Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Teodross Avery was born on July 2, 1973 and grew up in Oakland and Vacaville, California. Exposed to a wide range of music by his parents, at ten he began his training with classical guitar. However after hearing Coltrane’s Giant Steps he switched to saxophone and it was Wynton Marsalis who bought him a saxophone as a testament to his young promise. At 17 he won a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music.
Two years into Berklee the young saxophonist was heard by Carl Griffin of GRP/Impulse who signed him at age 19, launching his first album In Other Words to critical acclaim. This brought to national attention and demand by the likes of Aretha Franklin and Ramsey Lewis among others. Graduating in 1995 he moved to New York, landed a performance spot in the film Love Jones, released his sophomore project My Generation and worked with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove, Leela James, Roy Ayers, Mos Def, and Betty Carter. By the end of the decade he was touring with Lauryn Hill and Matchbox Twenty
As a composer and producer, Teo has collaborated on such feature films as Beauty Shop and Brown Sugar, the documentary The N Word, has written music for Amy Winehouse, and appeared on numerous television shows like American Idol, Ellen Degeneres, Saturday Night Live and others. He has been a part of Grammy winning recordings, and recipient of the Advancement In The Arts Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship and the Sony Innovator Award. With five albums as a leader and several more as a sideman, saxophonist Teodross Avery continues to perform, compose, tour and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nasheet Waits was born on June 15, 1971 in New York City, the son of legendary drummer Freddie Waits, and learned to play the drums as a child. Before pursuing a music career, he studied psychology and history at Morehouse College. Transferring to Long Island University, he graduated with a degree in music but during his matriculation, in 1970, drummer and instructor Michael Carvin, who laid a great foundation for Waits, secured him a spot in Max Roach’s M’Boom.
Waits has recorded or performed as a sideman with such talents as Fred Hersch, Antonio Hart, Joe Lovano, Jason Moran, Andrew Hill, Bunky Green, William Parker, Eddie Gomez, John Medeski, Ron Carter, Hamiett Bluiett, Steve Coleman, Bill Lee, Jackie McLean and Mark Turner among others.
Acquiring the moniker “Heavy” as a part of his jazz legacy, Nasheet has been active on the jazz scene since 1993 and delivered his first album as a leader in 2009, titled “Equality”. Waits has recorded and toured extensively in Africa, Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States. Amidst all of that, Nasheet teaches private lessons to youth and adults, stressing a personal approach to the drums and music and remains dedicated to exploring his role and creative path in music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Winard Harper was born Hiram Winard Harper on June 4, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland and started beating on cans at age three and his natural affinity was encouraged by his father. By age five he was making guest nightclub appearances with his older brother Danny’s band. It was his hearing of the Clifford Brown/Max Roach recording that sealed his inspiration to play jazz.
Harper’s first major gig was in 1982 with Dexter Gordon, followed by Johnny Griffin and then spent four years with Betty Carter. It was with the later that he learned much about the music business, preparing him to be a bandleader and giving him the inside track on bookings. This experience gave him the foundation to launch The Harper Brothers along with his brother Philip, and a few of the hottest young talents of the Nineties – Justin Robinson, Javon Jackson, Walter Blanding, Kioshi Kitagawa, Stephen Scott, Kevin Hayes, Michael Bowie and Nedra Wheeler.
The Harper Brothers recorded four albums prior to the dissolution of the band and Winard went on to record seven albums to date as a leader. He has played the sideman to Avery Sharpe, Ray Bryant, Abdullah Ibrahim, Pharoah Sanders, Clifford Jordan, Steve Turre, Joe Lovano, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath and Wycliffe Gordon. Since the turn of the century the drummer, composer and bandleader continues to perform, tour and record with his own sextet.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ian Shaw was born June 2, 1962 in St. Asaph, Wales and received his music degree from the University of London. He began his professional career singing in the 1980s on the Alternative Cabaret Circuit, while playing in piano bars and at festivals in London and throughout Europe.
In 1990 he began touring Europe and recording with fellow singer Carol Grimes, ultimately collaborating with Claire Martin, Linda Lewis, Liane Carroll and Sarah Jane Morris. By mid-decade he was a regular performing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and two albums on the club’s Jazzhouse label – Ghosthouse and a Rodgers & Hart tribute Taking It To Hart.
In 1996, Shaw led his own “Very Big Band” on a UK tour and by the late 90s he was performing regularly in USA. In 1999 he released In A New York Minute the first of two albums on the Milestone label, followed by Soho Stories in 2001. He has worked with Cedar Walton, Lew Soloff and Eric Alexander. His next release in 2003, A World Still Turning saw him working with Billy Childs, Peter Washington and Mark Murphy.
Ian continues to work regularly with Claire Martin, co-hosting the 2004 BBC Jazz Awards and appearing on the BBC’s Big Band Special. He won in the Best Jazz Vocalist category at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2004 and 2007. He has cut three more albums – Drawn To All Things, Lifejacket and Somewhere Towards Love. In 2011 Splashpoint Records released The Abbey Road Sessions where Shaw backed by a band. Shaw continues to perform regularly at festivals and jazz clubs in the UK and around the world, has delved into film acting and mounting a one-man show.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Darrell Grant was born on May 30, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but his family moved to Denver, Colorado while still a young child. He started piano lessons before his teens and was considered enough of a prodigy to join and tour for two years with the Boulder-based Pearl Street Jazz Band, from the age of fifteen.
At 17 Grant won a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and while at Eastman focused on performance studies over theory, which he covered in his graduate studies in jazz theory and composition at the University of Miami.
Relocating to New York in the mid-’80s, Grant concentrated on a series of low-profile sideman gigs with the likes of Betty Carter, Chico Freeman and Greg Osby before finally stepping out as a bandleader for the first time. His 1994 Black Art was well received and reviewed and sold respectably, and his sophomore project The New Bop was an even bigger critical success.
He has recorded for 32 Jazz, Criss Cross, Monarch, Lair Hill and Origin record labels, has relocated to the Pacific Northwest and has added teaching credits to his resume of performance, composition and bandleader and sideman in Tony Williams’ quintet as he continues in the tradition of bop and post-bop jazz.
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