Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Fred Norman was born on October 5, 1910 in Leesburg, Florida. After attending Howard University,  in Washington, DC he joined the Claude Hopkins band in 1932. Touring with the group as both a trombonist and singer for much of the 1930s, he notably recorded his own composition, Church Street Sobbin’ Blues, as the trombone soloist with the band in 1937 for Decca Records. He also appeared in short films with the Hopkins band during the 1930s.

Moving away from performance in 1938 he went on to work as a full-time music arranger. The late Thirties and 1940s saw him writing arrangements for Bunny Berigan, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Teddy Powell, Artie Shaw, Charlie Spivak, and Jack Teagarden.

In the 1950s he was the music director and arranger for multiple records made by the singers Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. He continued to work as an arranger until his retirement in the 1970s.

Composer, arranger, trombonist, and vocalist Fred Norman died on February 19, 1993 in New York City.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Francisco “Chino” Pozo was born on October 4, 1915 in Havana, Cuba. An autodidact on piano and bass, he concentrated on bongos, congas, and drums before leaving his home for greener pastures. Moving to the United States in 1937, he played with Machito from 1941–43 and with the Jack Cole Dancers from 1943-1949.

In the Fifties he went on to play in numerous jazz ensembles, especially latin jazz and Afro-Cuban jazz. He performed and/or recorded with Jose Curbelo, Noro Morales, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Enric Madriguera, Perez Prado, Josephine Premice, Tadd Dameron, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie.

He toured with Peggy Lee in 1954-55 and played with Stan Kenton in 1955, Herbie Mann in 1956, Xavier Cugat and René Touzet in 1959.

He also recorded with Illinois Jacquet, Phineas Newborn, Gábor Szabó, Paul Anka, Justo Betancourt, Harry Betts, Fats Navarro, Eddie Palmieri, Johnny Richards, A. K. Salim, Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Chico O’Farrill, Julius Watkins and Charlie Rouse.

Drummer Chino Pozo, whose claim to be the cousin of Chano Pozo has been disputed, died on April 28, 1980 in New York City.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ronald Wayne Laws was born on October 3, 1950 and raised in Houston, Texas. He is the fifth of eight children and started playing the saxophone at the age of 11. He went on to attend Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, for two years.

In 1971 he journeyed to Los Angeles, California to embark upon a musical career. He started performing with trumpeter Hugh Masekela and the following year joined Earth, Wind & Fire, where he played saxophone and flute on their album Last Days and Time. Eighteen months later he decided to become a solo artist. Laws released his debut album Pressure Sensitive on Blue Note Records in 1975.

His first two albums charted on Billboard and by his third album, Friends and Strangers in 1977 was certified gold. Ronnie produced and sang on his sister Debra’s 1981 album Very Special. He would go on to play saxophone through the Eighties on albums by Ramsey Lewis, Sister Sledge, Deniece Williams, Jeff Lorber, Alphonse Mouzon, and Howard Hewett. In the 1990s he recorded with Norman Brown and again with Earth, Wind & Fire.

Saxophonist, flutist and vocalist Ronnie Laws, who has also worked with Guru, Brian Culbertson, and the Crusaders, also influenced  Boney James and Norman Brown, and continues to explore the boundaries of his talent.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Celia Malheiros was born on October 2, 1960 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and from early childhood she was immersed inthe world of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. She was introduced to the schools of samba, bossa nova, choro, baião, frevo and indigenous music, as well as Tropicália and political revolutionary movements.

By 18 she was completely supporting herself through music she composed, playing at festivals, theatrical productions, nightclubs, radio and TV shows. She scored films, taught music and led bands to perform her music.

Moving to the U.S. she settled in San Francisco, California where she performed and competed in street carnaval, winning numerous awards. Malheiros spent thirteen years as the music director, arranger and performer with the Brazilian All Star Big Band with Elza Soares, Emilinha Borba and Walter Wanderley. She went on to tour the U.S. opening for the likes of Tony Benett, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Santana and Ray Charles.

Touring internationally as a solo artist and leading her band tRIO, she has accepted commissions by the Wheaton College Choir and the Akat Dance Company. Celia lectures, holds clinics and master classes around the world. She has been a composer in residence at the OMI International Music Program in New York City and artist in residence twice at Massachusetts’ Wheaton College.

Ever vigilant about bringing awareness to the plight of the Amazon’s indigenous and forest, her latest album is also a one woman show. She has more than 50 musicians on each of her albums. Vocalist Celia Malheiros is writing her memoirs.

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Jazz Poems

ART PEPPER

It’s the broken phrases, the fury inside him.

Squiggling alto saxophone playing out rickets

And jaundice, a mother who tried to kill him

In her womb with a coat hanger, a faltering

God-like father. The past is a bruised cloud

Floating over the houses like a prophecy,

The terrible foghorns off the shore at San Pedro.

Lightning without thunder. Years without playing.

Years of blowing out smoke and inhaling fire,

Junk and cold turkey, smacking up, the habit

Of cooking powder in spoons, the eyedroppers,

The spikes. Tracks on both arms. Tattoos.

The hospital cells at Fort Worth, the wire cages

In the L.A. County, the hole at San Quentin.

And always the blunt instrument of sex, the pain

Bubbling up inside him like a wound, the small

Deaths. The wind piercing the sheer skin

Of a dark lake at dawn. The streets at 5 a.m.

After a cool rain. The smoky blue clubs.

The chords of Parker, of Young, of Coltrane.

Playing solo means going on alone, improvising,

Hitting the notes, ringing the changes,

It’s clipped phrasing and dry ice in summer,

Straining against the rhythms, speeding it up,

Loping forward and looping back, finding the curl

In the wave, the mood in the air. It’s

Splintered tones and furious double timing.

It’s leaving the other instruments on stage

And blowing freedom into the night, into the faces

Of emptiness that peer along the bar, ghosts

Shallow hulls of nothingness, Hatred of God.

Hatred of white skin that never turns black.

Hatred of Patti, of Dianne, of Christine.

A daughter who grew up without him, a stranger.

Years of being strung out, years without speaking.

Pauses and intervals, silence. A fog rolling

Across the ocean, foghorns in the distance.

A lighthouse rising from the underworld.

A moon swelling in the clouds, an informer,

A twisted white mouth of light. Scars carved

And criscrossed on his chest. The memory

Of nodding out, the dazed drop-off into sleep.

And then the curious joy of surviving, joy

Of waking up in a dusky room to a gush

Of fresh notes, a tremoring sheet of sound.

Jamming again. Careening through the scales

For the creatures who haunt the night.

Bopping through the streets in a half-light

With Laurie on his arm, a witness, a believer.

The night is going to burst inside him.

The wind is going to break loose forever

From his lungs. It’s the fury of improvising,

Of going on alone. It’s the fierce clarity

Of each note coming to an end, distinct,

Glistening. The alto’s full-bodied laughter

The white grief-stricken wail.

EDWARD HIRSCH

from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young

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