Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tom Archia was born Ernest Alvin Archia, Jr. on November 26, 1919 in Groveton, Texas, and moved with his family as a child to Rockdale and then Baytown, near Houston, Texas. He played saxophone in the Wheatley High School orchestra. Known during childhood as Sonny, but took the name Tom when he decided that neither his first or middle names were appropriate for a musician.
After graduating from Prairie View A&M University in 1939, he joined Milt Larkin’s band which included Eddie Vinson, Arnett Cobb, and Illinois Jacquet in the reed section and Cedric Haywood as pianist and arranger. 1942 saw Archia arrived in Chicago, Illinois with Larkin for a nine-month residency backing T-Bone Walker at the Rhumboogie Club.
The following year he joined the Roy Eldridge orchestra alongside Ike Quebec, Ted Sturgis, and Doc West that recorded in Chicago for the Brunswick label. He moved to the Rhumboogie Dream Band until mid 1944. Unfortunately he frequently disrupted band discipline and was fired by Marl Young who took over as bandleader.
In 1945 Tom went to Los Angeles, California and joined Howard McGhee’s combo, with Teddy Edwards, among others. Shortly afterwards, he was recording with the brothers Illinois and Russell Jacquet, as well as Helen Humes.
Returning to Chicago in 1946, Archia became a headliner at the Macomba Lounge, recorded extensively for Aristocrat Records during the late Forties, and recorded with Wynonie Harris and Hot Lips Page. He would go on to participate in tenor saxophone duels with Buster Bennett, Gene Ammons, Claude McLin, Hal Singer, Harold Ashby, Porter Kilbert and Lucius Washington.
By the Sixties he was struggling to find gigs and he retired to Houston in 1967, after being temporarily disabled by a broken jaw. After recovering, he played the Houston club circuit for the rest of his life. Tenor saxophonist Tom Archia died on January 16, 1977 at the age of 57.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gus Bivona was born on November 25, 1915 in New London, Connecticut. He got his musical start under the close eye of his musician parents, his mother was a pianist, and his father was a guitarist. His first instrument was violin, but he switched to a combination of alto saxophone and clarinet at the age of 16.
He began his professional debut in the Spider Johnson Band, followed by performing around New England in Leo Scalzi’s Brunswick Orchestra. 1935 saw Gus begin a lengthy stint with the Jimmy Monaco Orchestra and worked with the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra, He went on to spend several months with Bunny Berigan in 1938. Through the end of the decade he worked with bandleaders Will Hudson and Teddy Powell.
In 1940 he put his name on his first band but work as a sideman in more established bands appeared to be what he was after. He spent a period with Benny Goodman in 1940 through the spring of 1941 alongside Charlie Christian. Prior to joining the Naval Air Force Band, Bivona gigged with Jan Savitt and Les Brown & His Band of Renown. He went on to have a series of gigs with Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby post World War II.
Signing on with MGM In 1947 he performed numerous studio sessions and on freelance recordings into the 1950s. He connected with Steve Allen, the two would occasionally hit the concert trail, including a lengthy club residency at the Roundtable in New York City. Their collaboration rendered Music for Swingers: Gus Bivona Plays the Music of Steve Allen in 1958 followed by many other West Coast jazz recordings. They were in the company of top studio players and arrangers, such as Skip Martin, Henry Mancini and Pete Rugolo.
Clarinetist Gus Bivona, who also palys saxophone and flute, died on January 5, 1996 in Los Angeles, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jiří Stivín was born November 23, 1942 in Prague, Republic. After graduating from the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he continued his studies of composition at the Royal Academy of Music as well as at the Prague Academy of Music and the flute under Milan Munclinger.
Stivín performs music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque periods. As a sololist, he performed with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, with the Slovak Chamber Orchestra, with Suk Chamber Orchestra, Barocco sempre giovane as well as with several other ensembles.
Involved in jazz, both as a composer and a performer, he has been a member of the European Jazz Ensemble, European Jazz Sextet, European Jazz Trio, Interjazz IV, Jazz Q, Jiří Stivín & Co., Prague Big Band and Jazz System.
Flutist, saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, bandleader Jiří Stivín, who was originally cinematographer, reemains active playing both the flute and saxophone in the Jazz Quartet in the Czech Republic, and gives regular lectures at the Prague Conservatory.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wallace Leon Jones was born on November 16, 1906 in Baltimore, Maryland. He began playing trumpet in local Maryland bands such as Ike Dixon’s Harmony Birds and Percy Glascoe’s Kit Kat Orchestra early in his career.
He moved to New York City around 1935 and went to work with his cousin Chick Webb. He then joined Willie Bryant’s ensemble and recorded with Putney Dandridge and Duke Ellington, the latter where he was credited on clarinet, trombone and trumpet from 1938 to 1944.
He appeared in several sound films with Ellington, including 1943’s Cabin in the Sky. After this association, Wallace recorded with Ellington again in 1947, and also worked with Benny Carter, Snub Mosley, and John Kirby, but left music by the end of the Forties.
Trumpeter Wallace Jones died on March 23, 1983 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ricard Roda was born November 13, 1931 in Barcelona, Spain and he studied at the Barcelonas Conservatorium alongside his close friend Tete Montoliu. He began playing jazz in 1947 having started when he was only seventeen in the Crazy Boys orchestra in 1948. While working at Jamboree Club he played with visiting musicians such as Tony Scott, Art Farmer and Lucky Thompson.
During the Seventies he was a member of Orquestra Mirasol Colores in 1974 and were pioneers of jazz rock fusion in his hometown. He would go on to play popular music in orchestras led by Xavier Cugat, Frank Pourcel and Orquestra Latina Americana. Ricard worked with Catalònia Jazz Quiartet, Frank Miller y Su Hispania Soul, and Latin Combo.
His vast experience in the local jazz scene didn’t limit him to the genre. He also played with musicians outside the jazz scene like Joan Manuel Serrat and Liza Minelli. Alto saxophonist Ricard Roda died on November 18, 2010 in Barcelona, five days after his seventy-ninth birthday.
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