Daily Dose OF Jazz…
Glenn Ferris was born on June 27, 1950 in Los Angeles, California. He studied classical music from 1958 to 1967, but from 1964 onward he also studied jazz with Don Ellis. He went on to perform with a variety of musicians in varied genres before moving to France in 1980.
In France, trombonist Glenn Ferris worked with Tony Scott, Brotherhood of Breath, Henri Texier and others. As an educator he currently teaches at the Conservatoire de Paris and leads a trio and a quintet.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira was born June 26, 1942 in Salvador do Bahia, Brazil though he spent much of his childhood in the countryside of Ituaca. The offspring of a doctor and a schoolteacher, he attended the Marist Brothers school until he was nine and then returned to Salvador for secondary school.
Gil’s interest in music began when he was two and grew up listening to the forro music and the street performers of Salvador. Early on, he began to play the drums and the trumpet, and then took up the accordion before attending music school. He first played classical music, but grew more interested in the folk and popular music of Brazil, influenced by accordionist Luiz Gonzaga. He discovered the samba music of Dorival Caymmi, American big band jazz and tango.
In 1950 while still in high school he joined his first band, Os Desafinados (The Out of Tunes), playing accordion and vibraphone and singing. Soon afterwards he settled on the guitar as his instrument after hearing Joao Gilberto and started playing bossa nova. Gil met guitarist and singer Caetano Veloso at the Universidade Federal da Bahia in 1963 and immediately they began collaborating and performing together, releasing a single and EP soon afterwards. Along with Maria Bethania, Gal Costa and Tom Ze, they opened the Vila Velha Theatre with a night of bossa nova and traditional Brazilian songs in 1964.
Gilberto would go on to become musical director of the theatre’s concert series, sold bananas, composed jingles for tv ads and work for Unilever before moving to Sao Paulo in in 1965. Though he had a hit single with Louvação that was later recorded by Elis Regina, his first solo hit was the 1969 song Aquele Abraco. Arrested with Veloso he spent seven months in jail and house arrest and then instructed to leave the country. After a concert in Salvador in ’69 they left for Portugal, Paris and London where he listened to Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Burning Spear. He performed with Yes, Pink Floyd and the Incredible String Band. It was in London that he recorded Gilberto Gil Nega and attended Miles Davis and Sun Ra concerts.
Over the course of his career he participated in the Aids benefit album Red, Hot + Rio, win Grammy awards, receive the Legion d’honneur from France, and was the first Latin American recipient of the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. In between performances he turned to politics becoming the Salvador Secretary of Culture, founded the environmental protection organization Onda Azul (Blue Wave), was a Good will Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, became Brazil’s Minister of Culture and then retired due to a vocal cord polyp.
Tenor, baritone and falsetto vocalist, guitarist, lyricist and composer Gilberto Gil who is one of the pioneers of tropicália, and became increasing interested in the welfare of Black culture and focused on Afro-Brazilian culture. He continues to transcend the eras of dance and music trends emerging on the other side with a blend of music styles that stay true to his traditional Bahian roots while engaging with commercial markets.
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Hollywood On 52nd Street
W.C. Handy composed St. Louis Blues used as the title track for the 1958 film of the same name. The movie had as its stars Nat King Cole portraying W.C. Handy and Ruby Dee as Elizabeth as well as a host of musicians and vocalists not limited to Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Barney Bigard, Red Callender and Pearl Bailey.
The Story: Will Handy grew up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he can’t stay away from the music of the streets and workers. After he writes a theme song for a local politician, Gogo, a speakeasy singer, convinces Will to be her accompanist. Will is estranged from his father for many years while he writes and publishes many blues songs. At last the family is reunited when Gogo brings them to New York to see Will’s music played by a symphony orchestra.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Anita Brown was born June 17, 1959 in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. She attended and graduated the Pingree School and Andover High School before her family moved to Long Island, New York in 1977. It was at this juncture in her life that she began studying voice, phrasing and inflection with Lennie Tristano, first imitating Billie Holiday and then singing the solos of Lester Young.
A year later she enrolled at SUNY Old Westbury, majored in Music Education, adding photography, dance and choreography to her schedule. In 1980 Anita transferred her major to the University of New Hampshire concentrating on classical piano and voice. In her junior year that she discovered her passion of conducting and by the time she graduated she had a considerable transcript of instrumental and choral conducting along with score study under her belt.
Brown began her career in conducting also in her third year at UNH as a part time band director, prior to graduation and moving back to New York. In addition to studying clarinet, she took on and mastered the trumpet, continuing to play, write and teach. By 1995 she was at the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop and building a body of work for jazz orchestra guided by Jim McNeely, Manny Albam and Mike Abene. There she composed and contributed compositions that were featured in the annual concerts and was a finalist in 2001 and 2003 Charlie Parker Composition Competitions.
In 2000 she founded the Anita Brown Jazz Orchestra, independently recording and releasing her debut CD, 27 East, to critical acclaim and was appeared in six categories on the ballot for the 46th Grammy Awards. She was the first recipient of the ASCAP/International Jazz Composers’ Symposium New Music Award for Big Band Works for her piece The Lighthouse, selected by Bob Brookmeyer, ohn Clayton and Dave Douglas.
She has written arrangements for Nnenna Freeelon, The ount Basie Orchestra, the Jon Faddis jazz Orchestra, Chiuck Owen, and the Jazz Surge, Roseana Vitro, Bobby Short and a number of New York R&B bands.
The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors, BMI New York Jazz Orchestra and numerous college and high school jazz ensembles have performed her original works. As an educator she is on the faculty of New Jersey City University and Sara Lawrence College, and established her Composer Residency Project.
Conductor, arranger and composer Anita Brown consults planning and producing recordings and performances, has served as copyist and/or assistant to Jim McNeely, Maria Schneider, Many Albam, Don Sebesky, John Pizzarelli, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band while serving as archivist for the Gil Evans and Manny Albam estates.
Music: https://youtu.be/9KZo1ItnDCE
Take A Dose On The Road
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gail Thompson was born on June 15, 1958 in London, England. Coming from a musical family as a child she learned to play the clarinet. At 16 she was playing baritone saxophone as a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and founded her own bands.
She went on to become a founding member alongside with Courtney Pine of the British band Jazz Warriors. She played briefly with Art Blakey becoming the second female member of the Jazz Messengers along with Joanne Brackeen.
In 1986, she led the big band of Charlie Watts and then founded her first big band Formation Gail Force, for which she also composed music. Thompson’s music is inspired by Africa rhythms and hard bop bringing her stylistically close to the big band sounds of Abdullah Ibrahim and Quincy Jones.
In 1994, her debut recording session and album as a leader came with Gail Force. One year later as a product of a journey through the African continent, she recorded live in Duisburg the album Jazz Africa for Enja Records with Harry Beckett, Claude Deppa, Jerry Underwood and Patrick Hartley. After a stay in the Australian Queensland in 1999 she recorded the album Jadu, referencing Jazz Africa Down Under with bassist Mario Castronari.
For health reasons, flutist, saxophonist, composer and arranger of modern jazz Gail Thompson had to quit playing the saxophone but she put her energies towards focusing on music education activities. In 2003 she organized the Afro-European Women’s Big Band Femmes Noires , who performs her compositions.
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