The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

As we await the opening of the country this Quarantined Jazz Voyager presses on with his listening to great jazz by placing on the turntable the classic Kenny Dorham disc titled Inta Somethin’. This live album by the trumpeter features performances recorded at The Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, California on November 13, 1961. It was released in the first quarter of 1962 on the Pacific Jazz label. Dorham contributed two originals to the set, track #1 and track #6.

1. Una Mas ~ 7:13
2. It Could Happen to You (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) ~ 6:00
3. Let’s Face the Music and Dance (Irving Berlin) ~ 6:06
4. No Two People (Frank Loesser) ~ 6:59
5. Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Ram Ramirez, James Sherman) ~ 5:01
6. San Francisco Beat ~ 7:12

• Kenny Dorham ~ trumpet (except tracks 3 and 5)
• Jackie McLean ~ alto saxophone (except track 2)
• Walter Bishop Jr. ~ piano
• Leroy Vinnegar – bass
• Art Taylor – drums

As you listen and enjoy this wonderful addition to the jazz catalogue, I emplore you follow your conscience to stay healthy and encourage you to remain vigilant in your social distancing. During this sabbatical from jet setting investigations of jazz around the globe, this voyager’s choices are ever-present. The world will be back and so will I.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Johnny Meyer or Johnny Meijer was born Jan Cornelis Meijer on October 1, 1912 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He began playing accordion as a child and before World War II was playing in Dutch big bands. The post-war years were fertile for him and the liberating sound of his swing accordion, opened opportunities for him to record many swing standards from 1952 to 1957. 

He toured Europe but mainly performed in the Netherlands and for a time was known as a virtuoso jazz accordionist. Besides the popular songs, Meyer also played fast swing numbers, Romanian music and classical pieces. In 1974 he recorded the Dutch Swing College Band Johnny Goes Dixie LP, which went gold.

Typically seen during performances with a cigar in his mouth, his accordion showed several burn marks as a result of this. In the last years of his life, Johnny Meyer was rarely invited to play large performances, mainly in connection with his short temper and his drinking, and thus the King of the Accordion saw out his final days mostly in silence, reduced to occasionally playing weddings and parties.

Accordionist Johnny Meyer, who played jazz, swing, classical, folk and was the subject of a film, passed away on January 8, 1992 in Amsterdam.  

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…Trumpet

Jon Eardley was born on September 30, 1928 in Altoona, Pennsylvania and first started on trumpet at the age of 11. His father played in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. From the age of eighteen, he played1946 to 1949 he played in the Air Force Band in Washington, D.C., then led with his own quartet in D.C. from 1950 to 1953.

A move to New York City in 1953 got him introduced to the jazz scene. The following year he played with Phil Woods, then left for Gerry Mulligan for three years, and during that time played with Hal McIntyre. Returning to his hometown, Jon played there until 1963, when he moved to Europe and settled for a time in Belgium.

1969 saw his next residency in Cologne, Germany where he played with Harald Banter and Chet Baker and working through the 1980s. The last years before death he played in the WDR Big Band Cologne, Germany. Trumpeter Jon Eardley passed away on April 1, 1991 in Lambermont, near Verviers, Belgium.

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Three Wishes

What Roland Alexander told Nica his three wishes were when the inquiry came his way was: 

1. 1. “Creation.”

   2. “Peace.”

   3. “More creation.”

*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…

Rolf Kühn was born on September 29, 1929 in Köln, Germany, the older brother of the pianist Joachim Kühn. He started out playing in dance bands in the late ’40s, then worked with radio orchestras starting in 1952 before moving west across the Atlantic to America.

Living in the United States for three years from 1956 to 1959, subbing for Benny Goodman on a few occasions, played in the Tommy Dorsey ghost band, and worked in a big band led by Urbie Green. Rolf drew favorable reviews, and over the course of his career, he recorded more than two-dozen albums as a leader, ten with his younger brother, and as a sideman, eighteen.

He has recorded with Eddie Costa, Buddy DeFranco,Klaus Doldinger, Tommy Dorsey, European Jazz Ensemble, Urbie Green, Friedrich Gulda, Greetje Kauffeld, Eartha Kitt, Albert Mangelsdorff, Oscar Pettiford, and George Wallington.

In 2008 he founded a band with Christian Lillinger, Ronny Graupe, and Johannes Fink. In 2019, the New York Times Magazine listed him among the hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. Clarinetist and saxophonist Rolf Kühn at 90 continued to perform and compose for the next two years until his passing on August 18, 2022 in Berlin, Germany.

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