Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jeffery Smith was born on September 14, 1955 in Queens, New York and began honing his voice at a very early age, under the influence of his mother, a classical singer. At the age of 18, he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a singer, actor and artist, landing several bit parts in television, and film, while performing in the local clubs.

In 1980 he starred in the production of “Hollywood & Highland” and was awarded the coveted 1981 Drama Critic’s Award, from Drama Logue Magazine. Returning to New York in 1985, the baritone co-starred on stage in “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Hair” and “Capitol Cakewalk”, as well as performing in most of the city’s major clubs through 1991.

By 1991, Smith’s visit to Paris lasted for 7 years and while working with Claude Bolling, he recorded four albums, had two world tours with the big band, sang commercial jingles, and was signed with Universal/Verve for a 3-album deal, all of which received international acclaim. His 1995 debut recording “Ramona” was dedicated to his mother, and his U.S. debut came in 1998 with the release of “A Little Sweeter” on the Verve label.

Jeffery Smith has worked with Wynton Marsalis, the LCJ Orchestra, Dianne Reeves, Kenny Barron, Regina Carter, Ernie Watts, Pete Levin, Winard Harper, Joe Lovano, Dee Dee Bridgewater and TK Blue. He was the founder of the jazz cultivation not-for-profit Tri-Loxodonta Productions, a not-for-profit music organization cultivating jazz in upstate New York. Vocalist Jeffery Smith continued to perform internationally and record until he passed away on July 5, 2012..

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Scott Hamilton was born on September 12,1954 in Providence, Rhode Island. He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins as well as Zoot Sims and Don Byas forward.

Hamilton began playing in various rhythm & blues outfits in his hometown, but subsequently shifted to jazz and the tenor saxophone. In 1976 he moved to New York City, in part the recommendation of Roy Eldridge and joined Benny Goodman for a period of time. In 1977 he recorded his debut album for Concord Records, with whom he would have a long recording career in his own name and as one of their Concord Jazz All Stars. He also worked backing singer Rosemary Clooney and others.

In the early 1980s he had formed his own quintet and toured all over the world. By then free from his drinking habit, in 1982 he had matured sufficiently to be able to break away from the spell of mainly Ben Webster and Zoot Sims, whom he had been criticized of imitating. From this point on both his playing and his tone were very much his own.

By the early 1990s Scott was ready for a next step and by 1994 when he released Organic Duke, he had developed a quite singular style: a large, well-rounded but still focused tone and improvising, ostensibly still based on the swing idiom. Tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton has amassed a catalogue of over forty albums and continues to compose, perform and tour.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Michael Jay Feinstein was born September 7, 1956 in Columbus, Ohio. At the age of five, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became angered that he wasn’t reading the sheet music she gave him, since he was more comfortable playing by ear. As his mother saw no problem with her son’s method, she took him out of lessons and allowed him to enjoy music his own way.

After graduating from high school, Feinstein worked in local piano bars for two years, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. He catalogued Ira Gershwin’s extensive collection of phonograph records, unpublished sheet music and rare recordings. This led to the development of a close relationship with Gershwin’s neighbor, Rosemary Clooney.

By the mid-1980s, Feinstein was a nationally known cabaret singer-pianist who dedicating himself to the Great American Songbook and recorded his debut titled Pure Gershwin in 1986. This led to more Americana with Irving Berlin, a live album from the Algonquin, “Over There” featuring music of the WWI era and “Pure Imagination” – a children’s album in 1992.

He has starred on Broadway, recorded several “composer” albums, and a series of “romance” albums and a Sinatra project. Michael was appointed by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Preservation Board to safeguard America’s musical heritage; he is the artistic director of The Center for the Performing Arts, which is home to the Michael Feinstein Initiative, and is the owner of a nightclub in Manhattan, “Feinstein’s” in the Regency Hotel.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Lonnie Plaxico was born on September 4, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois and started playing the bass at age twelve. He turned professional at 14 playing both double bass and bass guitar. His first recording was with his family’s band, and by the time he was twenty he had moved to New York City, where he had stints playing with Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Junior Cook and Hank Jones.

In 1978 he won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award but first came to public attention through his work with the Wynton Marsalis group in 1982. Lonnie’s first regular attachment was with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1983–1986, with whom he recorded twelve albums. At the end of his work relationship with Blakey he joined Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition, and stayed with them until 1993.

Plaxico held the musical director and featured bassist position for Cassandra Wilson for fifteen years and has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including David Murray, Alice Coltrane, Stanley Turrentine, Andrew Hill, Abbey Lincoln, Joe Sample, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Cosby, Lonnie Liston Smith, Barbara Dennerlein, Helen Sung and Ravi Coltrane among others.

Bassist Lonnie Plaxico has thirteen albums to his credit as a leader and continues to perform and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Onaje Allan Gumbs was born Allan Bentley Gumbs on September 3, 1949 in Harlem, New York but grew up in St. Albans, Queens. Starting to play piano at age 7, Henry Mancini was one of his earliest and greatest influences, hearing Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky themes on television. He later studied at the Music and Art High School in Manhattan and was mentored by Erskine Tate Alum Leroy Kirkland.

During this time, he was playing in a Latin band, a big band, playing piano duets and listening to records made by Motown and Blue Note, developing an interest in R&B in conjunction with the straight-ahead jazz of Horace Silver, Dizzy Gillespie, Lalo Schifrin, Gil Evans, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and John Coltrane. He went on to study classical piano, composition, arranging and graduated with a degree in Education at the State University of New York at Fredonia in upstate New York.

In 1971, Leroy Kirkland introduced Onaje to guitarist Kenny Burrell and a subsequent gig led him to play with Larry Ridley and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. He would join jazz ensemble Natural Essence that included Thelonious Monk Jr. In 1972he went to work with Norman Connors as an arranger on the Dark of Light album and contributed keyboards on the albums Love From the Sun, Saturday Night Special, You Are My Starship, Invitation and Mr. C.

Toward the late 1970s, Onaje spent two years working in Woody Shaw’s band as pianist, arranger, and occasional composer, in which the group won the Down Beat Reader’s Poll for Best Jazz Group and for Best Jazz Album in 1978 for Rosewood. His first solo piano project was simply titled Onaje and was followed by venturing into R&B and subsequently ending up on the smooth jazz charts and rotations for nearly 20 years with his composition “Quiet Passion”.

In 2003, Onaje return to straight-ahead with his release of the live album Return to Form, and garnering critical acclaim the next year with a project on his own label, Ejano, titled Remember Their Innocence. These were followed with Sack Full of Dreams before his stroke in 2010 but by year end had recorded and release Just Like Yesterday in Japan, with all signs of a stroke vanished. His sideman work has included stints with Buster Williams, Cecil McBee, and Betty Carter and most recently with Avery Sharpe on the 2012 album Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman.

He has received the Min-on-Art Award, has his song Dare To Dream chosen by Panasonic as the theme for their 10th anniversary celebration of Kid Witness News, composed, arranged and performed the original score for the Showtime film, Override and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

Suffering a stroke in 2010 he was able to return to music two weeks later. In 2015 he was hospitalized again for two weeks but made a full recovery and returned to composing and performance. Pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Onaje Allen Gumbs passed away at 70 on April 6, 2020.

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