Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robin Kenyatta was born Robert Prince Haynes on March 6, 1942 in Moncks Corner, South Carolina but grew up in New York City, learning to play the alto saxophone. He played with Bill Dixon in the 1960s and playing with his project “The October Revolution in Jazz”. Later that decade he played with Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, Roswell Rudd, Sonny Stitt, Archie Shepp and Buddy Miles among others.
By the 1970s he was playing with Alan Silva and Andrew Hill; for a brief time he experimented with instrumental pop music during this decade as well. He moved to Europe during the Seventies, finding it easier to make a living as a jazz musician.
Later in his career he would play with musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, B. B. King, Dr. John and George Benson; played the Montreux Jazz Festival and went with his own groups on a European tour.
Kenyatta would go on to lead a jazz school in Lausanne, Switzerland during this period. In 2002 Kenyatta returned to the USA becoming active as a director of music in Boston. He died on October 28, 2004 at the age of 62 in Lausanne, leaving behind a catalogue of thirteen albums as a leader and eight as a sideman.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Yōsuke Yamashita was born February 26, 1942 in Tokyo, Japan. He first began to play piano professionally at the age of 17 in 1959 and attended the Kunitachi College of Music from 1962 to 1967. It was during his college matriculation that he released his first recording in 1963, becoming a pioneer of avant-garde and free jazz.
In 1969, Yosuke formed the Yosuke Yamashita Trio, which has been through various incarnations, each introducing and highlighting the skill of the new member. In the 1980s, Yosuke formed the “New York Trio” with bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Pheeroan akLaff.
In 1994 he was invited to perform at the 50th anniversary concert of the Verve jazz label at Carnegie Hall. Yamashita then moved into film scoring in 1998, scoring “The Girl Of The Silence”, Dr. Akagi”, “Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands” and the Shohei Imamura film “Kanzo Sensei”, earning him the “Minister of Education Award,” amongst others.
As an educator he has been a visiting professor of music at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Nagoya University of Arts and the Kunitachi College of Music in addition to published work on improvisation and music. He has been nominated for the Japanese Academy Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Music.
Yōsuke Yamashita, jazz pianist, composer, essayist and writer has been praised by critics for his unique piano style and in 2003 he was conferred the Imperial Medal of Honor by the Japanese government for his contributions to the arts and academia. He continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Henry Threadgill was born February 15, 1944, in Chicago, Illinois and first performed as a percussionist in his high school marching band before taking up the baritone saxophone and later a large portion of the woodwind instruments. He soon settled upon the alto saxophone and flute as his main instruments.
He was one of the original members of the legendary AACM – Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in Chicago, working under the guidance of Muhal Richard Abrams before leaving to tour with a gospel band. In 1967, he enlisted in the Army, playing with a rock band in Vietnam through 1968. Discharged in 1969 he returned to Chicago, formed a trio that eventually became “Air”, one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed avant-garde jazz groups of the 1970s and 1980s.
Threadgill had moved to New York City and began pursuing his own musical visions, exploring musical genres in innovative ways with his first nonet X-75. In the early Eighties, Threadgill created the Henry Threadgill Sextet, his first critically acclaimed ensemble as a leader, with two drummers as a single unit. He has recorded three albums under X-75 for About Time Records, reformed his sextet and released three albums on the Novus label.
Since the 90s Threadgill has continued to compose, create, perform and record music with various group configurations such as “Very Very Circus” and “Zooid” utilizing electric guitars, French horn, Latin percussion, accordion, cello and tuba.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Keith Nichols was born on February 13, 1945 in Ilford, Essex, UK and took his first music lessons at age five on piano and accordion. As a youth he was a child actor and an award-winning accordionist, Great Britain Junior Champion in 1960.
He turned professional after graduating from Gulldhall School of Music, touring with the Levity Lancers for seven years playing trombone, piano and tuba. From the early 70s he has performed in concert ragtime at London’s South Bank, came to the U.S. in 1976 with Richard Sudhalter’s New Paul Whiteman Orchestra, recorded three solo albums for EMI and is a frequent sideman for the label and formed the Midnite Follies Orchestra focusing on the music of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.
He has gigged and recorded with Bing Crosby, arranged for the New York Jazz Repertory Company, Dick Hyman and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, and has worked with Harry Gold, Digby Fairweather and Claus Jacobi.
The multi-instrumentalist, arranger and award-winning accordionist in his youth continues to perform and record prolifically in the UK, America and Europe with projects based in ragtime, and lectures at the Royal Academy of Music.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Natalie Maria Cole was born February 6, 1950 in Los Angeles, California the daughter of Nat King Cole and former Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Cole. Exposed to a host of great singers as a child, she first sang on her father’s Christmas album at six and began performing at 11. At 15 she attended Northfield Mount Hermon School followed by University of Massachusetts – Amherst, transferred to University of Southern California, returned to U Mass and graduated with a degree in Child Psychology and a minor in German.
While in college Natalie was singing on weekends and was welcomed on the club circuit in hope of singing her father’s music. However she stayed as far from his music as managers would allow and it was her own style of soul that attracted R&B producers Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy. The subsequent partnership produced 1975’s “Inseparable” that garnered her a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance for “This Will Be” and Best New Artist for the album. She returned to pick up Grammy awards in 1976 and 1977 along with two platinum albums and gold singles.
By 1978, she would star in her first television special on CBS to rave reviews and garnered another gold album in the classic Natalie Live set. A string of hits followed with more gold albums but by the early 80s Cole’s career paused as she entered rehab multiple times for heroin and cocaine addiction.
1985 saw her back in good health and on the comeback trail hitting the charts with songs like “Dangerous” and “Pink Cadillac” through the decade culminating with a 1990 performance of “Wild Women Do” on the soundtrack of Pretty Woman. In 1991 she returned to her vocal jazz roots producing her best selling album “Unforgettable…with Love” covering 22 of her father’s greatest hits, again winning several Grammy awards. Her release of several more jazz CDs brought her more recognition with the album “Take A Look” winning a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance and “When I Fall In Love” from her Stardust album won a 1996 Grammy.
Natalie Cole has received numerous other awards and accolades, has carved out a secondary career in acting both on television and the silver screen, appeared live in concerts or other music-related programs and continued to record and perform until her passing away of congestive heart failure on December 31, 2015.
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