Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 22, 1935 but was raised in Detroit after the death of his mother. He began his music career as a youth playing the baritone horn, then switched to the tuba but by age 14 finally settled on the string bass in 1949. Through high school he trained with a Detroit Symphony Orchestra bassist, played classical music with the Detroit String Band, played with the Cass Technical High School Symphony and various other student groups that often had him playing the baritone saxophone.

Bassist Jimmy Blanton was Paul’s biggest influence but Charlie Parker and Bud Powell were his first influences. He admired Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown, followed by Percy Heath, Milt Hinton and Wendell Marshall for their rhythm section work. It was Charles Mingus’ and George Duvivier’s technical prowess that gave him an understanding of their broadening of the jazz bass.

Chambers was invited to New York by Paul Quinichette and was soon touring and playing with George Wallington, J.J. Johnson, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Bennie Green, Thad Jones, Barry Harris and Kai Winding. In 1955 he joined the Miles Davis followed by Wynton Kelly and freelanced with many jazz greats throughout his short but impressive career.

Paul Chambers was a prominent figure and one of the most influential jazz bassists of the 1950s and 60s. His importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured by his impeccable time, intonation and virtuosic improvisations. He, along with Slam Stewart was first to perform arco or bowed features.

Over the span of his extremely short career Paul was a member of two of the jazz world’s most famous “rhythm sections”, the first with Red Garland and Philly Jo Jones, the second with Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb. On January 4, 1969 he passed away of tuberculosis at the premature age of 33.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Slide Hampton was born Locksley Wellington Hampton on April 21, 1932 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, one of twelve children born to Laura and Clarke Hampton, who taught them to play instruments. One of the few left-handed trombonists, not naturally having received a left-handed trombone from his father, by age twelve the Hamptons were living in Indianapolis and Slide was playing in the Duke Hampton Band, led by his father.

Just eight years later Slide was on stage at Carnegie Hall playing with Lionel Hampton in 1952. Throughout the 1950s Slide played with Buddy Johnson, played and arranged for Maynard Ferguson, and recorded with master trombonist Melba Liston. As his reputation grew he began working with Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, and Max Roach, contributing both original compositions and arrangements. In the early Sixties he formed an octet with Freddie Hubbard, Booker Little and George Coleman that toured and recorded throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Over the course of fifty plus years Hampton has played with Woody Herman, lived in Europe for ten years, taught at Harvard, University of Massachusetts, DePaul University and Indiana State. He has led a nine trombone 3 rhythm band – World Of Trombones, co-led a quintet with Jimmy Heath called Continuum and freelanced as a writer and player.

This gifted jazz musician has been inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame, is a two-time Grammy winner, and was honored in 2005 with the NEA Jazz Masters Award.  Trombonist, bandleader, educator, master composer, arranger Slide Hampton, who  is among the most distinguished assembly of careers in music, passed away on November 18, 2021 in Orange, New Jersey.

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From Broadway To 52nd Street

The Boys From Syracuse came to Broadway with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and opened on November 23, 1938 at the Alvin Theatre. The musical ran for two hundred and thirty-five performances, giving the world and jazz the songs “Falling In Love With Love” and “This Can’t Be Love”. The show starred Eddie Albert, Ronal Graham, Teddy Hart and Jimmy Salvo.

The Story: This is the tale of separated twins when young, Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse, who have taken on twin servants both named Dromio. It is when the pair from Syracuse come to Ephesus, that a comedy of errors ensues.

Jazz History: As the country becomes though over-commercialized with swing, the necessity of change hovers in the air. By the end of the Thirties, Coleman Hawkins would open the door that whet the appetites and influence aspiring jazz improvisers seeking a new mode of expression in small group settings and after-hour jam sessions. His rendition of Body and Soul was a landmark recording that sparked the emergence of bebop.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Leo Parker was born on April 18, 1925 in Washington, DC. He studied alto saxophone in high school and by 1944 had recorded with Coleman Hawkins. Switching to baritone the same year, he joined Billy Eckstine’s bebop band for the next two years.

In 1945 he became a member of the “Unholy Four” of saxophonists joining Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons. Possessed of a big, beefy sound tone and a fluent technique that spoke to R & B and advanced harmonies of bebop, Leo played with Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson, Teddy Edwards, Wardell Gray and Sir Charles Thompson, the later which he had a hit with “Mad Lad”.

During the ‘50s Leo experienced problems with drug abuse that interfered with his recording obligations. Although he made two comebacks recordings for Blue Note in 1961, the following year Leo Parker died of a heart attack at age 36 in New York City on February 11, 1962.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Paul Smith also known as Paul T. Smith was born on April 17, 1922 in San Diego, California. After playing early on with Johnny Richards in 1941 and spending a couple of years in the military, the pianist played with Les Paul from 1946–1947 and Tommy Dorsey from 1947–1949, them moved to L.A. and became a studio musician.

Smith has recorded frequently as a leader both with his trios and as a soloist. As a sideman he worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Anita O’Day, Buddy DeFranco, Louis Bellson, Steve Allen, Sammy Davis Jr., Rosemary Clooney, Stan Kenton Mel Torme and Ella Fitzgerald, the later with whom he was her conductor and pianist from 1956 to 1978.

Throughout his career Smith has worked in television with Bing Crosby, Red Skelton, Dinah Shore, Nat King Cole, Carol Burnett and many more, has toured around the world and has authored a number of educational books and CDs, most of which focus on explaining his particular approach to jazz piano.

Often praised for his brilliant technique and lyrical playing, he has performed in various genres of jazz, most typically bebop but has delved into cool jazz, swing, and traditional pop. Pianist Paul Smith passed away of heart failure at the age 91 in Torrance, California on June 29, 2013.

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