Three Wishes

It was Al Shorter that she approached with the question of three wishes and he told Nica he had only one wish that summed it all up:

1. “I want to live more than my life. That’s all my three wishes, really.”

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Three Wishes

While having a conversation with Denis Charles the Baroness brought up the subject of three wishes and asked him if they could be granted what would he wish for and he said:

1. “To be able to be playing my instrument regularly, so as to truly express myself.”
2. “To be in a better position financially, so as to satisfy some of my personal wants, which I’m sure would make me much more calm inside.”
3. “Lastly, to stay healthy and enjoy living.”

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Graham Burbridge was born on October 1, 1933 in Stepney, London, England. He started drumming about the age of six, playing things like British Grenadiers with Boy Scouts Bands. It was only after the war when he was around twelve that he found jazz and progressed from Spike Jones through Spanier, Bunk Johnson to Lennie Tristano. It was a fairly rapid musical education that  sat him on the modern side of the fence in his genre choice.

Graham played drums in the RAF with a Military Band, but also managed to get into the dance band. Back in civilian life in 1954 he worked a daytime job and played in a trio in the evening with Pete Elderfield and Maurice Hinson. His early interests in jazz led him to all the clubs, sitting in whenever he could. One night in Humph’s he was invited to play with the Sandy Brown Band and the next day was asked to join the band full time, and his professional career took off. He played with Brown until Sandy retired.

Joining the Chris Barber Band in 1957 was fortuitous, as the relationship lasted nearly two decades. Off stage Burbridge’s interests ran towards new and antique guns, and building model aircraft, something that had been a part of his life for a long time. His interest in guns was a new endeavor but also helped to re-energize and replace the nervous energy used on stage.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bent Jædig, born September 28, 1935 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He first studied clarinet before playing saxophone. In the 1950s, he settled in Germany and led a band with trombonist Rudi Fuesers, later joining another band with trombonist Peter Herbolzheimer in Munich, Germany.

By the 1960s, he returned to Denmark and worked with trumpeter Allan Botschinsky and pianist Bent Axen, with whom he recorded for Denmark’s Debut label. Bent would go on to play with the Dollar Brand Quintet which included Don Cherry. As a side-man he was constantly in demand and worked with Tete Montoliu, Jimmy Woode, Philly Joe Jones/Dizzy Reece, and Louis Hjulmand.

Jædig recorded his first album as a leader in 1967 titled, Danish Jazzman, with Axen, Botschinsky, Dusko Goykovich, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Alex Riel. He would later form a trio, played in a duo and recorded live shows in 2002 which were compiled for a release from Timeless Records.

In the Seventies and 1980s he worked with Wild Bill Davison, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, the Thad Jones Big Band, Duke Jordan, Horace Parlan, Sahib Shihab, and Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band. He was also a member of the Erling Kroner Tentet, played in the Danish Radio Big Band, and recorded on the Miles Davis album Aura. In 1987, Jædig was a member of Pierre Dørge’s New Jungle Orchestra.

At the end of the 1990s he was performing in a quintet. Tenor saxophonist and flutist Bent Jædig transitioned on June 9, 2004. Saxophonist Charles Davis recorded the album Charles Davis Plays the Music of Bent Jædig in 2006.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Roland Alexander was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 25, 1935 and grew up with his parents and sister, Gloria, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music composition from the Boston Conservatory in 1958.

A prolific composer and arranger, Alexander wrote and played for many of the better known bands in Boston during the 1950s, associating himself with Sabby Lewis, Preston ‘Sandy’ Sandiford, Richie Lowery, Jaki Byard and many more. He co-led a group called the Boston All Stars that featured trumpeter Joe Gordon, and after Joe Gordon left to play with Dizzy Gillespie’s band, he was replaced by Wajid Lateef (Crazy Wilbur Lucaw), and Gordon Wooly.

In 1956 he recorded High Step as a sideman with bassist Paul Chambers before moving to New York City the year he graduated from the conservatory. In addition to a 1961 and 1978 release as a leader, he played and recorded with John Coltrane, Howard McGhee, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, Blue Mitchell, Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, and Mal Waldron.

Post bop saxophonist Roland Alexander, who in addition to playing tenor and soprano saxophone was also a pianist, transitioned on June 14, 2006.

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