Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Joseph Shepherd was born February 7, 1929 in Walthamstow, London, England to Joseph Shepherd, a semi-professional piano player and gas company employee. He began on piano before switching to clarinet at age 16 in 1945. He studied under a clarinetist from the Hamburg State Opera Orchestra while stationed in Hamburg, Germany after World War II. Upon his return to England in 1950 he played with Reg Rigden, Joe Daniels and his Hotshots, and Freddy Randall to the middle of the decade.
He played with Billie Holiday and Gerry Mulligan on their British tours. He played in New York City in 1956 with Ted Kotick, then returned to England to play with the Jazz Today Unit and with the Jazz at the Philharmonic. He also played with Mary Lou Williams several times during the 1950s.
The 1960s and 1970s saw Dave playing with Randall again and with Teddy Wilson, at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in South Africa. During this period he was heard a lot more with his quartet on BBC Radio 2’s Jimmy Young programme as well as Round Midnight, Breakfast Special, and Music While You Work.
Centered in the UK found him working regularly with trombone player Roy Williams, Len Skeat and many more. He was a frequent guest with his line up called The Dave Shepherd Quintet on BBC Radio 1’s Sounds of Jazz. He based his style on Benny Goodman and was praised for his accuracy and unfailing swing and a quality of musical elegance.
He performed with Peter Boizot’s Pizza Express All Stars Band at the Pizza Express Jazz Club from 1980 to 1999. He led several of his own bands and has done extensive work producing music for film and television. Shepherd continued to solo and make guest appearances until shortly before his death.
Clarinetist Dave Shepherd, who was described by fellow jazz musician Digby Fairweather as Britain’s greatest swing clarinettist since 1948, on December 15, 2016 in Hampshire, England.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Alton Fagerquist, born February 6, 1927 in Worcester, Massachusetts and studied trumpet privately under Ms. Marion Twiss at Roosevelt Elementary and lessons at Carl Seder’s Music as well as classes at North High School. He began playing around his hometown in 1940 with Paul rhode, Paul Gervais, Bud Boyce and the Ambassadors/Crusaders. By 1942 he had played a year each with the Dol Brissette Orchestra and the Bob Pooley Band.
At 16 Fagerquist was making a name for himself through the decade as a featured soloist with several major bands, including Mal Hallett, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, and Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five. In the Fifties he was performing with Woody Herman, Les Brown, and the Dave Pell Octet. He played on the Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook album in 1963 under the baton of Nelson Riddle.
Despite high demand for his services as a lyrical soloist, Donald only recorded twice as a leader, a half-date for Capitol Records in 1955 that was reissued as part of the Dave Pell Octet compact disc, I Had the Craziest Dream, and a complete project for Mode in 1957 titled Music to Fill a Void. During the 1950s he recorded more than two dozen albums with Chet Baker, Louis Bellson, Hoagy Carmichael, Bob Cooper, Fred Katz, Shorty Rogers, Stan Kenton, Mel Tormé, Benny Goodman, Skip Martin and Pete Rugolo.
In 1956, Fagerquist signed on as a staff musician for Paramount Films, while still periodically recording with artists such as Shelly Manne, Mel Tormé, and Art Pepper. Throughout the early to mid-1960s, his solos could be heard on the recordings of Pete Rugolo, Frank Comstock, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Paul Weston, Si Zentner, Dean Martin, Junior Mance, and many others.
However, by 1966 health issues forced him to withdraw from studio recordin. Trumpeter Don Fagerquist, who was a small group, big band, and studio session player, died from kidney disease at his home in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California at the age of 46 on January 23, 1974.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tony Fruscella was born February 4, 1927 in Orangeburg, New York and grew up in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York. He played in an Army band early in his career. He worked as a sideman in the 1950s for Charlie Barnet, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, and Stan Getz.
He played with Don Joseph later in the 1950s, but by the early 1960s his problems with drug abuse and alcoholism prevented him from performing. Fruscella released one album, I’ll Be Seeing You in 1955, as a leader during his lifetime. It was recorded with Allen Eager and Danny Bank for Atlantic Records.
He married singer Morgana King, however it ended in divorce after nine years. Trumpeter Tony Fruscella died on August 14, 1969 at 42 years old.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Anthony Meldonian was born January 27, 1930 in Providence, Rhode Island. He first began playing the clarinet when he was eight years old and by eleven was proficient on the tenor saxophone. In 1944 he led his first band that he formed.
1949 saw Dick working as a professional musician in the bands of Freddie Slack, and into the Fifties with Charlie Barnet and as an alto saxophonist with Stan Kenton alongside Bud Shank and Art Pepper. He also played with Shorty Rogers, Nat Pierce, Elliot Lawrence and Bill Russo.
Moving to New York City in the mid 1950s, Meldonian worked as a studio and session musician, among other things. with Phil Sunkel, Sam Most and Erroll Garner. In 1957 he was a member of Paul Quinichette’s band with Gene Roland and John Carisi. In 1960 he joined the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band.
He became better known as the leader of his own quartet, The Jersey Swingers , in the late 1970s and through the big band that he led with drummer Sonny Igoe in the early 1980s. During this time, Dick also recorded with the big band and smaller formations under his own name for the Progressive, Circle and Statiras labels. In 1992 he was still working with Harry DiVito and Marty Grosz.
Soprano and tenor saxophonist Dick Meldonian died on January 25, 2017.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Bain was born January 26, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois and began his professional career in the 1940s playing guitar in popular big band outfits led by Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby. He is credited with guitar on one of Dorsey’s biggest hits, Opus No. 1.
An unusually early adopter of the electric guitar, Bob started playing an early Gibson Les Paul model before switching to a modified 1953 Fender Telecaster. Like most jazz guitarists, he also favoured semi-acoustic models such as the Gibson L-5 and ES-150.
A long time collaborator with composer Henry Mancini, he is also credited with the guitar introduction to the theme from the popular 1950s television private detective series Peter Gunn. Bain contributed his guitar talents on another of Mancini’s significant soundtrack albums, the musical score to the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, as well as playing on the soundtrack to the television Western series Bonanza.
Guitarist Bob Bain, who was mainly known for his film music contributions, including Dr. Zhivago, where he played the balalaika in the score for certain scenes where Lara’s Theme is heard, died on June 21, 2018 in Oxnard, California. He was 94.
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