Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Phil Ranelin was born May 25, 1939 in Indianapolis, Indiana and lived in New York City before moving to Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s. He worked as a session musician on many Motown recordings, including with Stevie Wonder.

In 1971, he and Wendell Harrison formed a group called The Tribe, which was an avant-garde jazz ensemble devoted to black consciousness. Alongside it he co-founded Tribe Records. He released several albums as a leader in the 1970s, and continued with The Tribe project until 1978. Following this, Ranelin worked with Freddie Hubbard, Freddie Redd and the Red Hot Chili Peppers..

Working for the most part locally around Detroit in the following decades, Phil did not find widespread acceptance among jazz aficionados. He did, however, eventually gain the attention of rare groove collectors who became increasingly interested in his work. As a result, Tortoise drummer John McEntire remastered some of his older material and re-released it on Hefty Records. He also recorded on Lifeforce, Wide Hive and Rebirth record labels.

Trombonist Phil Ranelin continues to perform, compose, and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Frank Signorelli was born in New York City on May 24, 1901 and was a founding member of the Original Memphis Five at age sixteen in 191. He went on to join the Original Dixieland Jazz Band briefly in 1921. By 1927 he was playing in Adrian Rollini’s New York ensemble, and subsequently worked with Eddie Lang, Bix Beiderbecke, Matty Malneck and Paul Whiteman.

1935 saw him as a part of Dick Stabile’s All-America Swing Band and from 1936 to ‘38 he played in the revived version of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. He recorded with Phil Napoleon in 1946 and with Miff Mole in 1958.

As a songwriter, Signorelli composed I’ll Never Be The Same, initially called Little Buttercup by Joe Venuti’s Blue Four, Gypsy that was recorded by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, Caprice Futuristic, Evening, Anything, Bass Ale Blues, Great White Way Blues, Park Avenue Fantasy, Sioux City Sue, Shufflin’ Mose, Stairway to the Stars and A Blues Serenade which was  recorded by Signorelli in 1926, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra in 1935 and Duke Ellington’s version in 1938.

On December 9, 1975, pianist Frank Signorelli, who never led a recording session, passed away in New York City, New York.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Marvin Stamm was born May 23, 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee and began playing trumpet at age 12. He attended Memphis State University and then went on to matriculate through North Texas State University where he was a member of the One O’Clock Lab Band.

After graduation he played with Stan Kenton’s Mellophonium Orchestra from 1961 to 1963, and then with Woody Herman from 1965 to 1966. For the next six years he performed as a member of the Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Orchestra from until 1972, and went with Benny Goodman from 1974 to 1975.

During the Seventies he began a decades-long career as a prolific studio and session musician, recording with Bill Evans, Quincy Jones, Donald Fagen, Oliver Nelson, Duke Pearson, Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Grover Washington, Jr., Patrick Williams, Michel Legrand, Lena Horne, Frank Foster, Average White Band, Paul Desmond, Frankie Valli, Deodato, Les DeMerle, and George Benson, and played the flugelhorn solo on Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul McCartney.

In the 1980s he played with John Lewis’ American Jazz Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Band, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Louie Bellson’s Big Band, Maria Schneider’s band and since 2002 the trumpeter has been a member of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mark Taylor was born on May 22, 1961 in Seattle, Washington. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington then moved to New York City to get his Masters from the Manhattan School of Music. While there he performed with an array of musicians including Dick Oatts, Jim McNeely, Bob Brookmeyer, Garry Dial, David Liebman, Don Sickler, Steve Turre, Sir Roland Hanna, Bob Mintzer, John Riley, Steve Slagle, and Ted Rosenthal and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

Mark performs and records extensively with such diverse and award winning groups as Matt Jorgensen +451, Jim Knapp Orchestra, Frieze of Life, Victor Noriega Trio + 2, Tom Varner’s Tentet and Quintet, Thomas Marriott, Wayne Horvitz, Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, and the Randy Halberstadt Quintet, as well as having appeared locally with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, and Ernestine Anderson, Sam Yahel, Maria Schneider, the Seattle Symphony and Pacific Northwest Ballet, among many more.

As a leader, Taylor has released two projects on Origin Records titled After Hours and Spectre which was named NW Jazz Recording in 2009 and a year earlier was honored as the NW Jazz Instrumentalist, both by Earshot Jazz Magazine.

Putting on his educator cap, he has served on the music faculty at Pacific Lutheran University, has full schedule of private students and is a guest artist and clinician for festivals, workshops and clinics throughout the region.  One of the most in demand saxophonists in the Pacific Northwest, alto saxophonist Mark Taylor continues to perform and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John William Barber was born May 21, 1920 in Hornell, New York outside Rochester and was also known as Bill Barber or Billy Barber. He started playing tuba in high school and studied at the Juilliard School of Music. After graduating, he travelled west to Kansas City, Missouri, where he played with the Kansas City Philharmonic and various ballet and theatre orchestras.[1]

Joining the United States Army in 1942 he played in Patton’s 7th army band for three years. After the war, he started playing jazz, joining Claude Thornhill’s big band where he became friends with trombonist Al Langstaff, Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan in 1947. Bill became one of the first tuba players to play in a modern jazz style, playing solos and participating in intricate ensemble pieces.

Barber became a founding member of Miles Davis’s nonet in 1949 in what became known as the Birth of the Cool recording sessions. He then worked in theatre pit orchestration of the King and I, Paradiso and the City Center Ballet before joining up with Davis and Gil Evans in 1957 to record albums such as Sketches of Spain, Miles Ahead, Quiet Nights and Porgy and Bess. He also performed on John Coltrane’s album Africa/Brass.

During the 1950s and Sixties her recorded several albums with Art Blakey, Bob Brookmeyer, Kenny Burrell, Gigi Gryce, Slide Hampton and Pete Rugolo. Completing a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music he chose to go into education and became an elementary school music teacher in Copiague, New York. He continued to play where possible including with the Goldman Band.

In 1992, he recorded and toured with a nonet led by Gerry Mulligan, reworking material from Birth of the Cool. From 1998 to 2004 he was part of The Seatbelts, New York musicians who played the music of the Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop.

Tubist Bill Barber, who never led a recording session, passed away of heart failure in Bronxville, New York on June 18, 2007.

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