Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Richard Malden Heckstall-Smith was born on September 26, 1934 in the Royal Free Hospital, in Ludlow, Shropshire, England. Raised in Knighton, Radnorshire, he learned to play piano, clarinet and alto saxophone as a child. He attended a York boarding school but refused a second term there, instead enrolling in Gordonstoun, where his father had accepted a job as headmaster of the local grammar school.

Completing his education at Dartington Hall School, before co-leading the university jazz band at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, from 1953, by the age of 15 Dick had taken up the soprano sax while at Dartington. He was captivated by the sound of Sidney Bechet, then Lester Young and tenor saxophonist bebop jazzman Wardell Gray proved to be major influences for him.

An active member of the London jazz scene from the late 1950s, Heckstall-Smith did a six-month stint in 1957 with the Sandy Brown band. He joined Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, a groundbreaking blues group in 1962, recording the album R&B from the Marquee.

The following year, he was a founding member of that band’s breakaway unit, The Graham Bond Organisation. Then in 1967, he joined guitarist-vocalist John Mayall’s blues rock band, Bluesbreakers. He went on to jazz rock with Colosseum until ‘71, then recorded a solo album and ventured into jazz fusion with several groups, which sustained most of his performing through the remainder of his career.

In 1984 he published his witty memoirs, The Safest Place in the World, with an expanded version, retitled Blowing the Blues, published in 2004.

Diagnosed with acute liver failure, tenor, soprano, and baritone saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, who also played piano, clarinet and alto saxophone, transitioned on December 17, 2004 at 70 in ​​Hampstead, London, England.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Nelson Symonds was born on September 24, 1933 in Upper Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, Canada. After pursuing the banjo at a young age he switched to the guitar. He gained his first performance experience touring on a travelling carnival from 1955 to 1958 throughout the United States. Upon returning to Canada he settled in Montreal in 1958 and played in the group The Stablemates led by Alfie Wade Jr.

During the Sixties and 1970s Nelson played mainly with bassist Charlie Biddle and drummer Norman Marshall Villeneuve at The Black Bottom, Rockhead’s Paradise and other similar venues. The 1970s saw him and Biddle performing as a duo in numerous Laurentian resorts. Throughout his 30-plus year career, he played at all of the major jazz venues in Montreal including Upstairs, Biddles and Cafe La Bohème among others.

Symonds reportedly resisted recording until the 1990s, cutting three collaborative albums, and one as leader. Unfortunately for the jazz world, in 1996 he underwent a quadruple bypass that put an end to his musical career.

Guitarist Nelson Symonds transitioned on October 11, 2008 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada due to a heart attack at the age of 75.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bengt Hallberg was born on September 13, 1932 in Gothenburg, Sweden and studied classical piano from an early age. He wrote his first jazz arrangement at the age of 13. By 15 he recorded his first record as a member of a group led by bassist Thore Jederby and in 1949 he recorded with the Swedish alto saxophonist Arne Domnérus for the first time. The two musicians continued to play together for several decades.

During the Fifties, Bengt played with leading visiting American musicians tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and altoist Lee Konitz in 1951, and trumpeters Clifford Brown and Quincy Jones in 1953. During the same period he worked with Swedish baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin.

Hallberg had a versatile style and in his later years he wrote music for film and television, as well as choral arrangements. With Domnerus and Georg Riedel among others, he participated in the Jazz at the Pawnshop sessions in 1976.

Pianist, composer and arranger Bengt Hallberg, who also played accordion, transitioned on July 2, 2013 from congestive heart failure at the age of 80 in Uppsala, Sweden.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ian Wilfred Hamer was born on September 11, 1932 in Liverpool, England, the son of a successful Merseyside dance band leader. Together with his two brothers he played in the band run by his mother until serving in the Royal Air Force.

Moving to London, England in 1953 he worked for clarinettist Carl Barriteau and for a brief period with the Oscar Rabin Band. For a year beginning in 1955 he was part of the Tubby Hayes octet then later joined the Vic Ash quintet. In 1963, together with Harry South, he led a band called The Six Sounds, featuring Ken Wray and Dick Morrissey. By 1966 the band had developed into the Ian Hamer Sextet. In 1966 Ian joined the Top of the Pops studio orchestra conducted by Johnny Pearson.

Hamer played in big bands led by Tubby Hayes, Ted Heath, Mike Gibbs, Jack Parnell and Harry South. He also played with Kenny Wheeler, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, as well as in smaller bands with Stan Tracey, Benny Golson, Lalo Schifrin, Gary McFarland, Woody Herman’s Anglo-American Herd, Barbara Thompson, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band, Eric Delaney, John Dankworth and Joe Harriott.

As a session musician, he played on recordings by The Beatles, Bing Crosby, Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, James Last, Matt Monro, and Peter Herbolzheimer. Ian played trumpet on the theme tune for The Sweeney, written and arranged by Harry South.

In 1987, Hamer moved to Brighton, England and founded the group Ian Hamer and the Sussex Youth Jazz Orchestra, later dropping Youth. On September 3, 2006, trumpeter Ian Hamer transitioned in Brighton at 73.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jon Mayer was born September 7, 1938 in New York City and grew up in the fertile modern jazz evolution. Learning piano in childhood he confidently expresses strong emotions in his playing.

He also spent time in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band as well as on the road with Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O’Day and Manhattan Transfer. Mayer’s compositions have been recorded by Les McAnn, Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, Nancy Wilson, Gladys Knight, Ernie Watts and Jackie Ryan.

He has recorded eleven albums as a leader and two as a sideman, Strange Blues with Jackie McLean and Like Sonny with John Coltrane.

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