Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mildred Bailey was born Mildred Rinker on February 27, 1907 in Tekoa, Washington. She began performing at an early age, playing piano and singing in movie theatres by 1920. Moving to Seattle to bolster her career, she retained the name of her first husband Ted Bailey, but it was her second husband Benny Stafford that helped establish her on the West Coast.
By 1925 she was headlining a Hollywood club performing pop, early jazz and vaudeville standards. Due to her success Mildred was able to secure work for her brother Al Riker and his partner Bing Crosby, who in turn, introduced Mildred to Paul Whiteman via singing at a party so he could “discover” her. Whiteman had a very successful radio show and big band and Mildred became the first woman to join a band as a full time singer.
An early jazz singer with a sweet voice that belied her plump figure, Mildred Bailey influences were Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith and Connie Boswell. She balanced popular success with a hot jazz slanted career as the better half of her third husband Red Norvo, who together were known and Mr. and Mrs. Swing.
Bailey’s debut recording was with Eddie Lang in 1929 and by ’32 her fame exploded with her signature hit “Rockin’ Chair” written especially for her by Hoagy Carmichael. Throughout the 30’s and into the 40’s she continued to record with the Whiteman orchestra, her husband Red, and recording arrangements written by Eddie Sauter that proved perfect for her voice.
She appeared on Benny Goodman’s Camel Caravan radio program, and gained her own series again during the mid-’40s. Hampered by health problems by the end of the decade suffering from diabetes and Mildred Bailey died of a heart attack on December 12, 1951 in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Jazz and blues vocalist Mildred Bailey, a major jazz vocalist and innovator who influenced Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Rosemary Clooney was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1989.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dave Pell was born on February 26, 1925 in New York City. Growing up in Brooklyn between Brighton and Manhattan beaches, as a teenager he was playing the saxophone and touring with the Tony Pastor, Bob Astor, and Bobby Sherwood bands as a teenager, before moving to California in the mid-’40s. He found work with Bob Crosby on the Ford radio show in 1946, and then played with the Les Brown band from 1947 to 1955.
Drawing from the ranks of the Brown band, Pell, one of the founding fathers of the West Coast jazz, began leading his own groups in 1953, usually in an octet format, augmented by guests like Pepper Adams, Benny Carter, Mel Lewis, Red Mitchell, Marty Paich, and Art Pepper.
He also played as a sideman on records by Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Benny Goodman, and Gene Krupa in the 1950s, while recording under his own name for Atlantic, Kapp, Coral, Capitol, and RCA Victor.
During the 1950’s and ‘60s his primary focus of activity in the record business was as a producer for the budget Tops label and Liberty, supervising a few hit pop/rock records for Gary Lewis & the Playboys.
Then in the late 1970s Dave put together a tribute band to Lester Young called Prez Conference, recording two albums for GNP/Crescendo. In the ’80s and ’90s, the saxophonist and bandleader revived his octet for recordings and sporadic live dates in the Los Angeles area, including an appearance at the Jazz West Coast festival in 1994. He has had several reissues on CD along with a few imports and new recordings over the past decade. Saxophonist Dave Pell, known for his octet recordings and performances, passed away on May 7, 2017, at the age of 92.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
René Thomas was born on February 25, 1927 in Liege, Belgium and is considered one of the greatest jazz guitarists to emerge in the 1950s. Influenced by Django Reinhardt Thomas was mostly self-taught and became one of the most sought after guitarists for his cool tone. After WWII he played with the “Bop Shots”, Belgium’s first be-bop outfit with Jacques Pelzer and Bobby Jaspar.
In the early 1950s, Thomas moved to Paris where he connected with the modern jazz scene and in 1954, he recorded his first album under his own name. His reputation as a virtuoso guitarist and inventive musician spread rapidly in the jazz world.
In 1956, moving to Canada, Thomas played regularly for the Montreal jazz society and met Sonny Rollins. So impressed with his talent, Rollins invited him for a concert in Philadelphia and for the 1958 recording, Sonny Rollins and the Big Brass. While in the U.S. René played with the best jazz musicians of that era: Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Jackie McLean and in 1960 he recorded Guitar Groove.
Returning to Europe in 1962, he toured and recorded with Chet Baker, Kenny Clarke, Eddy Louiss, Lucky Thompson and Sonny Criss. While touring with Lou Bennett throughout Spain, guitarist Rene Thomas died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 47 on January 3, 1975.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Newman Jr. was born on February 24, 1933 in Corsicana, Texas. He got his nickname in high school when his then music teacher noticed his upside down sheet music tapped him on the head with his conductors baton and called him “Fathead”. Preferring to be called David, the jovial Newman accepted the nickname that stuck with him his whole life.
Moving to Dallas he graduated from Lincoln High School, began playing flute and tenor at local shows, and received a scholarship to Jarvis Christian College where he studied theology and music for two years. This brief stay was followed with him on the road touring with Bester Smith (Charlie Parker’s mentor) and dance hall one-nighters with T-Bone Walker.
Newman’s professional career as a musician began in 1954 as a member of the Ray Charles Band playing baritone sax that was the beginning of a twelve-year relationship followed by ten years with Herbie Mann and playing with Red Garland for a period in the 70’s. By the late 90’s he was recording for HighNote Records and a long and profitable relationship started producing some ten albums.
For over a half century, Newman recorded over thirty-eight albums under his own name beginning in 1958 with Fathead – Ray Charles Presents David Fathead Newman. Although best known for his hard bop style, he’s recorded with James Clay, Cannonball Adderley, Stanley Turrentine, Aretha Franklin, B. B. King, Natalie Cole, Average White Band, Eric Clapton, Jimmy McGriff and many others.
Always a musicians’ musician, Newman has influenced whole generations of saxophone players of different genres including R&B, blues and country, and texmex. On January 20, 2009, saxophonist and flautist David “Fathead” Newman died from complications of pancreatic cancer in Kingston, New York at age 75.
From Broadway To 52nd Street
Red, Hot And Blue! opened the Alvin Theater stage on October 29, 1936. The music and lyrics, composed by Cole Porter, rendered the tune “It’s De-Lovely” sung by Ethel Merman. Though the show only ran for one hundred and eighty-three performances, the song became an enduring jazz standard. The story taken from the book by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse goes as follows:
The Story: Loud and brassy manicurist Nails O’Reilly Duquesne is a newly wealthy young widow. Organizing a benefit for her favorite cause, the rehabilitation of ex-convicts, she teams with her ex-con sidekick Policy Pinkle and her “square” boyfriend, lawyer Bob Hale. Soon she embarks on a nationwide search for Bob’s old girlfriend, which is really the reason for the enterprise. However, the national lottery that Nails starts gets the attention of the Finance Committee, winding up in Washington DC in an even more complicated situation, with the Supreme Court declaring the lottery unconstitutional, because it would benefit the people.
Jazz History: The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life. The street was convenient to musicians playing on Broadway and the “legitimate” nightclubs and in the CBS studio. Musicians who played for others in the early evening played for themselves on 52nd Street.
In its heyday from 1930 through the early 1950s, 52nd Street clubs hosted such jazz legends as Miles Davis, Harry Gibson, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Hoiday, Nat Jaffe, Marian McPartland, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Louis Prima, Art Tatum, Fats Waller and numerous more. Although musicians from all schools performed there, after Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem, 52nd Street was the second most important place for the dissemination of bebop. In fact, a tune called “52nd Street Theme” by Thelonious Monk became a bebop anthem and jazz standard.
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