Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael Abene ( was born July 2, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up in a musical family he was influenced and inspired by his father, grandfather, and aunt who were musicians. He studied composition at the Manhattan School of Music
His reputation for accompanying singers and for arranging music led Michael to accompany Susannah McCorkle, Julius La Rosa, and others. His debut album was a solo piano project recorded in 1984 and released in 1986 titled You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby.
He recorded with Maynard Ferguson, Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader during the Sixties and Urbie Green in the Seventies. Abene co-produced the album Avant Gershwin, which won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2007.
Pianist Michael Abene continues to perform, produce and conduct.
More Posts: arranger,bandleader,conductor,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jasper van ‘t Hof was born on June 30, 1947 in Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands. He began studying piano at the age of five. He played in jazz bands at school and by 19 was playing at jazz festivals with drummer Pierre Courbois. In 1969, he became a member of Courbois’ early European jazz rock band Association P.C. with German guitarist Toto Blanke.
In 1974, Van’t Hof founded Pork Pie and teamed up with guitarist Philip Catherine, saxophonist Charlie Mariano, drummer Aldo Romano, and bass guitarist Jean-François Jenny Clark, He went on to join the band Eyeball with saxophonist Bob Malach and violinist Zbigniew Seifert.
Jasper had two bands ~ Face to Face with Danish bassist Bo Stief and saxophonist Ernie Watts; and Pili Pili featuring African singer Angelique Kidjo. He played keyboards with Archie Shepp, although he is best known for his solo piano playing.
As part of Piano Conclave he played with pianists George Gruntz, Joachim Kühn, Wolfgang Dauner, and Keith Jarrett. He has recorded more than four dozen albums as a leader and another nineteen as a sideman. Pianist and keyboardist Jasper Van’t Hof, who is a textural player, comfortably blends impressionistic writing with freer concerns, continues to compose, perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,keyboard,music,piano
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robert Cameron Gordon was born June 29, 1941 in Hartford, Connecticut and taught himself by listening intently to the stylings of Jimmie Noone, Jimmy Dorsey and Frank Teschmacher, among others. He studied with Chicago clarinetist Joe Marsala. As a teenager he would go to Eddie Condon’s jazz club in New York’s Greenwich Village, sit at a table near the bandstand and nurse a Coke all night as he listened.
Early in his career, he played with Wild Bill Davison, Bobby Hackett, Zutty Singleton, Muggsy Spanier and had a long run with Jim Cullum’s Happy Jazz Band in San Antonio, Texas. Moving to San Diego, California in the 1970s, he played with numerous groups around the county. By the mid-1970s Gordon frequently recorded and toured with singer Leon Redbone, and appeared on the Johnny Carson Show. In 1979, the two survived injuries in a crash of a twin engine prop jet in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
In the late 1990s, Bobby joined the Roadrunners, a popular quintet on the West Coast festival circuit. During this time, he played with Marty Grosz, the Orphan Newsboys and Destiny’s Tots. His longest gig was at Milligan’s Bar & Grill in La Jolla, California leading a quartet.
Clarinetist and bandleader Bobby Gordon, who had been in poor health for years, transitioned from cardiopulmonary arrest on December 31, 2013.
More Posts: bandleader,clarinet,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Luther Thomas was born on June 23, 1950 in St. Louis, Missouri. Known for his free jazz playing and drawing from funk. Coming out of the Black Artists Group (BAG) of St. Louis in the late Sixties, he was one of the original voices from a scene that also bred such names as Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, Baikida Carroll, John Zorn and Joseph Bowie.
Luther played in the Human Arts Ensemble with Charles Bobo Shaw in the 1970s, and led a group called Dizzazz in the early 1980s. He played saxophone for James Chance and the Contortions.
As a leader he had recording sessions from the early 1970s he has recorded eleven albums. They have been reissued on CD as part of Atavistic Records’ Unheard Music Series. In 1998 he settled in Denmark and became a cult musician in Christiania Freetown, performing there weekly.
Alto saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Luther Thomas was a completely intuitive improvisor and a free spirit who reached a level of intensity on the saxophone reached by very few others, transitioned at the age of 59 on September 8, 2009 in Denmark.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Thomas “Bones” Malone was born June 16, 1947 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He began playing professionally as lead trumpeter for Brenda Lee at a club in Jackson, Mississippi while enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi. In response to a call from Warren Covington, leader of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, he began contracting musicians. After transferring to North Texas State University, Malone continued working as both a player and a contractor for groups. He graduated from North Texas State University with Lou Marini, and both were members of the One O’Clock Lab Band at North Texas.
After graduation, he worked in bands of Woody Herman in 1969, and during the early Seventies he worked with Duke Pearson, Louie Bellson, Doc Severinsen, Frank Zappa, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. In 1973, Malone began a close, fifteen-year association with Gil Evans, whom he has called a mentor. He recorded albums with Evans and toured Europe, Japan, and the Far East. In 1975 Malone toured with Billy Cobham and in 1976 with The Band.
From 1975 to 1985 he worked as arranger for Saturday Night Live and from 1981 to 1985 as musical director. He wrote the chart for the skit that introduced John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the Blues Brothers and worked on the film score for Blues Brothers 2000. He joined the CBS Orchestra in 1993, and contributed more than 1,600 arrangements to the Late Show with David Letterman.
As a studio musician, he has been heard on more than 1,000 records, more than 3000 radio and television commercials, and over 4,000 live television shows. In 2007 Bones was invited by music director Geoffrey Moull to arrange and perform a concert with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. In 2011 Malone was a guest artist with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.
Trombonist, arranger, and producer Tom Malone, who also plays saxophone, trumpet, tuba, flute, and bass guitar, continues to expand his creative reach.
More Posts: bass guitar,flute,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone,trombone,trumpet,tuba