Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jemeel Moondoc was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 5, 1946 and studied clarinet and piano before settling on saxophone at sixteen. He became interested in jazz largely due to Cecil Taylor and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and was a student of Taylor’s.
After his time at the university he moved to New York City, where he founded “Ensemble Muntu” with William Parker, Roy Campbell, Jr., and Rashid Bak. The group had its own Muntu record label, but eventually faced financial difficulties.
In 1984, he formed the Jus Grew Orchestra, which secured a residency at the Neither/Nor club on the Lower East Side. He worked with Parker again in 1998’s album, New World Pygmies.
Alto saxophonist, clarinetist and pianist Jemeel Moondoc, a proponent of a highly improvisational style, died on August 29, 2021, at the age of 75 from the effects of sickle cell anemia.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Adrian Tilbrook was born on July 20, 1948 in Hartlepool, Co. Durham, England. The son of a tenor saxophone/clarinet player, he studied drums for two years with Max Abrams. In 1974 he replaced Tony Hicks in the blues-influenced rock trio Back Door and toured extensively in Germany and the UK in the 70s with British blues giant Alexis Korner.
Tilbrook formed Full Circle with trombonist Rick Taylor in 1984 and ventured into jazz. Throughout his freelance career, played with many American musicians, including Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis, Al Grey, James Moody, Jimmy Witherspoon and Al Casey, as well as British artists such as Ian Carr, Allan Holdsworth, Don Weller and Stan Tracey.
A powerful and tasteful technician, he has been influenced by Elvin Jones and Billy Higgins. Drummer Adrian Tilbrook, who has taught percussion for many years and since 1986 has worked with Northern Arts/Yorkshire Arts as Jazz Development Officer based at Jazz Action in Darlington, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frederick Walker was born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 16, 1942. He received his high school equivalency from the United State Armed Forces Institute, then went on to study criminal justice for two years from 1873 to 1975 at St. Louis Community College.
In 1980, Fred founded Star City/St. Louis Records and produced two 45 releases with the Nightwind Band titled Later For That and Why Can’t We. He eventually formed Star City Enterprise encompassing Star City Productions, Star City/St. Louis Records and Saxy Jazz.
His Star City Productions deals with the production of recorded music and the small studio offers digital recording capabilities, CD label production, graphic design and other services related to the production of recorded sound. It also offers copyright registration assistance, music society membership, ISRC encoding and much more.
Soprano and alto saxophonist Fred Walker continues to perform, record and grow his company with new individuals and groups signing on.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Luciano Milanese was born on Juy 15, 1950 in Genoa, Italy. Little is known about his family life during his early years, however, he learned to play the bass during his formative years. Over the course of his continual career he went on to play in Italy with numerous American jazz musicians including Harry “Sweets” Edison, Art Farmer, Chet Baker,Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Johnny Griffin, Sal Nistico, James Moody, George Coleman, Steve Grossman, Slide Hampton, Ray Bryant, Kenny Drew, Walter Bishop, Barney Kessel, Joe Pass, Louis Hayes, Alvin Queen, and Bobby Durham, to name a few.
Bassist Luciano Milanese currently continues to perform and record with important Italian musicians like Gianni Basso, Andrea Pozza, Dado Moroni, Tullio De Piscopo.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hank Johnson was born Stuart H. Tresser on July 14, 1949 in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York. He began piano study early in life at age three with Mrs. Henryetta Klein as his first piano teacher. Graduating from George W. Wingate High School in 1967, he continued his education and in 1970 was awarded an AAS Degree in Graphic Arts and Advertising Technology, from New York City Community College. In 1973 a BFA degree was awarded from New York Institute of Technology, with a major in Communication Arts.
He continued his private piano instruction with classical pianist Ms. Malady, who taught piano at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. He also received lessons fromMorty Kessler, and Morty Reed, a showband pianist in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as from Horace Parlan and Teddy Wilson..
Hank learned to write music, and developed the friendship and guidance of Ray Cox, who worked for Machito, as a copyist and arranger. In 1977 Johnson had replaced Jimmy Nottingham’s trio at the Village Door Restaurant and Supper Club in Jamaica, Queens, New York. It was at the Village Door that he got the hands-on experience that ignited his passion to be the best piano player.
He founded the independent record label Jazzbone Records. Presently pianist Hank Johnson is the Director of Tresser Printing Office, a security printer, and a division of Tresser Music, music publishers.
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