Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hadda Brooks was born Hattie L. Hapgood on October 29, 1916 in Los Angeles, California. Raised in the Boyle Heights area by her parents who had migrated from the South her mother, Goldie Wright, was a doctor and her father, John Hapgood, a deputy sheriff, but it was her grandfather, who introduced her to theater and the operatic voices of Amelita Galli-Curci and Enrico Caruso. In her youth she formally studied classical music with an Italian piano instructor, Florence Bruni, with whom she trained for twenty years.
She attended the University of Chicago, later returned to Los Angeles, becoming to love the subtle comedy of black theater and vaudeville entertainer and singer Bert Williams. She began playing piano professionally in the early 1940s at a tap-dance studio owned by Hollywood choreographer and dancer Willie Covan. For ten dollars a week, she played the popular tunes of the day while Covan worked with such stars as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Shirley Temple.
Preferring ballads to boogie-woogie, Brooks worked up her style by listening to Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis records. Her first recording, the pounding Swingin’ the Boogie, for Jules Bihari’s Modern Records, was a regional hit in 1945, and her most famous song Out of the Blue, the title track to the film of the same name she appeared in on the recommendation of Benny Goodman.
She went on to begin singing with the encouragement Charlie Barnet, and recorded her first vocal recording You Won’t Let Me Go, played the small part of a lounge piano player in films, and was the second Black woman to host her own television show in 1957 with The Hadda Brooks Show after The Hazel Scott Show on DuMont in 1950. She toured Europe, Australia
In the 1970s, she commuted to Europe for performances in nightclubs and festivals, but performed rarely in the United States, living for many years in Australia and Hawaii. Retiring from music for sixteen years, she resurfaced to open Perino’s in Los Angeles and clubs in San Francisco and New York City as well as resuming her recording career. She continued appearing in films throughout the rest of her career, received the Pioneer Award from the Smithsonian and the Los Angeles Music Awards honored her with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Pianist, vocalist and composer Hadda Brooks, who got her name from Jules Bihari, passed away Los Angeles, following open-heart surgery at age 86 on November 21, 2002.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Barbara Sfraga was born on October 28, 1956 in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. Pursuing her vocal talent she attended Long Island University from 1974-76 before moving to Connecticut, attending the University of Bridgeport from 1976-78 and majoring in classical voice.
After discovering the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Anita O’Day, she became seriously interested in jazz singing. This was soon followed with her discovery of the innovations of Mark Murphy, Betty Carter and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, and in the 1980s, she began singing jazz in New York clubs.
In 1996, Barbara founded In Concert with our Community, an organization whose initial goal was using cultural events to raise funds for children’s organizations. 1998 saw her recording her debut album as a leader titled Oh, What A Thrill, bringing in guests as Mark Murphy, who wrote the liner notes and pianist Fred Hersch.
In 2003, her sophomore album, Under the Moon, was released by the Chicago-based A440 label. the risk-taking jazz vocalist and lyricist Barbara Sfraga, who sings in the avant-garde and post bop genres, continues to perform, tour and write.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Wallington was born Giacinto Figlia on October 27, 1924 in Palermo, Sicily and then moved to New York City with his family in 1925. His father sang opera and introduced his son to classical music, but Wallington listened to jazz after hearing the music of saxophonist Lester Young. Acquiring the name Wallington in high school by the neighborhood kids for his flashy clothes, he left school at the age of 15 to play piano in the city.
From 1943 to 1953 Wallington played with Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Marsala, Charlie Parker, Serge Chaloff, Allan Eager, Kai Winding, Terry Gibbs, Brew Moore, Al Cohn, Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and Red Rodney. He recorded as a leader for Savoy and Blue Note in 1950, toured Europe in 1953 with Lionel Hampton’s big band and in 1954-60 he led bands in New York City that contained rising musicians including Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean and Phil Woods. During this period he recorded as leader with these musicians for the Prestige and Atlantic labels.
1960 saw George leaving music and moving to Florida to work in the family air conditioning business. He cited the stress of endless touring as the reason, however, he returned to music in 1984 and recorded three albums. He also performed at the 1985 Kool Jazz Festival in New York.
Pianist and composer George Wallington, whose best-known compositions are Lemon Drop, and Godchild, passed away in Cape Coral, Miami, Florida on February 15, 1993.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sterling Bruce Conaway was born on October 26, 1900 in Washington, D.C. and learned to play the banjo and mandolin. His early career was spent playing with fellow Washingtonian Duke Ellington in their hometown. Relocated to Chicago, Illinois he joined the band of Carroll Dickerson.
He played in Cyril Fullerton’s band in 1924 and recorded with Helen Gross on ukulele. By the late 1920s he moved to Europe where he worked with Eddie South, Noble Sissle, Freddy Johnson, Freddy Taylor, and Leon Abbey. During this period in his career Sterling led several groups as well.
1936 saw him in Bombay, India playing with Crickett Smith, however, three years later returned to the United States. Banjoist and mandolinist Sterling Conaway continued to perform in big bands and leading his own groups until his passing away in November 1973.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robin Eubanks was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.on October 25, 1955. Into a musical family. His brothers Kevin and Duane play guitar and trumpet respectively and his uncles are pianist Ray Bryant and bassist Tommy Bryant. After graduating from the University of the Arts, he moved to New York City and first appeared on the jazz scene in the early 1980s. He played with Slide Hampton, Sun Ra, and Stevie Wonder.
Eubanks went on to become a member of the Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey and in then in Elvin Jones’ band. He was a contributor on fellow jazz trombonist Steve Turre’s 2003 release One4J: Paying Homage to J.J. Johnson.
He played for 15 years in double bassist Dave Holland‘s quintet, sextet, octet and big band. J.J. Johnson recommended Robin for the position at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, where he is now a tenured professor of Jazz Trombone and Jazz Composition. He has also taught at New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has been a member in the all-star group the SFJAZZ Collective for the past seven years.
He is one of the pioneers of M-Base, a musical concept he pioneered with other musicians such as Steve Coleman and Greg Osby among others. He has recorded with Geri Allen, Joe Henderson, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bobby Previte, Hank Roberts, Herb Robertson, Kenny Drew, McCoy Tyner, Barbra Streisand, Abdullah Ibrahim, Andrew Hill and B.B. King, Sadao Watanabe, Grover Washington Jr. and Chip White to name a few.
He has appeared on numerous television shows and specials, is a frequent lecturer, guest soloist and clinician at various colleges and universities in the U.S. and around the world and has voted #1 Trombonist by Down Beat magazine.
Slide trombonist, Robin Eubanks, who plays in the mainstream and fusion jazz genres, has released nine albums as a leader, 38 as a sideman and continues to perform and record.
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