Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Karel Velebný was born March 17, 1931 in Prague, Czechoslovakia and at seven years old, he played piano and at fifteen was a modern jazz enthusiast who taught himself to play alto saxophone. He graduated from Gymnasium then studied drumming at the Prague Conservatory, making his first public performance as a student, and became a full-time professional as soon as he graduated.
From 1955 to 1958 he played with Czech jazzman Karel Krautgartner’s orchestra, then joined contrabassist Luděk Hulan to co-found Studio 5, which became the key ensemble of modern Czech jazz. He continued to work with Krautgartner until the latter emigrated in 1968.
In 1960, the Studio 5 ensemble was absorbed by the Dance Orchestra of Czechoslovakia Radio, but Velebný and the original Studio 5 members soon quit. In 1961, he and flautist Jan Konopásek co-founded SHQ, initially part of the Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre thus Spejbl and Huvínek Quintet, but later began taking independent performances.
SHQ became one of the most important bands in Czech jazz history. He was its leader, composer, arranger, played as a multi-instrumentalist and taught the younger band members. SHQ’s instrumental line-up and membership changed frequently. Karel played with various Czech jazz ensembles, including Kamil Hála’s orchestra, the Linha Singers ensemble and with other regular collaborators.
As a composer, Velebný concentrated solely on jazz, in compositional styles and arrangements reminiscent of Gerry Mulligan, Chick Corea, Gary Burton and Benny Golson. He wrote mainly for his own ensembles notably Studio 5 and SHQ but also for the Kamil Hála Orchestra, the Karel Vlach Orchestra and others.
In 1978 he was invited to the Berklee College of Music, where he studied jazz teaching and the different approaches of European and American jazz. He organized and led the Summer Jazz Workshop in Frýdlant, Czech Republic until his death. As a teacher, he emphasized knowledge of techniques which could be broadly applied on jazz standards. He also wrote the specialist jazz textbook The Jazz Practical.
Diagnosed with a serious heart disease he was forced to quit as a saxophonist and vibraphonist and was restricted to piano. On March 7, 1989 vibraphonist, pianist and saxophonist Karel Velebný,who was also a composer, arranger, actor, writer and music pedagogue and one of the founders of modern Czech jazz in the second half of the 20th century, died in Prague.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Keith Rowe was born March 16, 1940 in Plymouth, England. He began his career playing jazz in the early 1960s with Mike Westbrook and Lou Gare. His early influences were guitarists Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, and Barney Kessel. Growing tired of what he considered the genre’s limitations he began experimenting, stopped tuning his guitar and began playing free jazz and free improvisation.
Rowe developed prepared guitar techniques: placing the guitar flat on a table and manipulating the strings, body, and pick-ups in unorthodox ways. He has used needles, electric motors, violin bows, iron bars, a library card, rubber eraser, springs, hand-held electric fans, alligator clips, and common office supplies in playing the guitar.
Rowe has worked with Oren Ambarchi, Burkhard Beins, Cornelius Cardew, Christian Fennesz, Kurt Liedwart, Jeffrey Morgan, Toshimaru Nakamura, Evan Parker, Michael Pisaro, Peter Rehberg, Sachiko M, Howard Skempton, Taku Sugimoto, David Sylvian, John Tilbury, Christian Wolff, and Otomo Yoshihide.
Guitarist Keith Rowe, who was a founding member of both AMM in the mid-1960s, M.I.M.E.O. and is seen as a godfather of EAI electroacoustic improvisation, continues to compose, record and tour.
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JAZZ POEMS
ONE O’CLOCK JUMP
Still tingling with Basie’s hard cooking
between two sets I stood at the bar
when the man next to me ordered
scotch and milk. I looked to see who had
this stray taste and almost swooned
when I saw it was the master.
Basie knocked his shot back,
then, when he saw me gaping,
raised his milk to my peachy face
and rolled out his complete smile
before going off with friends
to leave me in that state of grace.
A year later I was renting rooms
from a woman named Tillie who wanted
no jazz in her dank, unhallowed house.
Objecting even to lowest volume of solo piano,
she’d puff upstairs to bang on my door.
I grew opaque, unwell,
slouched to other apartments,
begging to play records.
Duked, dePrezed, and unBased, l
onging for Billy, Monk, Brute, or Zoot,
I lived in silence through
that whole lost summer.
Still, aware of divine flavor, I bided time
and waited for the day of reckoning.
My last night in Tillie’s godless house,
late—when I knew she was hard asleep—
I gave her the full One O’Clock Jump,
having Basie ride his horse of perfect time
like an avenging angel over top volume,
hoisting his scotch and milk as he galloped
into Tillie’s ear, headlong down her throat
to roar all night in her sulphurous organs.
PAUL ZIMMER | 1934
American Society of Journalists and Authors Open Book Award
from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Anne Phillips was born on February 17, 1935 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Studyinged piano growing up in suburbia, she didn’t hear jazz until she was a senior in high school. She studied at Oberlin College where she joined a jazz club and sang with the school’s big band and had a radio show.
By the time she turned nineteen she was in New York City playing piano and clubs six nights a week. Phillips started working in demo recordings for songwriters in the 1950s, and was a member of the Ray Charles Singers on the Perry Como Show. In 1959, she recorded her first jazz album, Born to Be Blue, for Roulette Records.
She went on to work as a singer, music arranger, conductor, writer, and producer for national commercials including Pepsi, Revlon, and Sheraton. Her Pepsi campaign included The Turtles, The Four Tops, The Hondells, and the Trade Masters. Anne has worked with Carole King, Burt Bacharach, and Neil Diamond
Composing and arranging then became more of her musical life. She went on to write the Christmas album Noel Noel for 25 singers a cappella. She followed this by writing The Great Grey Ghost of Old Spook Lane, a children’s musical, then an environmental piece What Are We Doing To Our World?, and a full musical, Damn Everything But The Circus. for which I wrote both music and lyrics with book writer Stephanie Braxton, has had several readings and is close to production.
Founding Kindred Spirits, a not-for-profit organization founded with her husband, Bob Kindred, the organization sponsors a yearly performance of Bending Towards the Light – A Jazz Nativity, which she composed. They also have an educational program for inner-city children called The Kindred Spirits Children’s Jazz Choirs which teaches jazz music.
Vocalist, composer, arranger, producer Anne Phillips is celebrating her 90th birthday.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gerald “Jerry” Segal was born on February 16, 1931 and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He majored in music at Mastbaum High before graduating and working with Bennie Green and Pete Rugolo in local clubs.
In the late 1950s he played with Johnny Smith, Terry Gibbs, Teddy Charles, Stan Getz, Charles Mingus, Herbie Mann, Lennie Tristano, Bob Dorough, Teo Macero, Curtis Fuller, Hampton Hawes, Dick Cary, Mal Waldron, Addison Farmer, the Australian Jazz Quintet, and Mose Allison.
From 1958 to 1960 he played with Bernard Peiffer and with the composer Edgar Varese in the 1950s. The 1960s saw him with Dave McKenna.
Raising his children he primarily became the big act show drummer for the honeymoon resort, the Mount Airy Lodge in the Poconos through the 60’s.
Drummer Jerry Segal, who never recorded as a leader, eventually disappeared from the jazz scene and died in August 1974. He was 43 years old.
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