Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Muvaffak “Maffy” Falay was born on August 30, 1930 in Karşıyaka, Turkey and moved later with his family to Kuşadası,Turkey. In 1942 he heard that a teacher would be arriving in Kuşadası to establish a municipal band team and ast the age of 12 started his career in music in Kuşadası Municipality Band. He learned to read music and to play the trumpet with excellent skills with 5 hours of practice per day in just 3 months.
He studied trumpet and piano in Ankara Conservatory and in 1960, he joined the radio orchestra of Kurt Edelhagen in Cologne, Germany. After departing from Edelhagen he toured Europe with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band and played on six of the band’s albums.
Maffy’s next gigs were playing in orchestras led by Benny Bailey, Åke Persson, Phil Woods, Sixten Eriksson and Quincy Jones. By 1965 he decided to move to Sweden where he played for the radio jazz orchestra, and toured around the Americas at the same time. 1970 saw him playing in the Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Orchestra, and he also played with Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, and Elvin Jones.
In 1971, he formed the band Sevda, featuring Bernt Rosengren, Okay Temiz, Gunnar Bergsten, Ove Gustafsson and Salih Baysal. In 2005, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Istanbul Jazz Festival. Trumpeter Maffy Falay transitioned on February 22, 2022 at the age of 91.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Karşıyaka trumpeter to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Philip William Seamen was born on August 28, 1926 in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. He began playing drums at the age of six, turning professional at the age of 18 by joining Nat Gonella and his Georgians in 1944. At 20 he spent a year with Gordon Homer Big Band at the Coronation Ballroom in Ramsgate. He joined the Tommy Sampson Orchestra in 1948 and by 1949, Seamen and tenor saxophonist Danny Moss formed a bebop quintet from within the ranks and was featured on a radio broadcast by the orchestra.
He then went on to play in the Joe Loss Orchestra for about 14 months before taking the top job with Jack Parnell from 1951 until midway 1954. Seamen, being much sought after during the 1950 played in Kenny Graham’s Afro-Cubists projects from 1952 to 1958, from 1954 onwards with the Joe Harriott Quartet, the Ronnie Scott Orchestra and Sextet. He was recruited opn countless sessions as well to perform with Dizzy Reece, Victor Feldman, Jimmy Deuchar, Kenny Baker, Vic Ash, Don Rendell, Stan Tracey, Laurie Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Josh White, to name a few.
In 1957 Phil was on his way to America with the Ronnie Scott Sextet as part of a Musicians’ Union exchange tour deal. Unfortunately the Southhampton custom officers found him in possession of drugs, killing his lifelong dream of visiting the States. In 1958, the West End production of West Side Story opened with him after Leonard Bernstein reputedly specifically asked for him, so the producers hired him.
During the first half of the 1960s, he worked often with Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott, played a couple of nights with Dexter Gordon at Ronnie Scott’s, and recorded with Carmen McRae. In 1964 he played R&B with Alexis Korner and Georgie Fame.
He started teaching in 1962, one of his pupils being Ginger Baker, who went on to influence a whole generation of rock drummers. However, his addiction to alcohol, heroin and other drugs hampered his health and career as many bandleaders refused to hire him with the exception of Freddie Hubbard in 1964 and Roland Kirk in 1967 with a UK tour. On October 13, 1972 drummer Phil Seaman transitioned in his sleep at his home in Old Paradise Street Lambeth, South London, at the age of 46.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Burton upon Trent drummer to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Meredith Irwin Flory, was born on August 27, 1926 in Logansport, Indiana and was encouraged by his organist mother to learn clarinet as a child. During World War II he was an Army Air Force pilot and after his discharge went on to matriculate through Indiana University, graduating with a degree in philosophy.
Known professionally as Med Flory, in the early 1950s he played in the bands of Claude Thornhill and Woody Herman, before forming his own ensemble in New York City. 1955 saw him relocating to California and starting a new group, which played at the 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival. In the late 1950s, he played with Terry Gibbs, Art Pepper, and Herman again, playing both tenor and baritone saxophone. He was cast in twenty-nine episodes from 1956 to 1957 of the ABC variety show, The Ray Anthony Show.
In the 1960s Med turned his attention away from music and concentrated on acting and screenwriting in television and film. His long list of credits include mostly westerns and crime dramas, which were popular at the time.
By the mid Sixties Flory returned to music and worked with Art Pepper and Joe Maini on transcriptions and arrangements of Charlie Parker recordings. In 1972, he co-founded Supersax, an ensemble devoted to Parker’s work. Supersax’s debut album, Supersax Plays Bird, won a Grammy Award.
Tenor and baritone saxophonist, bandleader, and actor Med Flory transitioned on March 12, 2014 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Logansport saxophonist to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Norman Louis Bates was born on August 26, 1927 in Boise, Idaho. His mother was an organist and he was a younger brother of bassist Bob Bates. He played in Jimmy Dorsey’s band for a year in 1945, then with Raymond Scott and Carmen Cavallaro shortly thereafter.
By 1948 he was part of the Dave Brubeck Trio, and the following year performed with Paul Desmond. Norman recorded with Jack Sheedy’s Dixieland Jazz Band in 1950.
After spending four years in the Air Force, Bates played with Wally Rose’s Dixieland Band in 1955 and then replaced his brother Bob in Brubeck’s quartet, playing on multiple albums from Dave Brubeck and Jay & Kai at Newport (1956) onwards. He also recorded with Desmond’s group again in 1956. In 1957 he left Brubeck, and led a trio in San Francisco, California.
Double bassist Norman Bates transitioned on January 29, 2004.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Boise bassist to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Addison Gerald Farmer was born on August 21, 1928 in Council Bluffs, Iowa and was born an hour after his twin brother Art, reportedly at 2201 Fourth Avenue. Their parents divorced when the boys were four, and their steelworker father was killed in a work accident not long afterward. He moved with his grandfather, grandmother, mother, brother and sister to Phoenix, Arizona when he was still four.
Addison and his brother moved to Los Angeles, California in 1945 and attended the music-oriented Jefferson High School. There they gained music instruction and met other developing musicians such as Sonny Criss, Ernie Andrews, Big Jay McNeely and Ed Thigpen. The brothers earned money by working in a cold-storage warehouse and by playing professionally.
Taking bass lessons from Frederick Zimmermann, he went on to study at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music. By late 1945, Farmer was with Johnny Alston and His Orchestra recording for the Bihari Brothers’ Modern Music label, and shortly after on the Blue Moon label. He later recorded with Teddy Edwards’s band. Farmer played in several groups with his brother, including in ensembles led by Benny Golson, Gigi Gryce, Mose Allison, Jay McShann, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis.
Bassist Addison Farmer, who recorded extensively for Prestige Records, transitioned from sudden unexpected death syndrome on February 20, 1963, in New York City at the age of 34.
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