Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Henry Coker was born December 24, 1919 in Dallas, Texas. He studied music at Wellesley College before making his professional debut with John White in 1935. From 1937 to 1939 he played with the Nat Towles territory band, then moved to Hawaii to play with Monk McFay.

Following Pearl Harbor, Coker settled in Los Angeles, California and played with Benny Carter from 1944 to 1946. He did a stint with Illinois Jacquet in 1945, then performed with Eddie Heywood between 1946 – 1947, and with Charles Mingus in the late ’40s.

Falling ill from 1949 to 1951 Henry played little, but after recovering he worked with Sonny Rollins and then joined Count Basie’s band, playing and recording with him from 1952 to 1963.

Working as a studio musician in the Sixties, he then toured with Ray Charles from 1966 to 1971. He did freelance and film/television studio work in the mid-1970s, rejoining Basie briefly in 1973 and Charles in 1976. Osie Johnson wrote a tribute to him entitled Cokernut Tree in 1955. Coker recorded on J.J. Johnson’s Trombones Incorporated session, featuring ten trombonists.

Trombonist Henry Coker passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 59 on November 23, 1979.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Kaori Yamada was born on December 23, 1971 in Takamatsu, Kagawa Pref., Japan. She started learning to play the piano at the age of 4 and graduated from the School of Music, at Takamatsu Junior College, majoring in classical piano. She began teaching herself to play drums on her own initiative at the age of 14 and was particularly interested in Soul, R&B and Jazz, the music her brother was listening to at the time. It was during this period that she developed a strong desire to become a professional drummer.

From 1991 to 1995, Kaori lived Hiroshima where she gave drum instruction under the R.C.C. Takeshi Inomata Drum School at Yamaha Music Shops. During this period, she volunteered in the community as a musician and performed at charity concerts and events for a local youth group and welfare facility.

Introduced to Japan’s best-known drummer, the late Motohiko Hino, in 1996 Yamada started to train with him and two years later she began her professional drumming career. Since that time she has performed with her bands “Wet” and “Petit Agasa”. She has also worked as a side person for Terumasa Hino, Fumio Karashima, Kosuke Mine and Yosuke Inoue, among other Japanese jazz musicians.

Moving to New York in 2007 she broadened her music horizons playing venues like Showman’s and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola of Lincoln Center, and more. She plays with Carol Sudhalter, James Zollar, Nabuko Kiryu, Valery Ponomarev, Alvin Walker, Peter Brainin, Cecilia Coleman, Chris Haney, Marco Panascia, Robert Bowen, Steve Millhouse, Miki Hayama, Madame Pat Tandy, Vito Di Modugno, Radam Schwartz, Akiko Tsuruga, Satoshi Inoue, Kayo and more. In 1994 Kaori was awarded the Best Ensemble Award at the Yamaha Music Festival. Drummer Kaori Yamada continues to perform both as a leader and side person, but as yet has not led a recording session.

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Daily Dose OF jazz…

Nicholas Mathew Ceroli  was born December 22, 1939 in Niles, Ohio. 1963 was an important year for his career as he went on a Central and South America tour with Ray Anthony, recorded with Jack Teagarden and performed with Gerald Wilson at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

By 1965 he was playing with Stan Kenton, then spent four years from 1965 to 1969 in Herb Alpert’s group, the Tijuana Brass. Moving to Hollywood, Nick became a prolific studio musician and found himself working closing the decade and into the Seventies with Pete Jolly, Richie Kamuca, Irene Kral, Warne Marsh, Ross Tompkins, Bill Berry, Mundell Lowe, Monte Budwig, Lou Levy, Bob Summers, Dave Frishberg and Pete Christlieb. In the 1980s he performed and recorded with Bob Florence, Milt Jackson and Zoot Sims.

Drummer Nick Ceroli passed away on  August 11, 1985 from a heart attack at the age of 45 at his home in Studio City, California.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Marshall Brown was born on December 21, 1920 in Framingham, Massachusetts. Little recorded, he devoted most of his career to education, earning a music degree from New York University, as a member of the Zeta Psi Fraternity.

He was also a high school band director leading the Farmingdale New York Daler Band from the early 1950s through 1957. Brown was the first high school band director to initiate a jazz education program, which he did in his tenure at Farmingdale High. By 1956 his stage band, the Daler Dance Band, a jazz big band with an average age of 14 years old, was so formidable and impressive, boasted future jazz stars pianist Michael Abene, saxophonist Andrew Marsala, and whiz drummer Larry Ramsden.  One night at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, Count Basie, who was late for his appearance as he entered the festival grounds heard the Daler Band performing their set and exclaimed, “Damn, they started already”, mistaking the Dalers for his band.

Marshall received some attention for performing and recording in a quartet with Pee Wee Russell in the early 1960s. While Russell was most often associated with Dixieland or swing, their quartet performed more adventurous, free jazz-oriented pieces, including pieces by Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane.

During the Sixties he was the resident trombonist at Jimmy Ryan’s, a noted dixieland venue. He also club dated with Luke O’Malley’s Irish band during this time. Brown also performed or recorded at one time or another with Ruby Braff, Beaver Harris, Lee Konitz, George Wein and Basie.

Conductor, arranger and educator Marshall Brown, who also played the valve trombone, trumpet, euphonium, electric bass and the banjo, passed away on December 13, 1983 in New York City.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ehud Asherie was born on December 20, 1979 in Israel and with his family moved to Italy at the age of three. He started playing piano at the age of seven and attended the Sir James Henderson School, now The British School of Milan, before they moved to the United States when he was nine. As a New York City teenager he visited Smalls Jazz Club, taking private lessons from Frank Hewitt, a pianist who often played there and attending the New School University.

Asherie first played at Smalls when he was a high school sophomore. In 2010 he recorded his debut solo piano album, Welcome to New York with a focus on stride and standards. The same year he played Hammond organ on his quartet release, Organic, mixing bop and swing with standards.

He has recorded seven albums as a leader ranging from duo to quintet group configurations on the Arbor and Posi-Tone labels. He has been a sideman recording with Bryan Shaw, Hilary Gardner and Harry Allen.  He has performed with Peter Bernstrin, Joe Cohn, Billy Drummond, Bobby Durham, Frank Gant, Paul Gill, Jimmy Green, Dennis Irwin, Jimmy Lovelace, Joe Magnarelli, Bob Mover, Tim Pleasant, Ben Street and Mark Taylor.

Pianist and organist Ehud Asherie has for two years been playing regularly at Smalls with his own trio, the Grant Stewart Quartet and the Neil Miner Quintet. He has also served as a rehearsal pianist for the Village Vanguard Orchestra and Since January 2000 he’s part of Trio65 at New York City’s Rainbow Grill with bassist Joseph Lepore and drummer Tommaso Cappellato. He continues to perform, record and tour.

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