Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bruce David Gertz was born on December 15, 1952 in Providence, Rhode Island. He first learned to play guitar, then switched to bass guitar as a teenager, playing with local blues and rock groups.
He studied music formally at New England College and Berklee College of Music in the 1970s. After graduating from Berklee in 1976 he taught music there; he is now a professor of music. He worked with George Garzone in the Overtones in the late Seventies and was a co-leader of ensembles with Jerry Bergonzi from 1978 to 1989.
He has worked with Mike Stern both in the Bergonzi ensembles and with Stern’s own quartet. From 1982 to 1985 he was house bassist for the Willow Jazz Cafe in Somerville, Massachusetts. In the 1990s he worked with John Abercrombie, Joey Calderazzo, Ken Cervenka, Adam Nussbaum, Danilo Perez, Dan Reiser, Kurt Rosenwinkel, George Schuller, and others.
Double and electric bassist Bruce Gertz continues to perform.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Karen Street was born on December 13, 1959 in the United Kingdom (UK) and started playing the accordion at the age of 7. She went on to study at Bath University, RWMCD and in London, England with the late Ivor Beynon, a pioneer of the classical accordion. She studied music at Welsh College of Music and Drama and Guildhall School of Music. She became the British Virtuoso Champion in 1981/2 and competed in the Coupe Mondiale World Championship in Hamburg, Germany and Folkstone, UK.
Karen has created a niche for herself in the UK jazz scene and is a regular member of Mike Westbrook’s groups, works with Tim Garland as well as part of Lammas playing alongside Geoff Keezer, Joe Locke and Avishai Cohen.
As a saxophonist Street was a member of the all girl saxophone quartet The Fairer Sax and is now a member and co-leader of Saxtet with her husband Andy Tweed.
Karen’s composing is specialized by writing music for the saxophone, from solos to large ensembles. Her composition for solo accordion, In The Ballroom With The Rope, took first prize at the London Accordion Festival, Composition Competition in 2001. The same year she released her debut recording, Finally A Beginning.
Besides jazz, Karen has played across genres with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Grace Jones, Andrea Bocelli, Kate Westbrook, BBC Philharmonic, Icebreaker, and the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour band for three seasons.
Accordionist, saxophonist and flutist Karen Street is currently a freelance musician playing across a wide variety of genres.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Les Fish was born on November 24, 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts. As a teenager in the 1970s he was into rock and played guitar in various bands throughout the greater Boston area. He performed jazz-rock influenced original compositions in shows from the North Shore to Cape Cod.
Enrolling at Berklee College of Music, Fish studied and formed his own jazz fusion group, and made money splitting his time between teaching guitar, nightclub gigs and recording jingles for local television stations. After Berklee and studying with jazz guitar greats Mick Goodrick and Barry Galbraith, he met his future wife Lori Starr and formed the band Amante.
Touring full time for eighteen years with Amante, they worked at top hotels around the world and still performs throughout New England. The inspiration for the recording, Les Fish and The Latin Jazz Cats came three years ago, when he was touring in Cuba.
Returning from Cuba, Les returned home to seek out the best musicians to transfer his vision into reality.. At Berklee he recruited two-time Latin Grammy winning bassist Oscar Stagnaro, saxophonist George Garzone, pianist Osmany Paredes, his son Lee on drums and percussionist and bandleader Eguie Castrillo.
He has performed with many artists including Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, Steve Winwood, Danilo Perez, Warren Wolf, Gary Burton, Julian Lage, John Ellis, David Gilmore and Ryan Scott, among others. Guitarist Les Fish continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Francesca Tanksley was born November 21, 1957 in Vincenza, Italy but grew up in Munich, Germany where she studied music from the age of seven. Moving to Boston, Massachusetts at 16, she studied piano and composition at Berklee College Of Music.
Two years later she returned to Munich. In 1980 she moved to New York City where she worked with Melba Liston until 1983, then she joined Billy Harper’s quintet with whom she toured extensively.
She has worked with Clifford Jordan, Cecil Payne, Bill Hardman and Erica Lindsay. She leads her own quintet and co-leads the Erica Lindsay/ Howard Johnson Quintet. As an educator she has been on the faculty of the New School, Berklee College. She has facilitated workshops and masterclasses at University of Southern California at Santa Cruz, Hampton University, Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute, Arizona State University, and Bard College.
Pianist Francesca Tanksley, who is a composer and educator, continues to perform and compose.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Scot Albertson was born on November 20, 1957 and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut. Early childhood saw him as a choir member of the Little Singers of Norwalk and would travel, sing and compete internationally with the choir for six years. After graduating college he served for six years as a police officer segueing for a year in Arizona on border patrol. Returning to Connecticut he started a very successful small business which sustained his lifestyle for nineteen years.
In 2000 he began taking vocal lessons with Richard Lissemore in New York City. Four and one half years later after intensive study, Scot released his debut album titled Got A Date With Fate with bassist Mark Egan, drummer Danny Gottlieb and producer, composer and pianist Jon Werking. Showcasing the music in 2005 at Danny’s Skylight Cabaret Room in New York City began his life as a career performer.
Since his debut performance, vocalist Scot Albertson has gone on to continue to perform around the city and metropolitan area.
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