Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Drummer Thurman Barker was born January 8, 1948 in Chicago, Ilinois. His first professional gig was at the age of 16 with Mighty Joe Young but went on to finish his studies at Empire State College, the American Conservatory of Music and Roosevelt University.
Thurman has accompanied Billy Eckstine, Bette Midler, and Marvin Gaye; was the house percussionist at the Shubert Theatre in the 60’s. Late in the decade and through the 70’s he played with Muhal Richard Abrams, Pheeroah Aklaff, Anthony Braxton, Billy Bang, Henry Threadgill and Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre.
Barker reunited with Braxton, recording and touring with him from 1978-80 and with Sam Rivers from 1979-80. In 1985 he joined the Jarman/Rivers trio and in 1987 played marimba with Cecil Taylor.
Since 1993 he has been an Associate Professor at Bard College.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Barry Altschul was born on January 6, 1943 in New York City was a major contributing drummer to the avant-garde movement that had been steadily evolving since the innovations of Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Gaining fame as a drummer in the late 60’s playing in the “outside” style of jazz, his first major gig in pianists Paul Bley’s trio. By 1969 he joined up with Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Anthony Braxton forming the group Circle, which arguably might be the most technically adept free jazz ensemble ever.
At the time, he made use of a high-pitched Gretsch kit with add-on drums and percussion instruments, which he integrated seamlessly in a whirlwind of sound. His drumming was stylistically all encompassing – in his own words “from ragtime to no time” – thanks to his foundation in traditional jazz styles. No one sounded quite like him at the time, and his nuclear energy served him well when he teamed up with Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton throughout the 1970s.
Much of Altschul’s power as a rhythm player stemmed from his subtle touch, his sound being very tight and well defined with a strict attention to rhythmic and tonal detail. He also made albums as a leader but by the mid-80’s he was rarely seen in concert or on recordings. He recently has become a little more visible as a sideman with the FAB trio with violinist Billy Bang and guitarist Joe Fonda, and with bassist Adam Lane. He has played and recorded with Roswell Rudd, Dave Liebman, Andrew Hill, Sonny Criss, Hampton Hawes and Lee Konitz.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Woody Shaw born December 24, 1944 in Laurinburg, North Carolina with a photographic memory and perfect pitch. Growing up in Newark, New Jersey from the age of one, he began playing bugle at age 9 and performed in the Junior Elks, Junior Mason, and Washington Carver Drum and Bugle Corps. Though not his first choice of instrument, wanting to play the violin, he began studying classical trumpet at Cleveland Junior High School at the age of 11.
Shaw skipped two grades and began attending Newark Arts High School, pursuing an education at Julliard School and his interest in jazz, as his first influences were Louis Armstrong and Harry James. As a teenager, he worked professionally at weddings, dances, and nightclubs. He eventually left school but continued his study of the trumpet under the influence of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Booker Little, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard.
In 1963, after many local professional jobs, Woody worked for Willie Bobo with Chick Corea and Joe Farrell before moving to Paris at age 19. There he gigged with Nathan Davis, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin and Art Taylor. In England he played with Davis, and childhood friends Larry Young and Billy Brooks.
Returning to the States in 1964, Shaw began his career as one of Blue Note Records’ formidable “house” trumpet players. He replaced Carmel Jones in the Horace Silver Quintet, and made his first Blue Note debut on Larry Young’s famed Unity album (1965), upon which three of his compositions “Zoltan”, “Moontrane”, and “Beyond All Limits” would appear.
Over the course of his career he would collaborate frequently and record with Chick Corea, Jackie McLean, Booker Ervin, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Max Roach, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Mulgrew Miller, Steve Turre and others. He travelled all over Europe, performed with Max Roach in Iran in 1969, toured Japan, England, Italy, Germany Sweden, Switzerland, Egypt, Sudan, UAE, and India.
He would work as a studio musician and in pit orchestras and on Broadway musicals. He released several albums for Muse and Columbia record labels, was nominated for two Grammy Awards, and was voted Best Jazz Trumpeter of the Year among other accolades and honors. As an educator he taught countless clinics, master classes and private lessons to students around the world, was on the faculty of Jamey Aebersold’s jazz camp, taught Wynton Marsalis, Ingrid Monson, Chris Botti, Wallace Roney and Terence Blanchard among others.
Trumpeter Woody Shaw passed away at age 44 of kidney failure on May 10, 1989, leaving a memorable catalogue of more than sixty albums as a leader and sideman.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pete Levin was born on December 20, 1942 in Boston, Massachusetts and started his musical journey on the French horn under the direction John Corley, director of the MIT concert band. Inspired by his teacher, he enrolled at Julliard School of Music in New York City.
Moving to New York in the 70s, Pete began a 15-year association with the Gil Evans Orchestra as both a French horn and electric keyboardist, receiving two Grammy awards during his tenure. This he followed with eight years with Jimmy Giuffre.
As a bandleader, he signed his first record deal with Grammavision Records in 1990, releasing his solo jazz project “Party In The Basement” followed by “Solitary Man” the following year. He went on to release four new age albums and produced the album Deacon Blues in 2007.
He plays Hammond organ, clavinet and Moog synthesizer, has performed, composed or arranged for such film and television scores as Missing In Action, Lean On Me, The Color of Money, The Guiding Light, Spin City, America’s Most Wanted, Star Trek and the Discovery Channel’s Secret of the Humpback Whales among others.
As a sideman Levin has performed with Carla Bley, The Brubeck Brothers, Jimmy Cobb, Hiram Bullock, Rachelle Ferrell, Chuck Mangione, Gregory Hines, Wayne Shorter, David Sanborn, Miles Davis, Vanessa Williams, Lenny White, Lew Soloff and Gerry Mulligan on the short list. He continues to perform, record, arrange and tour.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lenny White was born Leonard White III on December 19, 1949 in New York City. Self-taught left-handed drummer, he played in local groups but basically started his career at the top of the ladder playing regularly with Jackie McLean in 1968, recording “Bitches Brew” with Miles Davis in 1969 and Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay in 1970.
White was soon working with some of the who’s who of jazz including Geri Allen, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Gil Evans, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorious and Stan Getz among others. He joined the short-lived group Azteca, and then as a member of Return To Forever from 1973-76, he gained a huge reputation as one of the top fusion drummers, but he remained versatile to play in many settings.
After the breakup of Return To Forever, Lenny White headed several fusion projects but none of the Nemperor and Elektra recordings found much traction in popularity, even amongst the funk crowd. In 1979 he formed the group “Twentynine” that achieved some notoriety. However, his work with the Echoes Of An Era and Griffith Park all-star groups have been received with acclaim and success.
Lenny has led fifteen albums as a leader and another two-dozen as a valuable sideman for a wide variety of projects. He continues to perform, record and tour.
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