Three Wishes
The Baroness asked Billy James if he was given three wishes what would they be:
- “That I could be with my family.”
- “That Art Blakey should live forever.”
- “For the world to be full of people like you.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William Franklin Hardman, Jr. was born on April 6, 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio and growing up there worked with local players including Bobby Few and Bob Cunningham. While in high school he played with Tadd Dameron, and after graduation he joined Tiny Bradshaw’s band.
Hardman’s first recording was with Jackie McLean in 1956 and following this he played with Charles Mingus, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver, and Lou Donaldson. He led a group with Junior Cook and as a leader recorded Saying Something on the Savoy label, receiving critical acclaim in jazz circles, but was little known to the general public.
He had three periods in as many decades with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, however, his misfortune was not to be with him during their popular Blue Note recording years. Bill would go on to record three albums for Muse and one for Steeplechase record labels. He recorded forty-three albums as a sideman between 1956 and 1987 working with among others Hank Mobley, Charles Earland, Walter Bishop Jr., Curtis Fuller, Eddie Jefferson and Benny Golson.
On December 5, 1990 hard bop trumpeter and flugelhornist Bill Hardman, whose most prolific recording period as a sideman was with Blakey, passed away of a brain hemorrhage in Paris, France at the age of 57.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Bishop was born on April 5, 1959 in Seattle, Washington and raised in Germany, Washington, DC, San Antonio, Texas and Eugene, Oregon. He started playing drums at 7 in Washington, DC with the Patriots drum corps. He performed regularly throughout high school and college in Oregon, studied with Mel Brown and Charles Dowd and attended the University of Oregon, and later transferred to the jazz program at North Texas State University.
He returned to Seattle in 1981 for an extended engagement with the band Glider and never left. An unusually creative and fertile scene at the time, in the early ’80s, he was a member of the fusion group Blue Sky, which released two Top 10 albums and performed extensively throughout the decade. For 20 years, he was with the piano trio New Stories along with pianist Marc Seales and bassist Doug Miller.
He has recorded, performed and/or toured internationally with Don Lanphere, Mark Murphy, Tom Harrell, Julian Priester, Charles McPherson, Vincent Herring, Nick Brignola, Conte Condoli, Bobby Shew, Larry Coryell, Ernie Watts, Lee Konitz, Slide Hampton, Benny Golson, George Cables, Kenny Werner, Bobby Hutcherson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Sonny Fortune, Herb Ellis, Buddy DeFranco, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Locke, Jerry Bergonzi, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Larry Coryell, and countless others.
As an educator he taught drums privately for forty years and was on the faculty at the University of Washington from 2005-2009. He regularly conducts drum and jazz workshops throughout the country. Appearing on more than 100 albums, John was inducted into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 2008, and was named a “Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2019. Drummer John Bishop continues to perform, record and produce.
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Gary Smulyan was born in Bethpage, New York on April 4, 1956. He studied at Hofstra University before working with Woody Herman. His biggest influence is Pepper Adams. When Adams died, Smulyan recorded an album titled which included eight pieces composed by Adams.
Smulyan has played with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Mel Lewis Big Band, the Dave Holland Big Band and Octet, the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band. He has performed and recorded with Carla Bley’s Big Band.
He has recorded thirteen albums as a leader, as a sideman seventy-six with Harry Allen, David Byrne, Michel Camilo, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Freddy Cole, George Coleman, Dena DeRose, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Jon Faddis, John Fedchock, Don Friedman, Benny Green, Tom Harrell, Gene Harris, Jimmy Heath, Joe Henderson, Conrad Herwig, Freddie Hubbard, Denise Jannah, B.B. King, Mike LeDonne, Joe Lovano, Joe Magnarelli, Kevin Mahogany, Mark Masters, Mingus Big Band, Grachan Moncur III, Eddie Palmieri, Charlie Parker, Charlie Persip, Diana Ross, Rob Schneiderman, John Scofield, Don Sickler, Mark Soskin, Dave Stryker, Roseanna Vitro, Walt Weiskopf, and Gerald Wilson.
Baritone saxophone Gary Smulyan leads a trio with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Kenny Washington.
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Eric Kloss was born April 3, 1949 in Greenville, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, and attended the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind, which was run by his father. When he was 10, he started on saxophone, and two years later he was playing in night clubs with professional musicians such as Bobby Negri, Charles Bell, and Sonny Stitt. At 16, he recorded his debut album, Introducing Eric Kloss on the Prestige label in 1965, with Don Patterson and Pat Martino.
On his third album, Grits & Gravy, he recorded with musicians over twice his age: Jaki Byard, Richard Davis, and Alan Dawson. He continued recording and performing while a student at Duquesne University. A fan of Elvis Presley and The Ventures, he was attracted to the growth of jazz fusion in the 1960s and ’70s, and eventually played with fusion musicians Chick Corea, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette. He also collaborated with Richie Cole and Gil Goldstein, and did sessions with Cedar Walton, Jimmy Owens, Kenny Barron, Jack DeJohnette, Booker Ervin, Barry Miles, and Terry Silverlight.
By the 1980s, Kloss was teaching at Rutgers University, then Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon. He and his wife, a vocalist, collaborated in a group called Quiet Fire. Saxophonist Eric Kloss has performed and recorded rarely since the Eighties due to health problems.
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