Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Paul Hession was born on September 19, 1956 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England where his parents bought him a guitar when he was seven and encouraged his musical development by getting him in the church choir. His first paid gigs were weddings. He started playing drums around fourteen and was mainly self taught working himself through the different musical genres until he reached jazz.

After several years of playing jazz he turned to free improvisation and formed Art, Bart & Fargo with saxophonists Alan Wilkinson and Peter Malham. While living in London, England he played with numerous improvisers and formed a trio with Chris Green and Roberto Bellatalla. Returning to Leeds in the mid-Eighties he continued playing and running music workshops.

By the time he turned thirty he made a solo recording and tour and continued to play and record solo. He started working with electroacoustic dimensions as a soloist. Hession went on to run the Improvised Music Workshop in the late 1980s and a decade later founded Improvised Music Leeds, a workshop that was founded to teach drumming to youth.

Paul created his next trio, Hession/Wilkinson/Fell which became his most prolific group. They recorded for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and broadcast on the radio program Two New Hours. He toured the United States and parts of Canada before returning to Europe and playing several cities and festivals.

In 2018 he received his doctorate from the University of Leeds for research into augmenting solo percussion with analogue and digital electronics. Another trio later with Hans Peter Hilby and Michael Bardon, he remains active.

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Jazz Poems

ALABAMA, c. 1963: 

But

Shouldn’t this state have a song?

Long, gliding figures of my breath

Of breath

Lost?

Somebody can’t sing

Because somebody’s gone

Somebody can’t sing

Because somebody’s gone.

Shouldn’t this landscape

Hold a true anthem

What

You can’t do?

Whom

You can’t invent?

Where

You can’t stay?

Why

You won’t keep it?

But

Shouldn’t this state

Have a song?

And shall we call it

My face will murder me?

And shall we call it

I’m not waiting?

CORNELIUS EADY

from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Earl Klugh was born September 16, 1953 in  Detroit, Michigan. At the age of six he started training on the piano but switched to the guitar at ten. By 13, he was captivated by the guitar of Chet Atkins when he made an appearance on the Perry Como Show.

His first recording was at age 15 on Yusef Lateef’s Suite 16. He played on George Benson’s White Rabbit album and two years later, in 1973, joined his touring band. He has performed as a guest on several of Atkins’ albums, who has reciprocated as well, joining Klugh on his Magic In Your Eyes album.

He and Bob James received a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1981 for their album One on One. Klugh has recorded over 30 albums, including twenty-three top ten charting records, with five hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Jazz Album chart.

Each spring, Klugh hosts an event called Weekend of Jazz, featuring jazz musicians at the Broadmoor Hotel & Resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The weekend attracts a host of famous musicians and vocalists.

Guitarist and composer Earl Klugh, who was influenced by Bob James, Ray Parker Jr, Wes Montgomery and Laurindo Almeida, has received 13 Grammy nominations, continues to compose, perform and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joëlle Léandre was born September 12, 1951 in Aix-en-Provence, France on Opera Street across from a theatre. She studied the standard double-bass repertoire intensively in her hometown conservatory and at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. By her late teens she was subbing in the bass sections of large classical ensembles. Drawn to Paris jazz clubs, she wasn’t involved in the scene because her pizzicato playing off-putting the jazz field’s standard.

Her appreciation of improvisation came from her chance discovery of Bowin’ Swingin’ Slam, by swing bassist Slam Stewart. Around the same time Joëlle received a one-year scholarship to study at the Center for Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo, New York. Not only was she exposed daily to serious music from composers and travelled to New York to listen to improvisers.

She began her career in the early 1970s when she was still a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, France. She studied with renowned bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse and developed a unique style that fused avant-garde jazz with classical music. In 1974, she formed the ensemble Musica Elettronica Viva with Italian composer and electronic musician Luciano Berio.

Collaborating with many on the avant-garde jazz scene including John Cage, Anthony Braxton, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, George E. Lewis, India Cooke, Steve Lacy, Sylvie Courvoisier, John Zorn and Cecil Taylor, among others. She is also a founding member of the improvising trio Fish Music with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Barry Guy. Aside from performing as a soloist, her bands have been trio, quartet configurations.

In 1983 she became a member of the European Women Improvising Group (EWIG), which evolved from the Feminist Improvising Group. In the early 1990s she co-founded the feminist improvising trio Les Diaboliques, with Irène Schweizer and Maggie Nicols.

Double bassist, vocalist, and composer Joëlle Léandre remains active in new music, avant~garde and free improvisation.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Vinnie Cutro was born in New Jersey on September 9, 1953 and received his formal musical training throughout his formative years. He continued his education at New Jersey University, receiving his B.A in Music Education, then got his Masters in Jazz Performance from New York University. He furthered his studies in jazz composition, classical studies, jazz arranging and counterpoint with Dr. Tom Boras and Jim McNeely.

His working education began as a freelance musician in the New York City area. During the past 30 years Vinnie has performed with Horace Silver, Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton. During his tenure with the latter he performed guest appearances with various American symphonic orchestras.

He has traveled extensively throughout the world appearing at jazz festivals and concerts in Europe, Japan, Africa, Canada, South America and the U.S.A. Cutro’s debut release as a leader, Blues for the Optimist, came in 1995 and featured Bob Mintzer, Jim McNeely, Victor Jones, and Mike Richmond. His sophomore release, Aberration, features guitarist Mike Stern, trombonist Bob Farrel, bassist Martin Wind, Sarah Jane Cion on piano, Victor Jones on drums and pianist Mitch Schechter.

Trumpeter Vinnie Cutro continues to compose, record and perform in the New York City area with his new ensemble New York City Soundscape.

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