Daily Dose Of Jazz…

William Earnest Green was born on February 28, 1925 in Kansas City, Kansas and learned to play the alto saxophone at age ten, picking up the clarinet when he was twelve. He eventually learned to play most varieties of saxophone, clarinet, and flute.

Serving in the military until 1946, Green began working at a club called Small’s in Kansas City. Relocating to Los Angeles, California in 1947 he enrolled at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Arts, and graduating in 1952 remained on staff as an educator until 1962. He also ran a music education studio on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles for many years.

During his early career Bill played with Gerald Wilson, and began working with Benny Carter in the latter half of the 1950s. From 1959 to 1962 he played in Louie Bellson’s big band, then went to work extensively as a section player in the bands of Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, and Buddy Rich. He would accompany vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Nancy Wilson, and Dionne Warwick.

Through the mid to late Sixties he played the Monterey Jazz Festival with Gil Fuller, worked with Oliver Nelson, and then Blue Mitchell. The 1970s saw him performing or recording with Gene Ammons, the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, and Sarah Vaughan. He continued working with the Capp-Pierce Orchestra in the early 1980s, as well as with Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

His most notable recordings are Benny Carter’s Aspects and the Quincy Jones recording of the soundtrack for Roots. Multi-instrumentalist Bill Green, who played most saxophones, clarinet and flute, passed away on July 29, 1996. His personal papers and recordings are archived at University of California, Los Angeles..

More Posts: clarinet,flute,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Chris Anderson was born on February 26, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois and self-taught, began playing in Chicago clubs in the mid-1940s and played with Von Freeman and Charlie Parker, among others. Hired as Dinah Washington’s accompanist, his tenure with her was brief, as Washington changed accompanists frequently. She fired him in New York six weeks after hiring him, but he chose to remain in the city.

In 1960 he recorded what might be his best regarded album My Romance on the VeeJay label with bassist Bill Lee and drummer Art Taylor. Despite the respect of his peers, Anderson had difficulty finding work or popular acclaim due in large part to his disabilities. He was blind and his bones were unusually fragile, causing numerous fractures, which at times compromised his ability to perform at the times or places requested.

He continued to record until he was well into his 70s. A DownBeat profile indicated he had Osteogenesis, probably meaning osteogenesis imperfecta.

Pianist Chris Anderson, who was best known for his influence on his student Herbie Hancock, passed away of a stroke on February 4, 2008 in Manhattan, New York. He was 81.

More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Richard Bently Boone was born on February 24, 1930 in Little Rock, Arkansas and began singing in a Baptist church choir as a boy. By age twwelve he was playing the trombone. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army from 1948 to 1953 where he played trombone in a military band. Following his discharge from the Army, he returned to Little Rock to study music at Philander Smith College.

In 1956 Boone moved to Los Angeles, California where he played with Dolo Coker, Sonny Criss, and Dexter Gordon. Working in the backup band for Della Reese between 1962 and 1966, he then became a member of the Count Basie band. A few years later he left Basie and emigrated to Copenhagen, Denmark and mking it his home, performed with the Ernie Wilkins Big Band.

Trombonist and scat singer Richard Boone passed away in Copenhagen on February 8, 1999.

More Posts: history,instrumental,jazz,music,scat singer,trombone,vocal

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Nelson Boyd was born on February 6, 1928 in Camden, New Jersey. He played in local orchestras in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania around 1945, and then moved to New York City in 1947.

While living there Boyd first performed with Coleman Hawkins, Tadd Dameron, and Dexter Gordon. He would go on to play with Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Barnet in 1948. In 1947, he recorded with Fats Navarro and Charlie Parker. He later played with Jay Jay Johnson and recorded with Miles Davis on Davis’s Birth of the Cool sessions in 1949. In addition, Davis’s song “Half Nelson” was named after Boyd because of his stature.

After 1949, Nelson often played with Gillespie and toured the Middle East with him in 1956. Later, he recorded with Melba Liston in 1958 with her trombone ultimates on Melba Liston and Her ‘Bones. He also did sessions with Max Roach and Thelonious Monk.

He recorded four albums with Gillespie, and one each with Milt Jackson, Charles McPherson, Max Roach, and Sonny Stitt, Bud Powell, and J. J. Johnson. Bebop bassist Nelson Boyd, whose last recordings were in 1964, passed away in October 1985.

More Posts: bass,history,instrumental,jazz,music

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Wyatt Robert Ruther was born on February 5, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Playing trombone in high school before picking up the double-bass, he studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Pittsburgh Musical Institute.

From 1951 to 1952 he played in New York City with Dave Brubeck and Erroll Garner from 1951-55. A sought after bassist Wyatt toured with Lena Horne in 1953 and recorded an album under his own name alongside Milt Hinton in 1955 for RCA Records entitled Basses Loaded. Following this he played with Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1956, then studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada.

While in Canada he played with the Canadian Jazz Quartet for two years beginning in 1956 and then in 1957 with Peter Appleyard. During the same period back in the States, Ruther played with Ray Bryant, Zoot Sims, Bob Brookmeyer, and Chico Hamilton. From the end of the Fifties to the mid~Sixties he toured with George Shearing, went on a world tour with Buddy Rich, played in Gerry Mulligan’s quartet, then joined Count Basie.

In the late 1960s, Wyatt worked freelance in the San Francisco area, and played at the Olympic Hotel in Seattle, Washington in the early Seventies. Moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada he played with Fraser MacPherson from 1975 to 1979. He went on to play at the Ankor Hotel in Vancouver in the early 1980s, and while there worked with Sammy Price, Jay McShann, and Dorothy Donegan. Returning to San Francisco in 1984, he played with Stan Getz, Lou Stein, John Handy, Benny Carter, and Jerome Richardson late into thedecade and early Nineties. Bassist Wyatt Ruther played until he passed away of a heart attack at age 76 on October 31, 1999 in San Francisco, California.

More Posts: bandleader,bass,history,insrumental,jazz,music