Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph G. Cocuzzo was born on September 17, 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in a family of enthusiastic amateur musicians. He began playing drums as a small child, later studied extensively, and played in many bands in and around his home town.
In the late 1950s he was residing in Chicago, Illinois where he joined the big band led by Ralph Marterie before moving on to the Woody Herman band. By the early Sixties he worked with Don Ellis, Les and Larry Elgart, Gary McFarland and Tony Bennett. The mid-70s saw Joe returning to Bennett for a five-year engagement, then he was with Harry James before beginning a decade-long spell with Rosemary Clooney.
The subtle skills he displayed with Bennett and Clooney found him in demand as a singer’s accompanist and he also worked with Vic Damone, Julius LaRosa, Susannah McCorkle and Sylvia Syms. Throughout this period and on through the new millennium, Cocuzzo was in frequent demand for recording sessions, appearing on albums by many artists including Buddy De Franco and Dick Sudhalter.
During his time with Clooney Cocuzzo had begun writing song lyrics, and he went on to collaborate with several composers, notably the Brazilian Ivan Lins. A smooth and swinging player, always aware of the subtly supportive role required by many leaders, especially singers, Cocuzzo was a member of New York Swing.
Drummer and songwriter Joe Cocuzzo, who never recorded as a leader but has 77 recordings as a sideman, died on July 31, 2008 in New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gordon James Beck was born on September 16, 1935 in Brixton, London, England where he attended Pinner County Grammar School. He studied piano in his youth, but decided to pursue a career as an engineering technical draughtsman and moved to Canada in 1957 for this reason.
Largely self-taught, he returned to music after returning home from Canada in 1958, where he had been exposed to the works of George Shearing and Dave Brubeck. He became a professional musician in 1960 and played with saxophonist Don Byas in Monte Carlo. Beck joined the Tubby Hayes group in 1962, then led his own bands from 1965, including Gyroscope, from 1968, a trio with bassist Jeff Clyne and drummer Tony Oxley.
1967 saw the Gordon Beck Quartet record the album Experiments with Pops released on Major Minor MMLP 21 in 1968. That same year they recorded with Joy Marshall and released as When Sunny Gets Blue decades later.
Beck first played with vocalist Helen Merrill in 1969 and continued the relationship into the 1990s when she toured Europe. From 1969 to 1972 he toured with saxophonist Phil Woods’s European Rhythm Machine.
In the Sixties and Seventies he was a house pianist at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. Beck played experimental funk with George Gruntz from1973-75), and free jazz with improv drummer John Stevens and was a member of Nucleus between 1973 and 1974.
From middle age, Beck played predominantly in mainland Europe, recorded albums with Allan Holdsworth, Henri Texier, Didier Lockwood and others. He often played solo from the 1980s and started teaching music at the same poin and toured Japan with Holdsworth in 1985.
Pianist Gordon Beck stopped performing around 2005 because of poor health and died in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England on November 6, 2011.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Moore was born in Houston, Texas on September 14, 1940 and began his musical journey at Texas Southern University where he earned a Bachelors in Arts and immersed himself in the Houston music scene. He relocated to Kansas City, studied under Bobby Watson at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and received a M.A in Jazz Studies.
He formed a jazz fusion group Eddie Moore & The Outer Circle in 2012, with diversity and inclusiveness defining him as an artist. His debut album, The Freedom of Expression, was released in 2013. With a performing and visual arts curator he created an experimental platform in partnership with Charlotte Street that pairs time-based artists, producers and musicians.
Eddie has received awards and a 2017 residency at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. He has composed music that has been featured commercially for Sprint, Netflix’s Queer Eye, Morgan Cooper’s short film Room Tone, and Peacock’s Bel-Air.
He has shared the stage and recorded with Tia Fuller, Pam Watson, Logan Richardson, Maurice Brown, Boys II Men, Brian Blade and the Fellowship, John Baptiste, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Bilal, Ledisi, Chantae Cann, Krystal Warren, Andre Hayward, Tivon Pennicott, and Various Blonde.
As an educator his passion for teaching sent him on a course as a jazz lecturer at the University of Kansas, created a pilot Incubator, Tribe Studios, which programs master classes, music business meet-ups, and provides creative/maker space for musicians and visual artists.
Pianist and bandleader Eddie Moore is an integral member of the music community in Kansas City, as well as an advocate for change and resources for professional artists.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Jay Levine was born on October 4, 1938 in Concord, New Hampshire and began playing the piano at the age of five, trombone in his early teens. Attending Boston University, graduating with a degree in music in 1960, he also studied privately with Jaki Byard, Hall Overton and Herb Pomeroy.
Moving to New York City in the Sixties he freelanced and then played with musicians Houston Person, Mongo Santamaría, and Willie Bobo from 1971 to 1974. Levine then moved to San Francisco, California and played with Woody Shaw for two years. His debut album was made as a leader for Catalyst Records in 1976.
He went on to play with the Blue Mitchell/Harold Land Quintet, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson, Luis Gasca, and Cal Tjader. From 1980 to 1983, he concentrated on valve trombone, but then returned to playing mainly the piano. He then led his own bands, and recorded for Concord as a leader in 1983 and 1985. From 1992 Mark was part of Henderson’s big band. He created a new trio in 1996 and recorded it for his own, eponymous label. His Latin jazz group, Que Calor, was formed in 1997.
He put on his educator hat in 1970, teaching in addition to private lessons at Diablo Valley College, Mills College, Antioch University in San Francisco, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sonoma State University, and the JazzSchool in Berkeley. Levine wrote two method books: The Jazz Piano Book, and The Jazz Theory Book.
Pianist, trombonist, composer, author and educator Mark Levine, whose album Isla was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album, died of pneumonia on January 27, 2022 at the age of 83.
Get a dose of the musicians and vocalists who were members of a global society integral in the making and preservation of jazz for over a hundred and twenty-five years…
Mark Levine: 1938~2022 | Clarinet, Composer, Educator, Director, Producer
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mick Pyne was born Michael John Pyne on September 2, 1940 in Thornton-le-Dale, England He learned piano from the age of three; then learned violin, and began playing cornet when he was 13.
Around 1957 he and his brother Chris formed their own band before Mick moved to London, England in 1959. He played briefly with Tony Kinsey in 1962, then played U.S. Army bases in France. In addition he worked with Alexis Korner, from 1962 to 1963.
Returning to London at the end of 1963, Pyne worked in the Sixties with John Stevens, Phil Seamen, and extensively with Tubby Hayes, He toured Europe with Stan Getz, Roland Kirk, Lee Konitz, Hank Mobley, and Joe Williams.
In the 1970s he worked with Hayes again as well as with Ronnie Scott, Humphrey Lyttelton, Jon Eardley and Cecil Payne. In the 1980s Pyne’s associations included Georgie Fame, Adelaide Hall, Keith Smith and Charlie Watts.
Pianist Mick Pyne died on May 23, 1995 in London.
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