Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Adam Makowicz was born Adam Matyszkowic on August 18, 1940 into a family of ethnic Poles in Hnojník, Poland now the Czech Republic. After World War II he was raised in Poland and went on to study classical music at the Chopin Conservatory of Music in Kraków, Poland. Overcoming cultural restrictions under the communist government he developed a passion for modern jazz. At the time, political freedom and improvisation were disapproved of by the pro-Soviet authorities.
He embarked on a new professional life as a touring jazz pianist and after years of hardship, Makowicz gained a regular gig at a small jazz club in a cellar of a house in Kraków. He was named the Best Jazz Pianist by the readers of Poland’s Jazz Forum magazine, and was awarded a gold medal for his contribution to the arts.
1977 saw Adam on a 10-week concert tour of the United States, produced by John Hammond. At that time he settled in New York City and recorded a solo album titled Adam on the CBS record label, having been banned from Poland during the 1980s after the Polish regime imposed martial law to crush the Solidarity movement.
Moving to Toronto, Canada in the 2000s he continued his career as a concert pianist and recording artist. In the course of his career, Makowicz has performed with major symphony orchestras and major concert halls in the Americas and in Europe. He has recorded over 30 albums of jazz, popular, and classical music, with his own arrangements and recorded his own compositions for piano. Pianist Adam Makowicz continues to compose, arrange, record and perform.
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Three Wishes
When Nica quizzed Rocky Boyd that if he had three wishes that could be granted he gave her the following reply:
- “That I can work fifty weeks out of every year.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Allen Blairman was born on August 13, 1940 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Moving from Pittsburgh to New York City he worked with Charles Mingus, Chet Baker and Archie Shepp.In 1970 he played with Albert Ayler at the Fondation Maeght in France. Two years later he toured throughout Europe with Karl Berger, recorded with Mal Waldron for Enja, and with Albert Mangelsdorff. In 1976 Allen played with a German jazz rock group called Embryo and in France he collaborated with Bireli Lagrene.
By 1991 he recorded Life at the Montreux Music Festival in trio-formation with Günter Lenz and Uli Lenz. For over twenty years he played with saxophonist Olaf Schönborn and bassist Mario Fadani in Trio Variety. Since 2009 with tap dancer Kurt Albert and Olaf Schönborn in Melody Rhythm & Tap.
Drummer Allen Blairman was diagnosed with cancer in January and transitioned on April 29, 2022 in Heidelberg, Germany at 81 years of age.
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Three Wishes
Roland Hanna had three wish answers he gave the Baroness when she inquired what his would be:
- “The first one would be to have been born with the wherewithal to have studied music to the fullest extent of my own capacity.”
- “My second wish would be that all men were created equally but different.”
- “My third wish… I wish my mother was still here.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alan Lee was born on July 29, 1936 in Melbourne, Australia. He was one of the first Australian jazz musicians to fuse classical music with jazz and to utilize Latin American rhythms in his music.
He led several jazz bands in Melbourne and Sydney from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Some of his recorded albums include his Seventies’ projects Gallery Concerts, The Alan Lee Jazz Quartet, Moomba Jazz ’76, Live from the Dallas Brooks Hall, and Alan Lee and Friends: Jazz at the Hyde Park Hotel in 1990, among others.
Bandleader, vibraphonist, guitarist, and percussionist Alan Lee at 86 continues to dabble in music.
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