Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lyle David Mays was born November 27, 1953 in Wausaukee, Wisconsin. While growing up he had four main interests: chess, mathematics, architecture, and music. His mother played piano and organ, and his father taught himself to play guitar by ear. His teacher allowed him to practice improvisation after the structured elements of each lesson were completed. At the age of nine, he played the organ at a family member’s wedding, and fourteen he began to play in church. During his senior year of high school he was introduced to jazz pianist Marian McPartland.
He attended the University of North Texas where he composed and arranged for the One O’Clock Lab Band and was the composer and arranger for the Grammy Award-nominated album Lab 75. After leaving the University of North Texas, Mays toured the US and Europe with Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd.
In 1975 he met Pat Metheny at the Wichita Jazz Festival, with whom he soon co-founded the Pat Metheny Group. Mays had an extraordinary career as a core musical architect and sound designer of the group for more than three decades. The group had 23 Grammy nominations, winning the award 11 times.
In 2010 Lyle decided to retire from public music performance and became a software development manager because of changes in the music industry. He composed and recorded children’s audiobooks, composed several contemporary classical pieces and formed his own band.
As an amateur architect, he was influenced by fellow Wisconsinian, Frank Lloyd Wright and designed his own house, home studio, and his sister’s house. Mays brought intellectual and organic architectural concepts in his music and sound design based on the innovative integration of many different sources to create a completely new soundscape.
He recorded seven as a leader, two as member of the One O’Clock Lab Band and 14 with the Pat Metheny Band, and as a sideman, seventeen. Mays won eleven Grammys as a member of the Pat Metheny Group and whose important influences were the 1968 recordings of Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival and Filles de Kilimanjaro by Miles Davis
Pianist and composer Lyle Mays, who was posthumously awarded the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition in 2022 for his composition Eberhard, transitioned in Los Angeles, California on February 10, 2020 at age 66.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Bianculli was born on November 20, 1956 in New York City, New York and grew up in Greenwich Village across from the Village Vanguard. A self taught pianist, he received much of his training playing the jazz circuit from New York to Washington D.C.
A versatile musician and composer, his original music is a unique blend of jazz, Latin, Brazilian, rhythm and blues, and world music. John’s song Bittersweet made the Contemporary Jazz Charts top-ten list. He composed the score for the film Lit’l Boy Grown.
Bianculli has held the piano seat in the rhythm section for both Steve Nelson and Jeanie Bryson for over 10 years. He has enjoyed residencies at the Hyatt Regency for 19 years, the New York Hilton for 2 years, as well as numerous clubs, concerts, festivals, television and radio performances.
As a sideman he has worked with Cassandra Wilson, Terence Blanchard, Regina Belle, Christy Baron, Charlie Rouse, Bobby Watson, James Spaulding, Jimmy Ponder, Bill Hardman and Earl May.
Pianist and composer John Bianculli continues to pursue his musical endeavors.
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Requisites
Blowin’ The Blues Away ~ The Horace Silver Quintet and Trio | By Eddie Carter
It’s always a pleasure listening to Horace Silver, and one of my favorite albums by the arranger, composer, and pianist became the inspiration for this morning’s discussion. Blowin’ The Blues Away (Blue Note BLP 4017/BST 84017) by The Horace Silver Quintet and Trio is Horace’s ninth album as a leader and one of the best in his extensive discography. He composed all the selections, and his supporting cast on this date are Blue Mitchell on trumpet (tracks: A1, A3, A4, B1, B2), Junior Cook on tenor sax (A1, A3, A4, B1, B2), Eugene Taylor on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. My copy is the 2008 Classic Records U.S. deep groove Mono audiophile reissue sharing the original catalog number.
Side One is off to the races with the title tune, Blowin’ The Blues Away. The quintet is firing on all cylinders from the start of their lively theme. Junior takes the first solo in high gear. Blue keeps the velocity up in the following reading, and then Horace delivers an exhilarating statement. Both horns add the exclamation point in a vigorous exchange, leading to the ensemble’s closing chorus and quick stop. The trio makes the first of two appearances in The St. Vitus Dance and establishes a happy beat in the melody. Horace radiates an infectious enthusiasm as the song’s only soloist into the reprise and exit.
The quintet takes a quick trip to Break City next, beginning with their swift melody. Junior gets the solos underway with a speedy interpretation. Blue accelerates with riveting urgency in the second statement. Horace rips through the third reading, and Hayes travels toward the song’s brisk conclusion in a conversation with the front line. Peace is a very pretty ballad that opens with the ensemble’s soft, sultry melody. Blue begins with a beautifully tasteful lead statement. Horace completes the solos with a tenderly passionate performance ahead of the group’s gentle theme restatement and climax.
Side Two starts with the ensemble taking us to church to meet Sister Sadie, starting with an infectious theme. Blue gets into a funky groove on the lead solo, followed by Junior, who wails with authority next. Horace captures the song’s pure goodness in the third statement, and the front line’s final sermon leads us out of the church into the closing chorus. Baghdad Blues begins with a Middle Eastern flavor in the introduction before the quintet changes gears for the bluesy melody. Junior has the first say and gives a marvelous interpretation. Blue shares a few thoughts of his own in the second solo, and Horace feels right at home, leading to the reprise and exit.
Melancholy Mood is the album’s second trio number and was first heard on Further Explorations by The Horace Silver Quintet. Like its predecessor, this rendition expresses the pianist’s softer emotions in the gentle melody. Horace gives a poignantly beautiful performance enhanced by the rhythm section’s tender accompaniment ahead of the close. Alfred Lion produced Blowin’ The Blues Away, and Rudy Van Gelder was the recording engineer. Bernie Grundman remastered the Classic Records audiophile reissue, and the record was pressed on 200 grams of Quiex SV-P Handmade Super Vinyl.
The reissue’s sound quality is excellent, with a superb soundstage that brings the musicians to your listening room with stunning definition. Horace Silver spent twenty-five years at Blue Note from 1955 to 1980, and some of his greatest work appears on the label. If you’re a fan of Mr. Silver or are just discovering his music, I offer for your consideration Blowin’ The Blues Away by The Horace Silver Quintet and Trio. It’s a wonderful hard bop album you can enjoy anytime that gets better with repeated listening. I am happy to have it in my library, and I highly recommend it for yours!
~ Further Explorations by The Horace Silver Quintet (Blue Note BLP 1589/BST 81589) – Source: Discogs.com © 2023 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Neil James Sinclair Swainson was born November 15, 1955 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He started his career in his hometown when he supported visiting American musicians Herb Ellis, Barney Kessell, and Sonny Stitt, among others. In 1976 he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia and after playing with the Paul Horn Quintet, he led a band for two years. He moved to Toronto, Quebec in 1977
In the 1980s he played with local and visiting acts including Tommy Flanagan, Rob McConnell, Ed Bickert, Slide Hampton, James Moody, Jay McShann, Moe Koffman, Lee Konitz, Joe Farrell, George Coleman, and Woody Shaw. He went on to collaborate with Woody Shaw appearing on two of his recordings: In My Own Sweet Way and Solid. He toured with Shaw often in New York City and on many European tours.
A collaboration between Swainson and pianist George Shearing would form in 1986, after he replaced Don Thompson in 1988. Their relationship continued until Shearing’s passing in 201 and during their time together they toured across North America, Great Britain, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan. They played with musicians including Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Diana Krall, Robert Farnon and Mel Tormé.
Together the two recorded eight recordings and he recorded his own album; 49th Parallel on Concord Jazz in 1987. His recordings feature Woody Shaw on trumpet, and Joe Henderson on saxophone along with numerous other musicians such as Jay McShann, Geoff Keezer, Doc Cheatham, Sam Noto, Don Thompson, Peter Leitch, Pat LaBarbera, Joe LaBarbera, Rob McConnell, Ed Bickert, Lorne Lofsky, Kirk MacDonald and JMOG, a cooperative band featuring, Kevin Dean and Pat LaBarbera.
Swainson has also recently toured worldwide with the singer Roberta Gambarini and as well with pianist Gene DiNovi in Japan. As an educator he works at Humber College as a professor in the Bass department after receiving a music degree. Bassist Neil Swainson continues to compose music and freelance in Toronto.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Benitez was born on November 12, 1956 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and his family moved to Europe soon after his birth for his father’s work. Raised in Italy and Spain, the family returned to the U.S. when he was nine and settled in Brooklyn, New York. He formed his first band at age twelve and began competing and winning local battles of the bands in Brooklyn. It was at one such battle of the bands where he was discovered by an AR person from Fania Records. Soon after the teenage guitarist was signed to the label.
Playing his first concert at Marcala la paz Honduras in front of 20,000 fans soon after joining the label in 1976, his performance with his band Nebula and the Fania All Stars marked the beginning of his early rise to fame as a guitarist. His debut release Nightlife was followed six months later with Essence of Life. He would later perform with such stars as Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaría.
His musical style began with Latin jazz as part of the Fania family, and would later incorporate smooth jazz and world music styles. His performing career came to a sudden halt at the age of 23 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, changing his life forever. Surviving cancer he took time off to reflect on life and spirituality and throughout his life Benitez has claimed to have had many spiritual visions, including those that occurred while overcoming a heart attack and an unexplained three-day coma.
He returned to performing with a private concert in Phoenix, Arizona in 2003 and it was there that reports that some in attendance saw mysterious beings, some would claim they were angels, on the stage with Benitez when he performed. That event gave rise to the title of his book and his tour.
Guitarist Eddie Benitez transitioned on January 17, 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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