Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Clyde Lombardi was born in February 18, 1922 in the Bronx borough of New York City. He had extensive classical training but by the time he was 20 he became a jazz musician. He became an advanced yet flexible bassist, quite valuable in the jazz world of the ’40s and ’50s, playing regularly with Red Norvo from 1942-1945.
Throughout the rest of the decade he would play with Joe Marsala and the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra in 1945, as well as both big bands and combos headed by Benny Goodman during 1945-1946 and his bebop fling of 1948-1949.
Clyde played and recorded with Charlie Ventura in 1946, Lennie Tristano, Wardell Gray, Stan Getz, Al Haig, Zoot Sims, Eddie Bert, Tal Farlow in 1953 and George Wallington among others.
Unfortunately for the jazz world he never got the opportunity to lead any albums of his own. He left jazz by 1959 re-emerging from time to time and working for CBS as a studio musician and recording with tenor Tony Graye. He passed away in New York City on January 1, 1978.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Buddy DeFranco was born Boniface Ferdinand Leonard DeFranco in Camden, New Jersey on February 17, 1923. By the age 14 he had won an amateur swing contest sponsored by Tommy Dorsey. Just four short years later he was working with the big bands of Gene Krupa in 1941 and Charlie Barnet in 1943. Those stints were followed with him playing off and on with Tommy Dorsey over the next few years.
Outside of a short-lived association with the Count Basie Septet in 1950, Buddy mainly lead his own bands from then on, playing and recording with Tal Farlow, Art Blakey, Kenny Drew and Sonny Clark, Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson as his sidemen, among others too numerous to name. He also played in some of Norman Granz’s Verve jam sessions and during the late 60’s DeFranco became the bandleader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, an association that lasted until 1974. He has found more artistic success co-leading a quintet with Terry Gibbs off and on since the early 80’s and has recorded numerous albums.
Buddy DeFranco is considered one of the great clarinetists of all time and, until the rise of Eddie Daniels, he was indisputably the top clarinetist to emerge since 1940. It was DeFranco’s misfortune to be the best on an instrument that after the swing era dropped drastically in popularity and, unlike Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, he has never been a household name for the general public and while most jazz clarinet players were unable to adapt to fading popularity, Buddy Defranco was one of the few bebop musicians who successfully continued to play clarinet exclusively until he passed away on December 24, 2014 in Panama City, Florida at age 91.
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From Broadway To 52nd Street
On Your Toes opened at the Imperial Theater on April 11, 1936. The show ran three hundred and fifteen performances and the music and lyrics were once again composed by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The production starred Ray Bolger, Tamara Geva and Doris Carson.
the Story: Junior Dolan, son of an old vaudevillian, becomes a music professor. He takes on the task of helping a struggling Russian ballet company. When complications arise, Junior is forced to take the place of the lead dancer and perform opposite Vera Barnova. Gangsters try to shoot him during the ballet but they are apprehended in time for a happy ending that included his proposal of marriage to sweet Frankie Frayne. From this musical came two songs that have endured as jazz classics – Glad To Be Unhappy and There’s A Small Hotel.
Broadway History: Broadway and 39th Street became the site where Aronson built The Casino with the procurement of financing from some of the wealthiest finance wizards of the day – the Goulds, Roosevelts, Vanderbilts and Morgans. When it opened I n 1882, The Casino was considered the finest example of Moorish architecture outside of Spain.
While Aronson was building his theatre, Charles Frohman had begun his separate career as the manager of theatrical professionals and in 1893 opened his own theatre. The Empire was one block up from The Casino. In November of that year Abbey’s Theatre opened next door to The Casino and the uptown migration of the theatre district continued. The Casino led the way for a number of entrepreneurs to build in the vicinity of Longacre Square, a long open promenade where Broadway crossed 7th Avenue. Following Aronson’s lead, the likes of Charles Frohman, Henry Abbey, Oscar Hammerstein and the Shuberts were among the investors and creators of the new theatre district.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kirkland “Kirk” Lightsey was born on February 15, 1937 in Detroit, Michigan and started his piano instruction at the age of five, adding clarinet through high school. After his Army service he worked accompanying singers around Detroit and in California, gaining some attention when he recorded with Sonny Stitt in 1965 and on five Prestige dates with Chet Baker. He would work with Yusef Lateef, Betty Carter, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Pharaoh Sanders and many others.
From 1979 to 1983 he toured with Dexter Gordon and was a member of the Leaders. Through out the 80’s he led sessions including duets with Harold Danko, performed with Jim Raney, Clifford Jordan, Woody Shaw, David Murray and Harold Land.
Rooted in the hard-bop genre, Kirk has developed his own style and sound that is marked by a certain openness and playfulness. An accomplished flautist, he occasionally doubles in live performances.
In 2004 he released a duo album with Rufus Reid titled Nights At Bradley’s and recorded a quintet project Lightsey To Gladden in 2008, dedicated to the late great drummer, Eddie Gladden. Over the course of his career he has amassed some three-dozen albums as a leader and sideman and pianist Kirk Lightsey continues to create music and perform worldwide.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wardell Gray was born the youngest of four children on February 13, 1921 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Though his early years were spent there, in 1929 his family moved to Detroit. By 1935 he attended Northeastern High but soon transferred to Cass Technical High, whose noted alumni were Donald Byrd, Lucky Thompson and Al McKibbon. After year and before graduating Wardell dropped out and began playing the clarinet, but it was hearing Lester Young that drove him to pick up the tenor.
He played around Michigan in various bands led by pianist Dorothy Patton, Jimmy Raschel and Benny Carew and by 1941 a short-lived marriage produced a daughter. Gray got his big break when he joined the Earl Hines Orchestra in 1943, not only nationally known but had nurtured the careers of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. For the young tenor he toured all over the country for the next three years becoming a featured soloist and subsequent recordings showed a relaxed, fluent stylist.
After leaving Hines, Wardell settled in Los Angeles and started recording under his own name for the Sunset label. He also worked with Benny Carter, Billy Eckstine and blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter. But it was Central Avenue that he found his greatest pleasure playing after-hours sessions, attracting the owner of Dial Records to hire him to play showcases for Charlie Parker, showing no signs of intimidation. On the avenue Gray held tenor battles with Dexter Gordon and his light sound and swift delivery was a match for Dexter’s big sound. The tenor jousts soon became a symbol for the Central Avenue scene.
With his career moves progressing he joined Benny Goodman’s small groups in 1947 and although musically successful, it was not financially. In ’48-‘50 he moved between Count Basie and Benny Goodman, recorded with Tadd Dameron, ended his second marriage and formed a septet that included Clark Terry and Buddy DeFranco bringing to audiences a very relaxed swinging band. Over the next few years he got married for the third time, did a few recording dates with Art Farmer, Hampton Hawes, Dexter Gordon and Teddy Charles, and performing most notably with Gerald Wilson’s Orchestra trading choruses with Zoot Sims and Stan Getz.
One of the top tenors to emerge during the bop era, Wardell Gray passed away under mysterious circumstances, found on a stretch of desert outside Las Vegas with a broken neck, on May 25, 1955.
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