Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Francis Coates Jr. was born February 17, 1938 in Trenton, New Jersey to a full-time performing musician and bandleader father, and his mother a dancer and actress. He attended Ewing High School and began his formal study in New York City at age eight with Urana Clarke at the Mannes College of Music on full scholarship. His earliest influences were credited to listening to Symphony Sid on his AM radio.
From age 11 to 14 he played clarinet with his father at the Trenton YMCA dance hall night, where he learned to improvise. His father began teaching him jazz piano at twelve and influenced by Jack Weig he joined the Trenton musicians union the same year. By 14 he was playing gigs two nights a week, as well as weekends and at sixteen he was gigging six nights a week during the summer at the Deer Head Inn where Savoy Records discovered him.
He recorded his debut Savoy album, Portrait, with bassist Wendell Marshall and drummer Kenny Clarke during his senior year of high school. He performed on the Steve Allen, Mike Douglas, and Merv Griffin tv shows in support of that album. From 1956 to 1958 he toured with Charlie Ventura, then while in college John played with Barry Miles, Eddie Gomez, Ron Carter, Woody Shaw, Harry Leahey, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Kai Winding, Urbie Green, and Pepper Adams.
Attending Rutgers University he graduated with a degree in romance languages in 1962. After graduating Coates returned to Deer Head where he again played six nights a week, four alone and two as bandleader. He took a position with Shawnee Press as an arranger and editor. He began performing at Henderson’s Club 50, where he had a six night per week gig and played with Coleman Hawkins, Clark Terry, Doc Severinsen, Phil Woods, Marvin Stamm and Bill Watrous among others.
Moving to Mountain Lake, New Jersey in 1966 and began working as an editor at Shawnee Press, arranged on his own time on a royalty basis, and playing at the Deer Head year round where he became an early inspiration for Keith Jarrett, who would listen and sit in occasionally. His arrangement for Amazing Grace has sold more than 750,000 copies and remains one of the publishing company’s best sellers.
John recorded nine albums for the record label Omnisound, toured briefly with bassist Paul Langosch, then began recording for Pacific St Records, including two albums with Phil Woods. In the 1990s, he became homeless and attempted suicide, then moved to Coney Island and began playing again around the year 2000.
Pianist, composer and arranger John C. Coates Jr., who occasionally played vibraphone and clarinet, died on November 22, 2017.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Conrad Lanoue was born on October 18, 1908 in Cohoes, New York. He started on piano when he was ten years old and attended the Troy Conservatory.
Beginning his career in his 20s, he played piano at hotels in his hometown. Conrad recorded with Red McKenzie in 1935, and under the combined leadership of trumpeter Eddie Farley and trombonist Mike Riley in 1935–36. During the 1930s he worked for Louis Prima, then Wingy Manone from 1936 to 1940 followed by playing with pianist Joe Haymes.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, he was a member of bands led by Lester Lanin, Charles Peterson, and Hal Landsberry. He also wrote big band arrangements. Pianist and arranger Conrad Lanoue, who never recorded as a leader, retired in 1968 due to illness and transitioned in Albany, New York on October 15, 1972.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Bee was born on October 17, 1903 in Brussels, Belgium. He was a multi-instrumentalist adept on clarinet, harp, piano, and alto and tenor saxophone. For a year in 1924 he played with the group Bistrouille ADO before co-founding an ensemble with Peter Packay called Red Beans. The group toured widely throughout western Europe.
After returning to Belgium, David joined Robert De Kers’s band, and also played in Paris, France at Chez Florencewith Benny Carter and Willie Lewis. He recorded with Gus Deloof in the early Forties and after World War II he played with Robert Bosmans and Chas Dolne later in the decade. He led his own bands and groups at various times in the 1950s and continued recording late into the decade and the 60s.
As a composer, Bee pennedr the tunes High Tension recorded by Luis Russell) and Obsession recorded by Ted Heath and Reg Owen.
Clarinetist, harpist, pianist, alto and tenor saxophonist, arranger and composer David Bee, also known as Ernest Craps, Ernie Sparks, and Manuel Travo, transitioned in 1992.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph Lucian Roccisano was born on October 15, 1939 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He received his bachelor’s degree in music education from SUNY-Potsdam in 1963. In 1964 he played in the Tommy Dorsey orchestra under Sam Donahue.
After moving to Los Angeles, California in the mid-Sixties he played with Don Ellis, Ray Charles, Louie Bellson, Lew Tabackin, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Terry Gibbs, Don Menza, Bill Holman, and Don Rader. He assembled the 15-piece ensemble Rocbop in 1976 and played in the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut in 1981.
He formed his own big band, the Joe Roccisano Orchestra, releasing two albums during the 1990s. The musicians joining him in this band included Bill Charlap, Bud Burridge, Jack Stuckey, Franck Amsallem, James E. Pugh, John Basile, Ken Hitchcock, Lou Marini, Matt Finders, Robert Millikan, Scott Lee, Terry Clarke, Tim Ries, Tom Harrell, Scott Robinson, and Greg Gisbert.
He became an arranger for Ellis, Bellson, Doc Severinsen, and Woody Herman. He scored the tune Green Earrings on the 1978 Herman album Chick, Donald, Walter, and Woodrow. Joe was nominated for a Grammy Award for the arrangement. He composed Tenors of the Time, a tune recorded by Pete Christlieb and Warne Marsh.
Saxophonist and arranger Joe Roccisano transitioned on November 9, 1997.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kenneth John Moule was born on June 26, 1925 in Barking, Essex, England and was the only child of Frederick and Ethal Moule. Surviving an early childhood illness, left him with a cadaverous look which went well with his ridiculous sense of humor.
In the Forties Moule played piano with the Johnny Dankworth Quartet before leaving to join Oscar Rabin in 1945. He would go on to perform with Remo Cavalotti for a summer season and Joe Daniels before working on the Queen Mary in Bobby Kevin’s Band, with Ronnie Scott and Johnny Dankworth. He closed out the decade working with several bands including Jiver Hutchinson, Bert Ambrose, Frank Weir and Ken Mackintosh.
During the early 1950s Ken worked with Raymonde’s Orchestra, again with Ambrose and then with Frank Weir on several occasions. 1954 saw him form under his own name a septet, which was comprised of two-tenor, baritone, trumpet and three rhythm group. He resigned from the septet in 1955 and from 1956–1959 he arranged for Ted Heath’s orchestra. During this time he composed the suite Jazz at Toad Hall, and was released on Decca Records in 1958. He worked in Sweden and toured Europe with Kurt Weill’s Band until 1960.
The 1960s saw his return to England and worked freelance as an arranger, especially with Lionel Bart. He was the musical director for the shows Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be and Twang!!. From 1962 he broadcast regularly with his 15 piece orchestra, and later broadcasted and recorded with a larger band called The Full Score. His Adam’s Rib Suite was recorded by the London Jazz Chamber Group in 1970 with Kenny Wheeler on the recording issued on Ember Records.
He scored Cole Porter songs for the musical Cole! performed at the Mermaid Theatre in 1974, and worked with Dankworth again around that time with his London Symphony Orchestra collaborations. He worked out of Germany for part of the 1970s before ill health caused him to move to the warmer climate of Spain.
Pianist, composer and arranger Ken Moule transitioned in Marbella in January 27, 1986, aged 60.
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