Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Maria Cole was born Maria Hawkins on August 1, 1922 in Boston, Massachusetts but grew up in her aunt’s genteel surroundings in North Carolina. Graduating in 1938 from the prestigious Black preparatory, the Palmer Memorial Institute, which was founded by her aunt, Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown. She returned to Boston to attend a clerical college but began working with a jazz orchestra by night and soon dropped out to pursue her love of music in New York.
Once in the city Maria joined Benny Carter’s band, performed with Count Basie and Fletcher Henderson before Ellington heard a recording of her throaty, resonant voice in the mid-1940s and hired her as a vocalist for his Orchestra. By 1946 she was appearing solo at Club Zanzibar in Harlem as an opening act for the Mills Brothers.
In 1943 she married Tuskegee Airman Spurgeon Ellington, who died in a training flight, met Nat King Cole while both performing at the Zanzibar, married him in 1948 and remained united until his death in 1965.
Jazz singer Maria Ellington Cole died in a nursing home in Boca Raton, Florida following a short battle with stomach cancer at the age of 89, on July 10, 2012.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Spaulding was born July 30, 1937 in Indianapolis, Indiana and started playing bugle while in grade school. He later learned to play trumpet and saxophone and flute. While in high school he studied clarinet and made his professional debut around his hometown in a rhythm and blues band.
After a three-year enlistment in the Army he settled to Chicago in 1957 leading his own groups. It was during this period he joined the Sun Ra Arkestra, making several recordings and remaining through 1959, while furthering his studies of flute at the Chicago Cosmopolitan School of Music. Spaulding subsequently freelanced as a studio musician and occasionally led his own groups before returning to Indianapolis in 1961.
Relocating to New York City in 1963, he recorded extensively for Blue Note Records as a sideman, and led several sessions as a leader for Storyville, Muse, 32 and High Note. He was also a member of the World Saxophone Quartet and recorded with Grant Green, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Lee Morgan, David Murray, Duke Pearson, Sam Rivers, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Turrentine, Larry Young and others.
As an educator he taught flute as an adjunct professor at Livingston College in New Jersey. Alto saxophonist James Spaulding continues to perform and record.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ray Ellis, born July 28, 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania became a well-known record producer, arranger and conductor. In the 1950s and 60s he produced easy-listening sessions for RCA Victor, MGM an Columbia, recorded such well known works as a leader “Let’s Get Away From It All” and “Ellis In Wonderland”.
Ray arranged such works as “A Certain Smile” for Johnny Mathis, “Broken Hearted Melody” for Sarah Vaughan and “Standing On The Corner” for the Four Lads, but his best known jazz orchestration is Billie Holiday’s “Lady In Satin”. He would collaborate with Lena Horne, Emmy Lou Harris, Barbra Streisand, Harold Land, The Drifters, Connie Francis and others
Ellis’ work encompassed all areas of music, from records to film, commercials, and television. His television theme music credits include NBC News At Sunrise with Connie Chung, The Today Show and the original Spider-Man cartoon series.
From 1968 to 1982 Ellis along with Norman Prescott composed and arranged nearly all of the background music for cartoon studio Filmation, composed and conducted the music for Fantastic Voyage, The Hardy Boys, Flash Gordon, The Archie Show and Sabrina The Teenage Witch. He was responsible for such game show themes such as Sale of the Century, Scrabble and Scattergories among others.
Ray Ellis’ prolific career ended with his death from complications from melanoma on October 27, 2008 in Encino, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charli Persip was born Charles Lawrence Persip on July 26, 1929 in Morristown, New Jersey. The drummer became known as Charlie but in the 1980s dropped the “e” to become Charli.
He played with Tadd Dameron in 1953, then toured and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie’s big and small bands between 1953 and 1958 before joining with Harry “Sweets” Edison quintet. He followed this stint with the Harry James Orchestra before forming his own group, the Jazz Statesmen, with Roland Alexander, Freddie Hubbard and Ron Carter in 1960.
During this period Persip also recorded with Lee Morgan, Dinah Washington, Melba Liston, Kenny Dorham, Zoot Sims, Red Garland, Gil Evans, Don Ellis, Eric Dolphy, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Gene Ammons among others.
Charli would go on to record on the legendary “Eternal Triangle”, with Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt on “Sonny Side Up” and from 1960 to 1973 toured as a drummer and conductor with Billy Eckstine. As an educator has given drum and music instruction for Jazzmobile, Inc. in New York since 1974 and is currently an Associate Professor at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
In the mid 1980s Persip led Superband that evolved into Suppersound, his jazz big band. Supersound’s first album recorded for Stash titled Charli Persip and Superband was followed by Superband 11, No Dummies Allowed and Intrinsic Evolution. Drummer Charli Persip recorded 27 albums as a leader and a sideman and continued to record and perform until he died on August 23, 2020, at Mount Sinai Morningside in New York City at the age of 91.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Perkins was born on July 22, 1924 in San Francisco, California, grew up in Chile, moved to Santa Barbara and served in the military during World War II. While living in Santa Barbara after his discharge, he studied music and engineering at Cal-Tech at the University of California and a Westlake College.
Bill started out performing in the big bands of Woody Herman and Jerry Wald. He also worked for the Stan Kenton orchestra, a move that subsequently led to his entry into the cool jazz idiom. He became one of the coolest and a major influence in the cool school on the West Coast jazz scene.
Perk, as he was known, started recording as a leader in 1956 with John Lewis on Grand Encounter and sessions with Art Pepper, Bud Shank and Richie Kamuca, to name just a few. During the 60s he held had a dual career as a studio musician and recording engineer. From 1970-1992 he held a chair in The Tonight Show band and a member of the Bud Shank Sextet.
Though he played baritone, alto, soprano and flute he was best known for his tenor and most remembered for his baritone and tenor work with The Lighthouse All-Stars. Over the course of his career Bill Perkins recorded twenty-three albums as a leader and sideman up until the time of his death on August 9, 2003.