Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Calhoun was born November 13, 1921 in Clarksdale, Mississippi and raised in Chicago, Illinois. During the late Forties, he worked with Dick Davis and Ahmad Jamal in the early 1950s. Through the decade he played with Horace Henderson, Johnny Griffin, Roy Eldridge, Billie Holiday, and Miles Davis. He joined Erroll Garner in 1955 and played with him through 1966, recording extensively and touring worldwide.
After his time with Garner, Calhoun settled again in Chicago, where he played with vocalist and pianist Norvel Reed from 1967 to 1968. For two years from 1972 to 1974, he ran a nightclub called Cal’s in Chicago and led a sextet at the Fantasy Club from 1975 to 1980.
1980 to 1986 saw him accompanying pianist Lennie Capp before joining the Chicago All-Stars alongside Erwin Helfer for a tour of Europe. Never recorded as a leader, he recorded ten albums as a sideman during his career. Double bassist Eddie Calhoun passed away on January 27, 1993 in Paradise Lake, Mississippi.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charlie Mariano was born Carmine Ugo Mariano on November 12, 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Italian immigrants. Growing up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, after high school, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II. After his discharge, he attended Schillinger House of Music, now Berklee College of Music. He was among the faculty at Berklee from 1965–1971.
Moving to Europe in 1971, he eventually settled in Köln, Germany, with his third wife, Dorothee Zippel. He played with one of the Stan Kenton big bands, Toshiko Akiyoshi, his second wife, Charles Mingus, Eberhard Weber, the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, Embryo and numerous other notable bands and musicians.
He was known for his use of the nadaswaram, a classical wind instrument from Tamil Nadu. He recorded thirteen albums as a leader and another sixty records as a sideman, working with Shelly Manne, Eberhard Weber, Manny Albam, Max Bennett, Chet Baker, Philip Catherine, Serge Chaloff, Peggy Connelly, Herb Ellis, Maynard Ferguson, Michael Gibbs, John Graas, George Gruntz, Chico Hamilton, Bill Harris, Bill Holman, Jackie and Roy, Elvin Jones, Quincy Jones, Mel Lewis, Arif Mardin, Toshiko Mariano, Vince Mendoza, Modern Jazz Quartet, Mike Nock, Nat Pierce, Herb Pomeroy, Irene Reid, Johnny Richards, Jimmy Ricks, Shorty Rogers, Frank Rosolino, Sal Salvador, Fredy Studer, Harvie Swartz, McCoy Tyner, Sadao Watanabe, Stu Williamson.
Alto and soprano saxophonist Carmine Mariano passed away from cancer on June 16, 2009
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Johnny Parker was born on November 6, 1929 in Beckenham, Kent, England. In 1940, his family moved to Wiltshire where he was exposed to American Forces Network broadcasts and first heard boogie-woogie piano at a U.S. Air Force base. He returned to Beckenham after the Second World War and worked a paper round to be able to buy records by pianists such as Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons.
While in Beckenham, he regularly watched George Webb’s Dixielanders perform, joined the Catford Rhythm Club, played at regular sessions, and became the resident pianist, until 1948. At this point, he was called up for National Service with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as an ammunitions examiner, while accompanying jazz musicians. After his armed service Parker enrolled at Regent Street Polytechnic, and from 1950 to 1951 played in Mick Mulligan’s band. He would later join Humphrey Lyttelton’s band and was the pianist on the trumpeter’s 1956 hit record Bad Penny Blues. Staying with Lyttleton for six years, he also performed with Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Eddie Condon, and Big Joe Turner.
After a failed attempt to start his own band, Johnny took a position inspecting components at an aircraft assembly plant. He continued playing in jazz bands alongside Alexis Korner, Diz Disley, Cyril Davies, and Long John Baldry among others. Early 1969, he joined Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen, but undergoing a spinal operation in December that year, he recovered within months and returned to regular touring.
He performed with Ball until 1978 and subsequently led his own jazz groups around London and toured the Middle East. Retiring in 2005 due to long-term health problems, pianist Johnny Parker passed away on June 11, 2010.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Red Wooten was born Lawrence Bernard Wooten on November 5, 1921 in Social Circle, Georgia and started his career playing country & western before moving to big band jazz. While still in his teens, he landed a six-dollar-a-week gig on Archie “Grandpappy” Campbell’s C&W show on radio station WDOD in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The band included future Sons of the Pioneers guitarist Roy Lanham. Texas crooner Gene Austin hired the band and dubbed them the Whippoorwills. He toured with Austin for a time, then quit the band due to exhaustion.
Red went on to play with several successful big bands of the ’40s, including those led by Jan Savitt and Tony Pastor. Beginning in 1949, he played with a succession of prominent swing bandleaders, including Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, and Charlie Barnet. In 1957, he recorded with Harry Babasin’s Jazzpickers in a rhythm section that also included Red Norvo. He hooked up with Norvo and recorded and toured with the vibist in 1957-1958.
He recorded The Most Exciting Guitar with Lanham in 1959. That year, Wootten also toured with Benny Goodman and Frank Sinatra. With Sinatra, he did movies, TV, and worked the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. In the ’60s and ’70s, he worked mostly in the studios, composed and arranged for film, and authored a book of musical exercises for bass instruments.
In addition to the aforementioned, Wootten played with Merle Travis, Glen Campbell, Eddie Dean, Mary Ford, Tex Williams, Jimmy Bryant, Joe Maphis, and Roy Rogers, among many others. He also worked on Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch radio show. Returning to country and won an Academy of Country Music Award as Best Bassist in 1982.
By the start of the Seventies, he was less active as a jazz musician and concentrated more on studio work. He also composed and arranged film scores. In the mid-1970s he recorded with Anita O’Day. Double bassist Red Wooten, whose name was sometimes spelled Wootten, at present no date of his transition is available.
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Three Wishes
When asked about his three wishes, Thad Jones told the Baroness he would wish for:
- “Health for my family and myself.”
- “An opportuity for my kids.”
- “Peace.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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