Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Fate Marable was born on December 2, 1890 in Paducah, Kentucky. His mother was a piano teacher who gave her son music lessons, both in reading music and playing piano. At the age of 17 he began playing on the Mississippi River steamboats. John and Joseph Streckfus hired him to replace their piano player, Charles Mills, who had accepted an engagement in New York City.

Later in 1907 he became bandleader for a paddlewheeler on the Streckfus Line running between New Orleans, Louisiana and St. Paul, Minnesota, a position he retained for 33 years. Later he spent late nights in New Orleans’ clubs scouting for talent and playing at jam sessions. There he discovered Louis Armstrong blowing cornet, and recruited him to play for his band on evening riverboat excursions cruising around the Crescent City.

As a bandleader, Marable shared the lessons from his mother with his musicians as many of the musicians he hired played by ear. He augmented their skills by teaching them to read music, and expected them all to learn how to play from sheet music on sight. His training boosted many of the musician’s careers when they were ready to move on. They went on to play with bandleaders such as Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Fats Waller, and Chick Webb.

Members of Marable’s bands were expected to be able to play a wide variety of music, from hot numbers to light classics, playing by memory or ear, and from sheet music. As a strict bandleader he demanded musical proficiency and rigid discipline from all his band members as they developed their individual strong points. His band served as an early musical education for many other players who would later become prominent in jazz, including Red Allen, Baby Dodds, Johnny Dodds, Pops Foster, Erroll Garner, Narvin Kimball, Al Morgan, Jimmy Blanton, Elbert Pee Wee Claybrook, Joe Poston, and Zutty Singleton.

Pianist and bandleader Fate Marable, who published the only original composition of his career, Barrell House Rag, co-written with Clarence Williams in 1916, transitioned from pneumonia in St. Louis, Missouri on January 16, 1947 at 56 years old.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ike Isaacs was born on December 1, 1919 in Rangoon, Burma and was self-taught on guitar. He started playing professionally in college while pursuing a degree in chemistry. Moving to England in 1946, he became a member of the BBC Show Band.

During the 1960s and Seventies, he was a member of the Hot Club of London, led by guitarist Diz Disley, who often collaborated with Stéphane Grappelli. He was a member of the band Velvet with Digby Fairweather, Len Skeat, and Denny Wright.

He recorded not only with Grappelli but with Ted Heath, Barney Kessel, Barry Gray, Jake Thackray, Martin Taylor and Stan Tracey. In the 1980s, he moved to Australia and taught at the Sydney School of Guitar.

Guitarist Ike Isaacs, best known for his work with violinist Stéphane Grappelli, transitioned from cancer on January 11, 1996 at the age of 76 in Sydney, Australia.

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jay Corre was born on Nov 30, 1924 and grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His interest in music began at five years old, when he started to experiment with various instruments, including the harmonica, violin and clarinet. He picked up the saxophone at age 14 and showed a natural ability for this instrument.

By the time he was sixteen he was playing dates at various clubs that made the shore area a virtual hot bed of fine jazz entertainment. Completing his music studies at the Atlantic City High School he played with the Alex Bartha Orchestra on the Steel Pier. After a stint in the US Navy Band, his discharge favored the opportunity to join the Raymond Scott Orchestra, featuring Dorothy Collins.

He joined the Buddy Rich Big Band before performing with Harry James, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, The Duke Ellington Band under Mercer Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and many more.

Tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger and jazz educator Jay Corre, whose influences were Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker, transitioned on Oct 26, 2014 in Stuart, Florida.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Bobby Donaldson was born Robert Stanley Donaldson on November 29, 1922 in Boston, Massachusetts. Early in his career he played with the Boston Symphony. After playing locally in the early 1940s, he played with Russell Procope while serving in the Army in New York City.

In 1946–47 Bobby worked with Cat Anderson. Following this stint he played with Edmond Hall, Andy Kirk, Lucky Millinder, Buck Clayton, Red Norvo, and Sy Oliver/Louis Armstrong.

A prolific session musician for much of the 1950s and 1960s, he played with Helen Merrill, Ruby Braff, Mel Powell, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Bobby Jaspar, Herbie Mann, André Hodeir, Kenny Burrell, Lonnie Johnson, Frank Wess, Willis Jackson, and Johnny Hodges.

Drummer Bobby Donaldson, who played both in the jazz, Dixieland and R&B idioms, transitioned in 1971.

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Jazz Poems

THE JAZZ OF THIS HOTEL Why do I curse the jazz of this hotel? I like the slower tom-toms of the sea; I like the slower tom-toms of the thunder; I like the more deliberate dancing knee Of outdoor love, of outdoor talk and wonder. I like the slower, deeper violin Of the wind across the fields of Indian corn; I like the far more ancient violincello Of whittling loafers telling stories mellow Down at the village grocery in the sun; I like the slower bells that ring for church Across the Indiana landscape old. Therefore I curse the jazz of this hotel

That seems so hot, but is so hard and cold

VACHEL LINDSAY

from Jazz Poems | Selected and edited by Kevin Young

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