Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jimmy Lyons was born on December 1, 1931 in Jersey City, New Jersey and raised there until the age of nine, when his mother moved the family to Harlem and then the Bronx in New York City. In the mid-1940s he got his first saxophone and took lessons from Buster Bailey.
After high school he was drafted into the United States Army and spent 21 months on infantry duty in Korea before spending a year playing in army bands. Once discharged he enrolled at New York University but by the end of the Fifties, Lyons was supporting his music by working for the United States Postal Service.
1960 saw Jimmy followed Archie Shepp into the saxophone role in the Cecil Taylor Unit. His post-Parker sound and strong melodic sense became a defining part of the sound of that group, from the 1962 Cafe Montmartre sessions onwards. During the 1970s, he ran his own ensemble, with bassoonist Karen Borca and percussionist Paul Murphy and was part of the loft jazz movement.
Lyons’ group and Cecil Taylor Unit continued a parallel development throughout the 1970s and 1980s, often involving the same musicians, including trumpeter Raphe Malik, bassist William Parker and percussionist Murphy.
In 1976, Lyons performed in a production of Adrienne Kennedy’s A Rat’s Mass directed by Cecil Taylor at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan.
Alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, who recorded eight albums as a leader, twenty-nine as a sideman and performed in the free jazz genre, died from lung cancer at the age of 54.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michel Portal was born on November 27, 1935 in Bayonne, France into a musical family and home filled with several instruments growing up. His interest in jazz began after hearing it on the radio after World War II. He studied clarinet at the Conservatoire de Paris and conducting with Pierre Dervaux.
Gaining experience in light music with the bandleaders Henri Rossotti and with Perez Prado in Spain in 1958, Michel performed with drummer Benny Bennett, Raymond Fonsèque, Aimé Barelli and for many years, the singer Claude Nougaro.
Portal co-founded the free improvisation group New Phonic Art. During 1969, he played on a recording of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Aus den sieben Tagen.
He began scoring music for films in the 1980s. He won the César Award for Best Music Written for a Film three times. Playing both jazz and classical music and is considered to be “one of the architects of modern European jazz.
Composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist Michel Portal continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Allred was born in Rock Island, Illinois on November 19, 1936 into a family where his father played the Streckfus Steamboat lines on the Mississippi.
He formed a Dixieland band while still in high school. In 1954 he enlisted in the Navy, playing with Navy bands throughout his tour and was excited to be part of a big band for the first time. Returning home he married, pursued a regular career and continued to gig.
His big break came in 1970 when, out of 2500 auditioning musicians, he was chosen to be part of the Disney World Band on the park’s opening day in 1970. While at Disney he formed a trad band called The Reedy Creek Jazz Band. The band was noticed by Bob Snow, who recruited him to put together a show and band for the Rosie O’Grady’s Goodtime Jazz Emporium, that ran for 25 years.
In 1979, Bill formed the Continental Jazz Band for a Roaring Twenties club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Auntie Mame’s” later won the Carbonell Award for Best Cabaret Show in South Florida.
Trombonist and bandleader Bill Allred, who was a vital component of the classic jazz scene in South Florida, died on February 1, 2024 at the age of 87.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wayne Andre was born on November 17, 1931 in Manchester, Connecticut. His father was a saxophonist, and he took private music lessons from age 15. In the early 1950s he played with Charlie Spivak before spending some time in the U.S. Air Force. 1955 saw him joining the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, and the next year played with Woody Herman.
From 1956 to 1958 Wayne played with Kai Winding and enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music. He composed his Nutcracker and arranged The Preacher for the Kai Winding Septet while performing with the septet. In the 1960s, he performed with Gerry Mulligan’s first Concert Jazz Band, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Clark Terry’s Big Band.
He joined the Mission to Russia with Benny Goodman in 1962. He also played with Urbie Green, Art Farmer, Roy Ayres, and Carl Fontana. After settling in New York City, Andre became a sought-after studio sideman and soloist. He has recorded with Liza Minnelli, Bruce Springsteen, and Alice Cooper.
During the Eighties he played with Lynn Welshman’s Tentet, The Mingus Big Band, The Epitaph Band, Jaco Pastorius and many others. He performed with his own quintet, which included Marvin Stamm, Pat Rebillot, Ronnie Zito, Jay Leonhart; and his septet which included Matt Finders, Keith O’Quinn, and Jim Pugh. Andre performed with his own big band, the Illinois Jacquet Band and Mike Longo’s New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble.
Wayne Andre, who recorded one hundred and sixty-seven albums as a studio musician, continued to write music for symphony orchestras and big bands throughout his life, died on August 26, 2003..
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alexei Zoubov was born on November 15, 1936 in Moscow, Russia into a family of scientists. Following the family tradition, he graduated from Moscow University with a master’s degree in physics and was offered a prestigious job that physicists would kill for. However, jazz seduced him in the early Fifties and tuned into Voice of America, BBC and other jazz programs.
In his sophomore University year he started playing clarinet, then switched to the saxophone and joined the early wave of jazz rebirth in the Soviet Union. At this time, Stalin was in power and playing jazz in the Soviet Union was considered not far from committing treason. Zouboc went on the road with the Oleg Lundstrem Big Band. He followed this with a seven year run with Vadim Ludvikovsky Radio and Television Big Band.
Alexei led his Crescendo Quartet, his duo with keyboardist Igor Saulski, Barometer Quintet as well as numerous jazz groups. He worked as a studio musician recording for Studio Melodya and wrote music for films. In 1984, Zoubov settled in Los Angeles, California where he continued to compose and play music.
Over the course of his on going fifty plus year career in music, he’s shared the stage and recorded with Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Pete Cristlieb, Paul Gonsalves, Charlie Haden, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Dick Hyman, Keith Jarrett, Milcho Leviev and Russian musicians like Konstantin Bakholdin, Gennadiy Golshtein, German Lukyanov, Konstantin Nosov, Boris Rychkov and so many others.
Saxophonist Alexei Zoubov continues to perform and record.
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