Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Guy Eugène Hilarion Pedersen was born on June 10, 1930 in Grand-Fort-Philippe, France. Coming from a family of popular musicians all members of his maternal family are fiddlers and his great-grandfather composed the jazz standard Tiger Rag.
At the age of 13 he started music theory in 1943, taking free lessons at the Roubaix Conservatory until 1952. In 1950, he won the prize for the best double bassist in the Brussels competition, then that of Jazz Hot in Paris, and then decided to become a musician. Already passionate about jazz, he listened to radio broadcasts by Hugues Panassié and bought his first American records by Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Lee Konitz at Deruyck in Roubaix.
He began working in Paris with singer Fats Edward, then played with pianist Henri Renaud and drummer Jean-Louis Viale at Tabou, and at Ringside founded by boxing champ Sugar Ray Robinson. He went on to work with Jacques Hélian and then Claude Bolling with whom he learned the large orchestra profession. From 1955 to 1966, he was a member with drummer Daniel Humair of the most famous trio led by Martial Solal, recording the historic Jazz à Gaveau in 1962.
Guy Pedersen and Daniel Humair then joined the Swingle Singers to record the second disc. They will travel around the world in their company, even passing through the White House in 1966.
From 1973 Guy toured with Baden Powell, recording more than a dozen records with him. Between 1973 and 1980, he recorded seven albums and toured frequently with Jean-Christian Michel.
During that time, Pedersen led an active career as a studio musician, appeared in variety shows on television, accompanying the group Les Troubadours. The late 1960s saw him composing, writing a lot of music for short films. Some of his recordings on the musical illustration labels Tele Music and Montparnasse 2000 are today cult, especially in the disc jockeys world.
In 1977 a serious cardiac accident forced him to withdraw from the world of music. He then became an antique dealer. Bassist Guy Pedersen passed away on January 4, 2005 at the age of 74.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Pasco Gourley, Jr. was born on June 9, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. He met saxophonist Lee Konitz in Chicago, Illinois when both were members of the same high school band, crediting Konitz with encouraging him to become a serious musician.
Jimmy’s father started the Monarch Conservatory of Music in Hammond, Indiana, and though he didn’t teach, he bought him his first guitar. Taken his first guitar classes at the school. He became interested in jazz while listening to the radio, enjoying in particular Nat King Cole. For his first professional experience as a performer, he dropped out of high school to play with a jazz band in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
From 1944 to 1946, Gourley served in the U.S. Navy then returned to Chicago, where he met guitarist Jimmy Raney and wanted to play like him. He worked in bars and clubs with Jackie Cain & Roy Kral, Anita O’Day, Sonny Stitt, and Gene Ammons. Through the G.I. Bill, he received tuition for three years to any college in the world.
By 1951, he spent the rest of his life in France, working with Henri Renaud, Lou Bennett, Kenny Clarke, Richard Galliano, Stéphane Grappelli, Bobby Jaspar, Eddy Louiss, Martial Solal, and Barney Wilen. He played with American musicians who were passing through, including Bob Brookmeyer, Clifford Brown, Stan Getz, Gigi Gryce, Roy Haynes, Bud Powell, Zoot Sims, Lucky Thompson, Lester Young and his friend Lee Konitz. Guitarist Jimmy Gourley passed away on December 7, 2008 in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France at the age of 82.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Joseph Harold Holmes, better known in the music world as Johnny was born in Montreal, Canada on June 8, 1916. He began playing cornet at 10 and studied briefly with C. Van Camp. After playing trumpet for a year in 1940 in a co-operative band, the Esquires, he took over its leadership from 1941 to 19.50.
After establishing the Johnny Holmes Orchestra they played Saturday nights at Victoria Hall in Montreal that was broadcast on CBC radio. They occasionally toured in Quebec and Ontario. One of Montreal’s leading dance bands of the day, it boasted a healthy jazz quotient and benefited from Holmes’ ability to identify talented younger musicians. At various times his sidemen included Nick Ayoub, Al Baculis, Percy and Maynard Ferguson, pianist Bud Hayward, Art Morrow, and Oscar Peterson. Lorraine McAllister and Sheila Graham, in turn, sang with the band.
Holmes retired from music from 1951 to 1959 but was heard 1959 to 1969 on several CBC radio shows including The Johnny Holmes Show, Broadway Holiday, among others. His orchestras made several broadcast recordings between 1966 and 1973 for the CBC’s LM series and continued to perform periodically until his retirement from music in 1978. One edition without saxophones took the name Brass Therapy.
He wrote numerous arrangements for his orchestra and his radio shows, more than 40 songs, and such extended works as The Fair City, a jazz suite dedicated to Expo 67. Trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, and composer Johnny Holmes, who has no known recording on line, passed away on June 11, 1989 in Montreal.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Glenn Gray Knoblauch was born on June 7, 1900 in Metamora, Illinois. Known professionally as Glen Gray, his father was a saloon keeper and railroad worker who died when he was two years of age. Along with an older sister, his widowed mother remarried a coal miner and moved her family to Roanoke. He went on to graduate from Roanoke High School, in 1917 where he played basketball and acquired his nickname, Spike.
Glen attended the American Conservatory of Music in 1921 but left during his first year to go to Peoria, Illinois, to play with George Haschert’s orchestra. From 1924 to 1929, he played with several orchestras in Detroit, Michigan.
In 1956, he went back into the studio to record the first of what became a series of LPs for Capitol Records, which recreated the sounds of the big band era in stereo. Casa Loma in Hi-Fi was the result, with 14 high-fidelity recordings.
Swing saxophonist Glen Gray passed away from lymphoma on August 23, 1963 in Plymouth, Massachusetts aged 63.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Raymond Burke was born Raymond Barrois on June 6, 1904 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His first instrument was a flute he carved from a fishing pole, then played the tin whistle, kazoo, and clarinet. His first job in music came in 1913 when he panhandled on the kazoo with future New Orleans Rhythm Kings drummer Leo Adde who played percussion on a cigar box.
A polite, albeit eccentric with wavy hair and a thin mustache, the conservatively dressed clarinetist did not drink, smoke, or gamble. Burke rarely left the city except for out-of-town gigs or tours with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band later in life.
In the 1930s Burke played with The Henry Belas Orchestra, spent a short period of time in Kansas City for a musical job, but soon returned. In the 1940s and ’50s, he played with Alvin Alcorn, Sharkey Bonano, and frequently in a trio with pianist Jeff Riddick and bassist Sherwood Mangiapane. Through the 1960s and 70s Burke he played with Preservation Hall musicians.
For a time he ran a rabais shop, a personal collection that the owner makes semi-available to the public for sale. Located in a residential section of Bourbon Street which had light pedestrian traffic the shop was filled with old jazz records, historical memorabilia, musical instruments and equipment, books, magazines, and a collection of sheet music. It generated little financial income.
During his active years, he never achieved mainstream popularity or commercial success. He was known for playing modestly, and in large ensembles, his clarinet could easily be overpowered. Refusing to let contemporary music influence his sound for commercial reasons, he associated with “Second Line” jazz, which differentiated White imitators who simplified the style from Black or Creole musicians.
He gained some popularity around 1939 when fans started using portable recorders at live performances during local jam sessions. Clarinetist Raymond Burke, who played in the Dixieland style, passed away on March 21, 1986.
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