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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From Broadway To 52nd Street
The Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart music written for Jumbo was first heard on November 16, 1935 on the stage of the Hippodrome. Rodgers and Hart wrote three timeless classics that became jazz standards: My Romance, Little Girl Blue and The Most Beautiful Girl In The World. The musical ran for 233 performances and starred Jimmy Durante, Donald Novis, Gloria Grafton and a number of circus specialty acts.
The Story: It’s a Circus tale about two feuding circus magnates, Mulligan & Considine, who are dismayed to learn their children have fallen in love. Considine’s problems compound by his drinking and imminent bankruptcy. His money difficulties are solved when his agent burns down his house allowing him to collect his insurance. When the kids reconcile the fathers, Considine puts the bottle on the shelf.
Jazz History: Jazz standards are musical compositions that are widely known, performed and recorded by jazz artists as part of the genre’s musical repertoire. This list includes compositions written in the 1930s that are considered standards by at least one major fake book publication or reference work. Some of the tunes like Summertime, All The things You Are, My Funny Valentine and Body and Soul were already well known standards by the 1940s, while others were popularized later.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Saxophonist Pony Poindexter was born Norwood Poindexter on February 8, 1926 in New Orleans, LA. Poindexter began on clarinet and switched to playing alto and tenor sax growing up. In 1940 he studied under Sidney Desvigne followed by his move to Oakland to attend Candell Conservatory.
From 1947 to 1950 he played with Billy Eckstine, 1950 he played in a quartet with Vernon Alley, from 1951 to 1952 he was with Lionel Hampton and in 1952 he played with Stan Kenton. Neal Hefti wrote the tune “Little Pony”, named after Poindexter, for the Count Basie Orchestra.
Through the end of the 1950s Poindexter played extensively both as a leader and as a sideman, recording with Charlie Parker, Nat King Cole, T-Bone Walker and Jimmy Witherspoon. In the early sixties he backed up Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, who together also recorded a vocal version of “Little Pony”.
He was one of the first bebop saxophonists to begin playing soprano saxophone in the early 60’s, recording with Eric Dolphy and Dexter Gordon before moving to Paris in ’63 and recording with Annie Ross, Phil Woods, Lee Konitz and Leo Wright. He lived in Spain and Germany before returning to the states in ’77, residing in San Francisco to record again.
Pony Poindexter published his autobiography, Pony Express in 1985 but he had already slipped away into obscurity and never gained the recognition he deserved by the time of his passing on April 14, 1988 in Oakland.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Born Curtis Ousley on February 7, 1934 in Fort Worth, Texas he was known to the jazz world as King Curtis. He learned to play the saxophone and as a youth he played in the same high school band as Ornette Coleman. He led his own group while in school and by 19 was touring with Lionel Hampton before settling in New York. Once there he led a trio containing Horace Silver.
Becoming involved in session work in the mid-50’s Curtis’ prominence rose, playing behind the Coasters and others, then replaced Red Prysock in the Alan Freed radio show band. Regular live appearances at Small’s Paradise and the Apollo Theatre between the late 50’s and early 60’s led him to become musical and studio director for Aretha Franklin and others. During this period he recorded a number of singles for Atco, Prestige and Capitol and Atlantic record labels cranking out hits like Soul Serenade, Memphis Soul Stew and Ode To Billy Joe.
Curtis played tenor, alto and soprano saxophones and was the last of the great R&B tenor sax giants. He was known for his distinctive riffs and solos and loved playing jazz, funk, and rhythm and blues, but chose to make his living playing rock and roll.
All aspects of his career were in full swing at the time he became embroiled in an argument with two men outside his 86th Street apartment in New York City. One of the men stabbed him in the heart and after being rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, King Curtis died from his wound on August 13, 1971. He was 37 years old. On the day of his funeral, Atlantic Records closed its offices.
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