her string of singles topped or landed in the top 10 of all the music charts at one time or another. She was voted Most Promising Singer in 1957 by Billboard, Cashbox and other magazines, following with her biggest hit at the time “Don’t You Know?” that would become her early career signature song.

She has received four Grammy nominations, recorded numerous albums, played Vegas for nine years, toured worldwide, ventured into acting on stage, film and television successfully with “Touched By An Angel”, has been a game show panelist, talk show host, spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is an ordained minister.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Trumpeter Johnny Coles was born on July 3, 1926 in Trenton, New Jersey. He spent his early career playing with R&B groups, including those of Eddie Vinson, Bull Moose Jackson, and Earl Bostic from 1948-1956). He joined James Moody for two years in 1956, then played with Gil Evans’s orchestra between 1958 and 1964 and was a part of the Miles Davis ensemble on Sketches of Spain.

Following this period, Coles worked with the Charles Mingus sextet which also included Eric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, Jaki Byard, and Dannie Richmond. From 1968 to 1986 he played with Herbie Hancock, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Dameronia, Mingus Dynasty and the Count Basie Orchestra under Thad Jones’ direction.

Coles recorded as a leader several times over the course of his career for Epic, Blue Note, Mainstream and Criss Cross record labels. As a sideman he recorded sessions with Tina Brooks, Booker Ervin, Grant Green, Horace Parlan and Duke Pearson among others.

Nicknamed “Little Johnny C”, the trumpeter passed away of cancer on December 21, 1997 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ahmad Jamal was born Freddy “Fritz” Jones on July 2, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy, he began playing the piano at the age of three and started formal studies at 7. While attending Westinghouse High School, he completed the equivalent of college master classes under the noted African-American concert singer and teacher Mary Caldwell Dawson and pianist James Miller. Joining the musicians union at 14, he began touring with first the George Hudson Orchestra upon graduation at the age of 17. He followed that employ with The Four Strings, that drew critical acclaim for his solos.

Jamal moved to Chicago in 1950, formed his first trio, The Three Strings and was discovered and signed by record producer John Hammond while performing at New York’s The Embers Club. At Okeh Records the trio cut their first sides in 1951. Working as the house trio at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago they recorded and released the landmark classic album “But Not For Me” which stayed on the Ten Best selling charts for 108 weeks. The financial success from this one album allowed Jamal to open a restaurant and club call The Alhambra.

Miles Davis, Randy Weston, Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock cite him as a major influence in use of rhythm and space as well as his innovative use of multi-tonal melodic lines and his unique extended vamps. Over the course of his career Ahmad Jamal’s style has changed steadily from the lighter, breezy style heard on his 1950s recordings to the Caribbean styling of the 1970s and onto the large open voicing and bravura-laden playing of the Nineties.

He performed the title tune by Johnny Mandel for the soundtrack of the film “Mash”, has received the American Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment for the Arts; named a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University; and two tracks from his hit album But Not For Me – “Music, Music, Music,” and “Poinciana” were featured in Clint Eastwood’s film The Bridges of Madison County. The French government has inducted Ahmad Jamal into the prestigious Order of the Arts and Letters, naming him “Officer de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Pianist Ahmad Jamal continues to tour with his trio, playing the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals exclusively on Steinway pianos.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson on July 1, 1933, grew up learning to play drums in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania influenced by his mother who sang with Jimmie Lunceford, and his brother Muhammad, a drummer with Albert Ayler.

Moving to New York in 1963, Ali worked in groups with Bill Dixon and Paul Bley. He would go on to record or perform with Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Arthur Rhames, James Blood Ulmer and many others. Scheduled to be second drummer alongside Elvin Jones on John Coltrane’s landmark free jazz album Ascension, he dropped out just before the recording was to take place. Though Coltrane did not replace him, he became best known for playing and recording with Trane from Meditations in 1965 onwards.

Rashied became a driving force in the free and avant-garde drumming world, stimulating the most avant-garde kinds of jazz activities. During the early 1970s, he ran an influential loft club in New York, called Ali’s Alley, briefly formed a non-jazz project called Purple Trap with Japanese experimental guitarist Keiji Haino and jazz-fusion bassist Bill Laswell.  In the 1980s, he was member of Phalanx with guitarist James Blood Ulmer, tenorist George Adams and bassist Sirone.

Though most known for his work in the jazz idiom, Rashied Ali also made his contributions to other experimental art forms including multi-media performances and fully improvised large-scale performance pieces. During the last years of his life he played with Sonny Fortune, led his own quintet, served as mentor to young drummers, and was the featured drummer on Azar Lawrence’s 2009 album Mystic Journey.

Over the course of his stellar career drummer Rashied Ali amassed a discography of eighteen albums as a leader with another thirty as a sideman. He continued to record, perform and tour worldwide until his death at age 74 in New York City after suffering a heart attack on August 12, 2009.

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