Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John William Frank Critchinson was born on December 24, 1934 in London, England. He worked as a part-time musician with Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, and Jimmy Deuchar, among others. In 1979, at the recommendation of his mentor, Bill Le Sage, he became a member of Ronnie Scott’s Quartet until it folded in 1995. During that time, he worked with many visiting American artists, including Chet Baker, George Coleman, James Moody, Joe Henderson and Johnny Griffin.

In the early 1980s, he had an association with the British jazz fusion duo Morrissey–Mullen, appearing on two of their albums. He recorded with Dick Morrissey and was a member of Martin Drew’s Our Band, with Ron Mathewson, Jim Mullen, and Dick Morrissey.

In 1995, he formed a quartet with saxophonist Art Themen, bassist Dave Green and Dave Barry on drums. When Scott died in 1996, Critchinson formed the Ronnie Scott Legacy with Pat Crumly on saxophone and flute. Later in his life, he played and recorded with saxophonist Simon Spillett.

Pianist John Critchinson, who recorded eleven albums as a leader and was affectionately known as Critch, passed away on December 15, 2017.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jeanie Lambe was born on December 23, 1940 in Glasgow, Scotland. Her mother was a singer and her father played the accordion in the musical act Douglas, Nicol & Lamb. Her first public performances were with her parents and when she was seventeen, she became a member of the Clyde Valley Stompers.

She was the vocalist with the Alex Sutherland Sextet at Elgin’s Two Red Shoes Ballroom, where she kicked off the Two Red Shoes dances at age 19. Moving to London, England in 1960 Jeanie worked with a variety of jazz bands in the area, including those led by Alex Welsh, Kenny Ball and Charlie Galbraith. In 1964 she married tenor saxophonist Danny Moss and became more well known through her extensive performances at international jazz festivals.

Lambe has performed with modern and mainstream jazz musicians including Cliff Hardie and the UK All Stars Orchestra, Bobby Rosengarden, Monty Alexander, Ben Webster, Budd Johnson, Oscar Peterson, Wild Bill Davison, Kenny Davern, Joe Pass and Buddy Tate.

Suffering ill health, vocalist Jeanie Lambe, who recorded seven albums as a leader, passed away on May 29, 2020 in Perth, Australia at the age of 79.

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From Broadway To 52nd Street

Ridin’ High is a 1936 popular song, composed and written by Cole Porter, for the stage in his musical Red, Hot and Blue, with book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It premiered on Broadway in 1936 and the song was introduced by Ethel Merman.

The musical also introduced the popular song It’s De-Lovely as a romance duet sung by Ethel Merman and Bob Hope, in which they trace their romance from first kiss to marriage to a baby.

Nails O’Reilly Duquesne is a newly wealthy young widow. Loud and brassy, Nails is a former manicurist. She organizes a benefit for her favorite cause, the rehabilitation of ex-convicts. Together with her sidekick (an “ex-con” himself), Policy Pinkle, and her “square” boyfriend, lawyer Bob Hale, she embarks on a nationwide search for Bob’s old girlfriend, which is really the reason for the enterprise. The girlfriend, 18 years earlier, had sat upon a hot waffle iron and so had a unique “imprint”. However, the national lottery that Nails starts gets the attention of the Finance Committee, and they wind up in Washington DC in an even more complicated situation. The Supreme Court declares the lottery unconstitutional, because it would benefit the people.

History

During the out-of-town tryouts, the book was too long and did not blend with the music. The producer Vinton Freedley made numerous suggestions for overhauling the show, which were accepted by all except Porter, until he finally relented. Additional conflicts arose when Freedley assembled the cast and creative team behind the musical Anything Goes, hoping to repeat that show’s success. William Gaxton was part of that cast, however, he withdrew because Ethel Merman’s part was so large, so Bob Hope was cast. The next conflict came over billing for Jimmy Durante and Merman, which was resolved by having their names crisscrossed above the title.

The musical was first titled But Millions!, then Wait for Baby!, before settling on Red, Hot And Blue. The Broadway musical has no connection to the 1949 film musical of the same name with songs by Frank Loesser.

Benny Goodman, Chris Connor, Ella Fitzgerald, Michel Legrand, Kate Smith, Mark Murphy, Jeri Southern, Peggy Lee, Teresa Brewer, Carol Lawrence, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Cleo Laine, Sue Raney, Hod O’Brien, Robert Palmer, Rebecca Martin, Fay Claassen, and Stevie Holland.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Tommy Stewart was born November 19, 1939 in Gadsden, Alabama. He attended Industrial High in Birmingham, Alabama where John T. “Fess” Whatley trained him along with Erskine Hawkins, Dud Bascomb, Paul Bascomb, and Sun Ra. Alvin “Stumpy” Robinson, the band director at Washington Jr High School, was also influential in his development.

Enrolling at Alabama State College and having no way to pay tuition, the problem solved itself when he joined the Bama State Collegians, a dance band that made enough money to fund Stewart’s way through four years of college. He attended Alabama State University, where he directed the Bama State Collegians. Later, he studied jazz arranging at the Eastman School of Music and studied arranging under John Duncan, a classical composer and teacher at Alabama State University.

As an educator he began his teaching career at Fayette High School in St. Clair County Alabama, 1961 to 1963. Moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 1969 he taught in Fayetteville, Georgia, worked for Morris Brown College doing band arrangements and taught jazz and arranged for the Morehouse College band. He also taught band classes at West End High School in Birmingham, Alabama from, and taught A Survey of Popular Music at Georgia State University.

During the 1970s, he worked with Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Tams, Johnnie Taylor, Jackie Moore, King Floyd, Z. Z. Hill, and The Stylistics. He toured as musical director for Johnnie Taylor and for Ted Taylor and went on to record disco in the Seventies with Final Approach, Cream De CoCo, Tamiko Jones, Moses Davis, and his own album.

In 1990, he co-founded the African American Philharmonic Orchestra with founder and conductor John Peek. He moved from Atlanta to Birmingham in 1992.  He was a member of the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Eaton, the Alabama All-Stars, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars, and Ray Reach and Friends, continues to be involved in music. In 1988, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. At 81, trumpeter, arranger, composer, and record producer Tommy Stewart remains involved in the music industry.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Laila Dalseth was born November 6, 1940 in Bergen, Norway. After an early debut in her hometown she became active on the Oslo, Norway jazz scene, recording with Kjell Karlsen, Egil Kapstad and Helge Hurum’s big band. Her first recording was Metropol Jazz in 1963, then she was a part of Stokstad/Jensen Trad Band from 1973 to 1975. This she followed with a stint in a band with Per Borthen, then at Teatret Vårt in the play Havhesten in 1976.

>With her own band, Laila recorded Listen Here! (1999), 1960’s album One of a Kind (2000) and then Everything I Love (2003), all on the Gemini label. Her L. D. Quintet consisted of her husband Totti Bergh on saxophone, pianist Per Husby, bassist Kåre Garnes and Tom Olstad on drums.

Dalseth was awarded Buddyprisen in 1976, the Spellemannprisen i klassen jazz on three occasions, for Just Friends in 1975, Glad There is You in 1978 and in 1984 for Daydreams. International recognition came in the Eighties with her release of  for the record Time for Love with Red Mitchell, Travelling Light with Al Cohn, and into the 1990s with The Judge and I with Milt Hinton, A Woman’s Intuition, her own sextet featuring guitarist Philip Catherine, and into the new century with We Remember You with Al Cohn, and Everything I Love.

At 80, vocalist Laila Dalseth has recorded thirteen albums, received eight awards and remains active on the jazz scene.

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