Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dick Charlesworth, born Richard Anthony Charlesworth on January 8, 1932 in Sheffield, England. Attending King Edward VII School, at 16, he became a clerk in the Ministry of Labour and was in due course transferred to London. He bought a clarinet and started playing jazz as a hobby in 1952. Entirely self-taught, he became good enough to play clarinet and saxophone in a dance band and performed with jazz bands in south London including Jim Weller’s Jazzmen.
He formed his first group in 1956 and his Dick Charlesworth’s Jazzmen won the South London Jazz Band Championship in 1957. His group was signed by the Melodisc label, and they recorded an EP in December 1957 and produced an album for Doug Dobell’s 77 Records.
Leaving the Civil Service in 1959 he became a professional musician and signed a recording contract with EMI, remarketing the group as Dick Charlesworth’s City Gents. This was the time of light jazz, sporting distinctive attire of pin stripes and bowler hats, with their Latin motto, Dum vivimus vivamus, simply translated as “While we live, let us enjoy life”. They charted one single Billy Boy on the UK Singles Chart in 1961.
When jazz went out of vogue in the Sixties, Dick broke up his band, and from 1964 to 1969 fronted a band on the cruise liners. He then settled in Mojacar, Spain where he ran a music bar. Returning to Britain in 1977, he was active on the London jazz scene until the early 2000s working with, among others, Keith Smith, Rod Mason, Alan Littlejohn, Denny Wright, and appeared on the BBC Radio series, Jazz Score.
In his later years, Charlesworth lived in Thames Ditton, Surrey, and played a residency at various pubs with his band The Dick Charlesworth’s Fraternity Four, and released their final recording in 2004. Clarinetist, saxophonist and bandleader Dick Charlesworth passed away following a heart attack on April 15, 2008, at the age of 76.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
It’s a new year and it’s been ten months since the quarantine and social distancing has been instituted. Some of us, unfortunately, are still not fully adapting to life with the virus, desiring their comfort zone to be as it was before the pandemic. For those of us who have taken this life interruption to no longer be an inconvenience, we relax and find new engagements for our senses.
With that in mind, this week I’ve selected the classic studio album Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Recorded at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York City on June 25, July 1, and August 18, 1959, it was released on December 14, 1959 on Columbia Records. It is based upon the use of time signatures that were unusual for jazz and is a subtle blend of cool and West Coast jazz.
The producer on the album was Teo Macero, and Fred Plaut engineered the sessions. S. Neil Fujita had the responsibility for creating the cover artwork, and Seth Rothstein was the project director.
The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and was the first jazz album to sell a million copies. The single Take Five off the album was also the first jazz single to sell one million copies. By 1963, the record had sold 500,000 units, and in 2011 it was certified double platinum by the RIAA, signifying over two million records sold. The album was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009.
Columbia president Goddard Lieberson took a chance to underwrite and release the album. Although it received negative reviews from critics upon its release, it became a popular recording by fans globally. In 2005, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. It was also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2009 the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Track List | 38:30
All pieces composed by Dave Brubeck, except Take Five by Paul Desmond.
Side One- Blue Rondo à la Turk ~ 6:44
- Strange Meadow Lark ~ 7:22
- Take Five ~ 5:24
- Three to Get Ready ~ 5:24
- Kathy’s Waltz ~ 4:48
- Everybody’s Jumpin’ ~ 4:23
- Pick Up Sticks ~ 4:16
- Dave Brubeck – piano
- Paul Desmond – alto saxophone
- Eugene Wright – bass
- Joe Morello – drums
As you all know, the moment the world becomes safe and opens back up for Americans to travel, I will be back jet setting around the globe. In the meantime, stay vigilant, wear masks and remain healthy.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tommy Johnson was born John Thomas Johnson on January 7, 1935 in Los Angeles, California. He had a musical upbringing as his father was a baritone soloist in the choir at the Angelus Temple in Echo Park.
He attended the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and received a bachelor’s degree in music in 1956. He played his first film in 1958, the score for Al Capone and went on to become Hollywood’s first-call tuba player.
Known mostly for playing for television series and commercials, he also was a prolific player in film scores such as Jaws, The Godfather, the Indiana Jones series, the Star Trek film series, The Lion King, Titanic, and over another 120 film scores, working wth the likes of John Williams, James Horner, and Alan Silvestri..
He ventured into playing jazz backing such artists as Frank Sinatra, The Manhattan Transfer and performing with the American Jazz Philharmonic,, as well as rock and roll and pop artists like Weird Al Yankovic and Elvis Presley.
As an educator he taught junior high school music in the Los Angeles Unified School District for nearly 20 years, but for most of his career, he taught advanced tuba players in private lessons and at USC and UCLA.
On October 16, 2006, tubist Tommy Johnson passed away from complications of cancer and kidney failure at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 71.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roger Quincey Dickerson was born in 1898 in Paducah, Kentucky and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked in local theaters in the late 1910s. After touring with Wilson Robinson’s Bostonians in 1923, he then worked in Andrew Preer’s group at the Cotton Club in New York City, remaining in the group after Preer’s death in 1927.
From the mid to late 1920s he recorded in small groups with Harry Cooper and Jasper Taylor, with a latter session also featuring Johnny Dodds. When Cab Calloway took over the Preer band in 1930 Dickerson was still in the group, and he recorded several times under the new leader.
Leaving Calloway’s employ in 1931 he quit music but recorded again in 1949 accompanying a singer named Ray Cully. Trumpeter Roger Dickerson passed away on January 21, 1951 in Glens Falls, New York.
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Three Wishes
The Baroness awaited his answer after inquiring of Sam Jones what his three wishes were, he said:
- “I’ve already had two wishes: to play with Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie. So all I need now is one: to be a great jazz musician.”
*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
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