Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alfred “Chico” Alvarez was born in Montreal, Canada February 3, 1920 but grew up in Southern California. Upon graduation from high school, he attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music.
He was a soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra from 1941 to 1943 and rejoined the band after Army service in World War II. He also played with the Red Norvo and Charlie Barnet bands, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1958 and worked the hotel circuit in the 1960s and 1970s. It was during this time that he would accompany singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
He recorded two dozen albums with Kenton as well as a single recording session on the self-titled Nat King Cole, Bob Keene and His Orchestra, Vido Musso’s The Swingin’st, and Patti Page’s In the Land of Hi-Fi.
Trumpeter Chico Alvarez, who was the business agent for the musicians’ union, the president of the Allied Arts Council and a member of the Nevada State Council on the Arts, transitioned on August 1, 1992 in Las Vegas.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton was born Joseph Irish Nanton on February 1, 1904 in New York City, New York to British West Indies immigrant parents. He began playing professionally in Washington, D.C. with bands led by Cliff Jackson and banjoist Elmer Snowden.
1923 saw him working with Frazier’s Harmony Five for a year then again with Snowden. At 22 Nanton discovered his niche in Duke Ellington’s Orchestra, when he reluctantly took the place of his friend Charlie Irvis in 1926, anchoring the trombone section with Lawrence Brown. He remained with Ellington until his early death.
Nanton was one of the great pioneers of the plunger mute after hearing trumpeter Johnny Dunn use a plunger, and realized he could have a similar effect on his trombone. Along with Ellington’s trumpeter Bubber Miley, he is largely responsible for creating the characteristic Wah-wah, or wa-wa, effect. Their highly expressive growl and plunger sounds were the main ingredient in the band’s early “jungle” sound, that evolved during the band’s late 1920s engagement at Harlem’s Cotton Club.
Trombonist Tricky Sam Nanton who was amajor soloist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, transitioned from a stroke on July 20, 1946 in San Francisco, California while touring with the orchestra.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sam Allen was born in Middleport, Ohio on January 30, 1909 and beginning at the age of seven started playing the piano. By 10 he accompanied silent films on piano in movie theaters, allowing him to sit and extemporize as the action unfolded on screen. Over the next few years he absorbed plenty of slapstick hi-jinx and derring-do from the Hollywood sagas he accompanied.
1928 saw the 19 year old Sam moving to New York City where he joined Herbert Cowans’s band at the Rockland Palace. It wasn’t too long after the move before he moved back to Ohio, where he played with saxophonist Alex Jackson through 1930.
He joined James P. Johnson’s orchestra as a second pianist absorbing the intense chords in the scores that required two pianos. For amuch of the ’30s, he played with the dance band of Teddy Hill including a European tour. In the 1940s he had one of his most musically satisfying collaborations as piano man in the sometimes rowdy combo of violinist Stuff Smith. Playing in the hyper-drive bebop of Dizzy Gillespie, and then the shenanigans as pianist for the madcap jive jazz duo Slim Gaillard & Slam Stewart.
As the Fifties approached he relocated to Washington, shifting gears from touring sideman to stay-at-home featured soloist. He then headed for California where he settled into the Oakland jazz scene, often accompanying the fine singer Billie Heywood. Pianist Sam Allen transitioned at the age of 63 in April 1963.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Black, born January 23, 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, started out as the drummer in the house band at the Philadelphia Blue Note Jazz Club where he played with the likes of Charlie Parker, Buddy DeFranco and Zoot Sims.
From 1953 to 1955 Black was a part of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra until he contracted polio, forcing him to leave the band. After recovering, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and partnered with Bob Scobey until the latter’s death in 1963.
Continuing to perform with Bay Area and various international jazz musicians, drummer Dave Black, most notable for his work with Duke Ellington, transitioned on December 4, 2006
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Irving “Mouse” Randolph was born in St. Louis, Missouri on January 22, 1909 and started off playing on riverboats with Fate Marable’s ensemble. Following this he played in numerous territory bands, including those of Walt Farrington, Willie Austin, Art Sims, Norman Mason, Floyd Campbell, Alphonse Trent, and J. Frank Terry.
From 1931 to 1933 he was in Kansas City, Missouri playing in Andy Kirk’s Twelve Clouds of Joy, and then played briefly with Fletcher Henderson and Benny Carter in 1934. 1935 to 1939 saw Mouse playing in Cab Calloway’s orchestra, then departed to play with the Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra under the direction of Chick Webb for three years ending in 1942.
By 1943 he was playing with Don Redman and from 1944 to 1947 he did a stint with Edmond Hall. Randolph continued to play into the Seventies, including with the Chick Morrison Orchestra. He never recorded as a bandleader, though he recorded copiously with Henderson, Carter, and Calloway.
Trumpeter Mouse Randolph, who was prominent during the swing era, transitioned on December 12, 1997 in New York City, just six weeks shy of his 89th birthday.
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