Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tomasz Stańko was born on July 11, 1942 Rzeszów, Poland and his first encounters with jazz were through Voice of America radio programs and U.S. State Department tours. Coming of age in Communist Poland he was impressed by the correlation jazz had with a message of freedom. In 1958 he saw his first jazz concert given by Dave Brubeck.
Coming to prominence in the early 1960s alongside pianist Adam Makowicz in the Jazz Darings, the group is considered one of the first groups to play free jazz in Europe. Stańko later collaborated on pianist Krzysztof Komeda’s pivotal 1966 album Astigmatic, then formed at quintet in 1968 with Zbigniew Seifert on violin and alto saxophone and in 1975 he formed the Tomasz Stańko-Adam Makowicz Unit.
Tomasz has since established himself as a leading figure not only in Polish jazz, but on the world stage working with Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Reggie Workman, Rufus Reid, Lester Bowie, David Murray, Manu Katche, Taj Mahal, Chico Freeman, Howard Johnson, Don Cherry Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen, Bobo Stenson, Tony Oxley, Anders Jormin, was a member of Cecil Taylor’s big band and the Globe Unity Orchestra.
Losing his natural teeth in the 1990s, over time he developed a new embouchure with the help of a skilled dentist and monotonous practice. Trumpeter, composer and improviser Tomasz Stanko, who concentrates in the free jazz and avant-garde genres, continues to record for ECM Records, perform and tour globally.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Anthony Braxton was born June 4, 1945 in Chicago, Illinois. He studied philosophy at Roosevelt University and early in his career he led a trio with violinist Leroy Jenkins and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. He was involved with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) founded in his birthplace.
In 1969, Braxton recorded the double album For Alto, the first full-length album for unaccompanied saxophone. The album’s tracks were dedicated to Cecil Taylor and John Cage among others. The album influenced other artists like soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and trombonist George Lewis, who would go on to record their own solo albums.
Joining pianist Chick Corea’s trio with bassist Dave Holland and Barry Altschul they form the short-lived avant garde quartet Circle around 1970. When Corea broke up the group to form Return To Forever, Holland and Altschul remained with Braxton for much of the 1970s as part of a quartet, rotating Kenny Wheeler, George Lewis and Ray Anderson. With Sam Rivers they recorded Holland’s This group recorded for Arista Records and the core trio with saxophonist Sam Rivers recorded Holland’s Conference of the Birds on ECM. In the 1970s he recorded duets with Lewis and with synthesizer player Richard Teitelbaum. In 1975, he released Muhal with the Creative Construction Company featuring Richard Davis, Steve McCall, Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith and Leroy Jenkins. He would oo on to record through the 70s, 80s and early 90s wth Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway.
He performed at the Woodstock Jazz Festival, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, composed his Ghost Trance Music released on his now defunct Braxton House label, and the final Ghost House live recordings at the New York City Iridium club were released by Firehouse 12 label in 2007. He recorded a prodigious series of multi-disc sets of standards during the 1990 and early 2000s
Besides playing saxophone, Braxton also plays clarinet, flute and piano, performs and records in the avant-garde, improvisation, bebop and mainstream genres, composes operas, orchestral and classical compositions, and is an avid chess player. He is the author of multiple volumes explaining his theories and pieces, such as the philosophical three-volume Triaxium Writings and the five-volume Composition Notes.
Composer and instrumentalist Anthony Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s, has taught at Mills College in the Eighties, was Professor of Music at Wesleyan University from the 1990s until his retirement at the end of 2013, and in 2013, was named a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Theodore Curson was born on June 3, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet, however, his father preferred he become an alto saxophonist like Louis Jordan. By the time he turned 10 years old he received his first trumpet.
Curson attended Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia and at the suggestion of Miles Davis, moved to New York City in 1956. He performed and recorded with Cecil Taylor in the late 1950s and early 1960s and his 1964 Eric Dolphy tribute composition Tears for Dolphy has been used in numerous films.
Ted is a familiar face in Finland performing annually at the Port Jazz Festival each year since its inception in 1966. In 2007 he played the Finland’s Independence Day Ball at the invitation of President Tarja Halonen.
Trumpeter Ted Curson recorded some twenty albums as a leader for Old Town, Prestige, Fontana, Atlantic, Freedom, EMI Columbia Interplay and Inner City record labels among many others. He has been a sideman on fifteen other albums with Andrew Hill, Nick Brignola, Charles Mingus, The NY Contemporary Five, Sal Nistico, Archie Shepp, Pepper Adams and a host of others until his death on November 4, 2012 in Montclair, New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Irène Schweizer was born on June 2, 1941 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. She studied piano and immersed herself in the free improvisation genre but is adept at playing various jazz styles.
She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvising Group with Lindsay Cooper, maggie Nichols, Georgie Born, and Sally Potter. Schweizer has played a series of duets with drummers Pierre Favre, Louis Moholo, Andrew Cyrille, Gunter Sommer, Han Bennink and Hamid Drake.
Irène has performed in trio and quartet sessions with John Tchicai, Evan Parker, Peter Kowald and with Yusef Lateef, Uli Trepte and Mani Neumeier at the Montreux Jazz Festival.. One of her most enduring collaborations is with the improvising musician Rudiger Carl.
Pianist Irène Schweizer continues to perform and record in the the free jazz, avant-garde and free improvisation genres.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Isla Eckinger was born on May 6, 1939 in Dornach, Switzerland and played cello as a child, moving to the trombone during his teenage years. After studying trombone at the Conservatory in Basel, he taught himself to play the bass.
As a professional musician Isla made his debut playing with Oscar and Miriam Klein. In the 1960s, he accompanied on tour with Ben Webster, Buck Clayton, Don Byas and Johnny Griffin.
After a move to Munich, Eckinger began working with Mal Waldron, Joe Haider and Philly Joe Jones. From 1970 to 1976 he became an educator, teaching at the Swiss Jazz School while working with Haider, Peter Giger and Heinz Bigler in Group Four for Jazz.
With a new quartet with Waldron, Steve Lacy and Manfred Schoof, Eckinger toured Japan in 1975, and Italy with Chet Baker the following year. By the end of the 1970s he belonged to Wolfgang Engstfeld’s quartet, then worked with Klaus Weiss, Fritz Pauer and also with Dizzy Gillespie.
Mid-1980 saw Isla in Los Angeles, California recording with Chuck Manning. He played with Roman Schwaller and Jimmy Cobb as well as with Charly Antolini, Andy Scherrer and Paul Haag. Double bassist, vibraphonist and trombonist Isla Eckinger transitioned on April 8, 2021.
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