Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bert Niosi was born on February 10, 1909 in London, Ontario, Canada into a family of musicians, having two brothers who became musicians. As a teenager he briefly played clarinet with Guy Lombardo in Cleveland, Ohio.
Proficient on several instruments he played clarinet, flute, saxophone, trombone, and trumpet and formed a dance band in 1931. This began a long association with the Palais Royale dance hall in Toronto, Canada which lasted until 1950.
His orchestra, and a smaller group made up of some of its members, was broadcast frequently on CBC Radio. Bert played alto saxophone and clarinet in the small band. He was also a member of CBC radio’s The Happy Gang musical series from 1952 to 1959.
Alto saxophone, clarinetist and bandleader Bert Niosi, known as Canada’s King of Swing, died in Toronto, Canada on August 3, 1987.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Joseph Shepherd was born February 7, 1929 in Walthamstow, London, England to Joseph Shepherd, a semi-professional piano player and gas company employee. He began on piano before switching to clarinet at age 16 in 1945. He studied under a clarinetist from the Hamburg State Opera Orchestra while stationed in Hamburg, Germany after World War II. Upon his return to England in 1950 he played with Reg Rigden, Joe Daniels and his Hotshots, and Freddy Randall to the middle of the decade.
He played with Billie Holiday and Gerry Mulligan on their British tours. He played in New York City in 1956 with Ted Kotick, then returned to England to play with the Jazz Today Unit and with the Jazz at the Philharmonic. He also played with Mary Lou Williams several times during the 1950s.
The 1960s and 1970s saw Dave playing with Randall again and with Teddy Wilson, at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in South Africa. During this period he was heard a lot more with his quartet on BBC Radio 2’s Jimmy Young programme as well as Round Midnight, Breakfast Special, and Music While You Work.
Centered in the UK found him working regularly with trombone player Roy Williams, Len Skeat and many more. He was a frequent guest with his line up called The Dave Shepherd Quintet on BBC Radio 1’s Sounds of Jazz. He based his style on Benny Goodman and was praised for his accuracy and unfailing swing and a quality of musical elegance.
He performed with Peter Boizot’s Pizza Express All Stars Band at the Pizza Express Jazz Club from 1980 to 1999. He led several of his own bands and has done extensive work producing music for film and television. Shepherd continued to solo and make guest appearances until shortly before his death.
Clarinetist Dave Shepherd, who was described by fellow jazz musician Digby Fairweather as Britain’s greatest swing clarinettist since 1948, on December 15, 2016 in Hampshire, England.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Alton Fagerquist, born February 6, 1927 in Worcester, Massachusetts and studied trumpet privately under Ms. Marion Twiss at Roosevelt Elementary and lessons at Carl Seder’s Music as well as classes at North High School. He began playing around his hometown in 1940 with Paul rhode, Paul Gervais, Bud Boyce and the Ambassadors/Crusaders. By 1942 he had played a year each with the Dol Brissette Orchestra and the Bob Pooley Band.
At 16 Fagerquist was making a name for himself through the decade as a featured soloist with several major bands, including Mal Hallett, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, and Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five. In the Fifties he was performing with Woody Herman, Les Brown, and the Dave Pell Octet. He played on the Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook album in 1963 under the baton of Nelson Riddle.
Despite high demand for his services as a lyrical soloist, Donald only recorded twice as a leader, a half-date for Capitol Records in 1955 that was reissued as part of the Dave Pell Octet compact disc, I Had the Craziest Dream, and a complete project for Mode in 1957 titled Music to Fill a Void. During the 1950s he recorded more than two dozen albums with Chet Baker, Louis Bellson, Hoagy Carmichael, Bob Cooper, Fred Katz, Shorty Rogers, Stan Kenton, Mel Tormé, Benny Goodman, Skip Martin and Pete Rugolo.
In 1956, Fagerquist signed on as a staff musician for Paramount Films, while still periodically recording with artists such as Shelly Manne, Mel Tormé, and Art Pepper. Throughout the early to mid-1960s, his solos could be heard on the recordings of Pete Rugolo, Frank Comstock, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Paul Weston, Si Zentner, Dean Martin, Junior Mance, and many others.
However, by 1966 health issues forced him to withdraw from studio recordin. Trumpeter Don Fagerquist, who was a small group, big band, and studio session player, died from kidney disease at his home in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California at the age of 46 on January 23, 1974.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Reuben McFall was born on February 1, 1931 in Los Angeles, California to a musician father and grew up in the Belvedere neighborhood of East Los Angeles, long established as a Mexican-American enclave.
McFall attended Westlake College of Music in Hollywood, California, one of the first institutions in the county to offer a diploma in jazz. The school was founded in 1945 and ran until 1961.
As a sideman he performed with Freddie Slack, Vido Musso, Floyd Ray, Glen Henry, Lalo Guerrero. From 1946 to 1955 he recorded albums with Roy Porter and His Orchestra, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Shorty Rogers, Gerald Wilson and Teddi King.
Trumpeter, composer and jazz arranger Reuben McFall, who was also known as Ruben and Rubin and Ruban, is 93 years old.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Sands was born January 28, 1907 in Brooklyn, New York. Learning to play the tenor and baritone saxophones he worked with bandleader Charlie Skeets in the late ’20s. By the end of the decqade his eyes were on an outfit known as the Strand Roof Orchestra under the direction of Billy Fowler. His performances during the 1930s solidified the band’s reputation, both live and recorded.
Sands joined pianist and bandleader Claude Hopkins, sharing star soloing duties with the leader as well as clarinetist Edmond Hall in his early years. The band featured a program of both high-spirited novelty songs and a serious jazz repertoire. I Can’t Dance, I’ve Got Ants in My Pants and In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree were the necessary recordings Hopkins made in order to stay attractive to label producers throughout the ’30s.
A superb arrangement of Jelly Roll Morton’s King Porter Stomp joins with Hopkins’ own Minor Mania in which Bobby is in both section and solo capacity. Tenor and baritone saxophonist Bobby Sands retired from music in the 1940s and became a printer. The date and place of his death are unknown.
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