Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Strozier was born on June 13, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee. He played with other hometown musicians in his youth and continued even after his move to Chicago in 1954 including Harold Mabern, Booker Little and George Coleman.
A renowned hard bop alto saxophonist who never got the recognition he deserved he did lead recording sessions for Vee-Jay Records and recorded with the MJT+3 from 1959-1960. After moving to New York, Frank was briefly with the Miles Davis Quintet in 1963, between the tenures of Hank Mobley and George Coleman. During this period he also gigged with Roy Haynes.
Strozier relocated to Los Angeles working with Chet Baker, Shelly Manne and most notably with the Don Ellis big band where he executed a memorable solo on “K.C. Blues” on the “Autumn” album. Returned to New York in 1971 he worked with the Jazz Contemporaries, the New York Jazz Repertory Company, Horace Parlan and Woody Shaw among others,.
Frustrated with lack of work, Frank would reappear from time to time as a piano player but with little results. His last recordings were in 1977 and he left a limited catalogue of seven albums as a leader and another 15 as a sideman.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marcus Belgrave was born June 12, 1936 in Chester, Pennsylvania and was tutored on trumpet by Clifford Brown when he was 17. Belgrave toured with Ray Charles from 1954-59 and later played with Charles Mingus and Max Roach.
In 1963 Marcus moved to Detroit and established himself as an educator and studio musician. He has recorded with Motown and Blue Note Record labels, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and a host of other luminaries in jazz.
His reputation as a clinician and instructor led Marcus to cultivate young jazz talent over the years like Regina Carter, Rodney Whitaker, Kenny Garrett, James Carter, Geri Allen, Bob Hurst, Carlos McKinney and Karriem Riggins.
In 2006 he lent his expertise to the Young Musicians Program (YMP) summer program at the University of California Berkeley helping out student with coaching and private lessons. He was a frequent faculty member at Stanford Jazz Workshop and was a visiting professor of jazz trumpet at the Oberlin Conservatory.
Trumpeter Marcus Belgrave transitioned on May 23, 2015, in Ann Arbor, Michigan of heart failure after being hospitalized since April with complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tina Brooks was born Harold Floyd Brooks on June 7, 1932 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the brother of tenor saxophonist David “Bubba” Brooks. He initially studied the C-melody saxophone, which he began playing in 1944 shortly after his family relocated to New York.
His first professional work came in 1951 with rhythm and blues pianist Sonny Thompson and Lionel Hampton four years later. His friendship with trumpeter and composer Little Benny Harris led to his first recording as a leader. Harris played a key role in Brooks’ acquiring a contract with Blue Note Records in 1958.
Best known for his work for Blue Note Records, between 1958 and 1961, Tina led four recording sessions and worked as a sideman on record sessions with Kenny Burrell, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Freddie Redd and Jimmy Smith. Appearing on Brooks’ albums, McLean and Brooks’ also gave highly regarded performances of the music composed by Redd in Jack Gelber’s play “The Connection”, from which came a recording of the music from the play.
Declining health problems due to heroin dependency, his recording career ceased after 1961. Tina Brooks, the hard bop tenor saxophonist and composer whose strong, smooth tone and amazing flow of fresh ideas are indelibly imprinted on seventeen sessions in the Blue Note catalogue, died at age 42 of liver failure on August 13, 1974.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Oliver Edward Nelson was born on June 4, 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri. His brother played sax with Cootie Williams and his sister sang and played piano. He began playing the piano when he was six, the saxophone by eleven and by age 15 he was playing in territory bands around St. Louis. In 1950 he joined Louis Jordan’s big band, playing alto saxophone and arranging.
After military service Nelson returned to Missouri to study music composition and theory at Washington and Lincoln University graduating in 1958. He married, had a son, divorced, moved to New York City, and began playing with Erskine Hawkins and Wild Bill Davis, and arranged for the ApolloTheatre. In 1959 he briefly worked the West coast with Louie Bellson’s big band and played tenor for Quincy Jones.
After six albums as leader between 1959 and 1961 for Prestige with Kenny Dorham, Johnny Hammond Smith, Eric Dolphy, Roy Haynes and others. Oliver’s big break came with his Impulse album The Blues and The Abstract Truth featuring his now classic standard “Stolen Moments”. Propelling him into prominence as a composer and arranger, it opened up opportunities to arrange for Cannonball Adderley, Irene Reid, Sonny Rollins, Billy Taylor, Wes Montgomery, Johnny Hodges and many others.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1967 Nelson spent a great deal of time composing for television shows like Colombo, Ironside, Bionic Woman and films like Death of a Gunfighter and Last Tango In Paris. He produced for Nancy Wilson, James Brown, the Temptations and Diana Ross.
Less well-known is the fact that Nelson composed several symphonic works, and was also deeply involved in jazz education, returning to his alma mater, Washington University, in the summer of 1969 to lead a five-week long clinic that also featured such performers as Phil Woods, Mel Lewis, Thad Jones, Sir Roland Hanna, and Ron Carter.
Oliver Nelson, saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, arranger and composer died of a heart attack on October 28, 1975, aged 43.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dakota Staton was born on June 3, 1930 in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is also known by her Muslim name Aliyah Rabia. She studied music at the Filion School of Music. She regularly performed as a vocalist with the Joe Wespray Orchestra in the Hill district, a jazz hotspot.
Spending the next several years on the nightclub circuit she played Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland and St. Louis. While in New York she came to the attention of Capitol Records producer Dave Cavanaugh. Signing her, they released a series of albums that led to her winning Down Beat’s Most Promising New Comer award in 1955.
Dakota’s biggest hit was The Late, Late Show that went to #4 on the charts in 1957 garnered her international acclaim. The album was followed with In The Night with George Shearing, Dynamic and Dakota At Storyville.
In 1958, she wed Antiguan trumpeter Talib Ahmad Dawud, a Muslim and noted critic of Elijah Muhammad and by the mid-sixties relocated to England. Vocalist Dakota Staton continued to record semi-regularly, her recordings taking an increasingly strong gospel and blues influence until her death on April 10, 2007.
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