Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Larry Sonn was born in Woodmere on Long Island, New York on January 17, 1919. GraduatING from the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, he began his career with the Southern Symphony Orchestra in Columbia, South Carolina, as first trumpet, but later turned to the popular idioms of jazz and the big band sound.
He soon was playing trumpet and arranging for the top orchestras in the United States which included Glenn Miller, Teddy Powell, Bobby Byrne, Charlie Barnett, Hal McIntyre and Vincent Lopez.
A series of engagements in the early 1940’s took him to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and San Antonio, Texas. An executive from the new Hotel Reforma in Mexico City heard him play and, impressed by his virtuosity, offered Larry an appearance at the hotel’s Ciro’s Night Club. The short-term contract lasted nine years and falling in love with Mexico, the country reciprocated.
Sonn returned to the States in the late-50’s and put together a new orchestra to play jazz and dance music. He gained national exposure on NBC’s Monitor with Al Jazzbo Collins commentating. When Mexico called again he went back and formed one of the foremost big bands in the country. He toured, did radio shows for XEW, Mexico’s largest station, and recorded for RCA Victor, CBS, Cisne, Peerless, Sonart and other labels.
Retiring from music in 1972 he relocated 40 miles south of Mexico City and opened a popular book store specializing in US editions for English-speaking residents and tourists. After several years he retired completely.
Trumpeter, arranger, composer, and bandleader Larry Sonn transitioned in 2015 at 95 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles Theodore Straight was born on January 16, 1891 in Chicago, Illinois. He started his career in 1909 at 18 accompanying singer Gene Greene in Vaudeville. In 1916, he began working at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago, where he recorded dozens of piano rolls.
Becoming a popular bandleader around town during the Jazz Age, his band, the Charley Straight Orchestra, had a long term engagement at the Rendezvous Café from 1922 to 1925 and recorded for Paramount Records and Brunswick Records during the decade.
This period also saw Straight working with Roy Bargy on the latter’s eight Piano Syncopations. Besides working as a pianist or leading an orchestra, he also composed and arranged music, both ragtime and jazz.
Pianist, bandleader and composer Charley Straight transitioned on September 22, 1940 in Chicago after being struck by an automobile while working as a city sanitary inspector. He was emerging from a manhole in the street.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Waymon Reed was born on January 10, 1940 in Fayetteville, North Carolina and attended the Eastman School of Music. He went on to play with trumpeter/saxophonist Ira Sullivan. Joining James Brown’s band from 1965 to 1969, he played on It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.
Reed worked with the big bands of Frank Foster and Thad Jones-Mel Lewis. He became a member of the Count Basie Orchestra in 1969, staying until 1973. He returned to play with Basie again in 1977–78.
He married Sarah Vaughan and worked with her from 1978–80, but shortly afterwards they divorced. He played on B.B. King’s album There Must Be A Better World Somewhere in 1981. In 1977, Reed recorded his one album as leader, 46th and 8th, featuring tenor saxophonist Jimmy Forrest, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Keter Betts and drummer Bobby Durham.
Trumpeter Waymon Reed, who was principally a bebop soloist, transitioned from cancer on November 25, 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Walter Bishop Sr. was born on January 9, 1905 in Jamaica but emigrated to the United States prior to beginning his professional career. He settled with his family in the Sugar Hill district of the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan.
He played drums on recordings by pianist Alex Hill and trumpeter Jabbo Smith during the 1920s and 1930s. His song Swing, Brother, Swing was recorded by Billie Holiday with Count Basie, among other performers.
Other songs written by Bishop include Jack, You’re Dead, which was a #1 R&B hit in 1947 as recorded by Louis Jordan, The Stuff is Here (and It’s Mellow), and Bop! Goes My Heart, which was recorded by Frank Sinatra.
His song My Baby Likes to Bebop was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, and by Nat “King” Cole with Johnny Mercer, and his calypso “Sex is a Misdemeanor” was recorded by Vanessa Rubin.
Drummer, composer and songwriter Walter Bishop Sr., the father of jazz pianist Walter Bishop Jr., transitioned one day before his 80th birthday on January 8, 1984.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Judd Proctor was born Procter on January 2, 1931 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. He played banjo in his youth and joined a local trio, but switched to guitar in his teens. He won a regional Melody Maker contest in a group, The Zetland Players. By the age of 18 he was conscripted into the Royal Air Force, where he met and was influenced by guitarist Ike Isaacs. After his military service ended, he worked in accountancy for British Rail, but soon left to join a dance band in Nottingham and became a professional musician.
After playing in various bands he joined Ray Ellington’s quartet in 1955, remaining for six years. He appeared on many radio broadcasts including The Goon Show. The early Sixties saw Proctor become a session musician, appearing on recordings by Cliff Richard, Helen Shapiro, The Springfields, Cilla Black, Serge Gainsbourg, Harry Nilsson and many others. In his later years he worked with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. He recorded some instrumentals under his own name, including the 1961 single Palamino/Nola, and a 1968 LP, Guitars Galore.
Judd appeared on many television shows with Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., and Victoria Wood, and on many film soundtracks. The 1960s through the ‘80s had him touring with Stanley Black, a member of the Don Lusher Orchestra, and with the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra. His last and longest regular gig was providing incidental music for the TV comedy series Last of the Summer Wine.
Guitarist and session musician Judd Proctor, whose name was often misspelled on early recordings, transitioned on August 21, 2020 in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, England at the age of 89.
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