Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jason Miles was born June 30, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. He went to Indiana State University and when jazz fusion was becoming popular in the 1970s he was in New York creating innovative techniques in synthesizer programming and electronic music.
In 1979 he recorded his debut album Cozmopolitan with Michael Brecker and Marcus Miller, although it was never released. During the 1980s he was a session musician who worked with Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, David Sanborn, and Luther Vandross.
The 1990s had him playing keyboards and writing music for the animated film The Snow Queen and People: A Musical Celebration of Diversity on the Disney Channel. He and his wife Kathy Byalick composed Visionary Path, a New Age album with narration by Diana Krall, Roberta Flack, and F. Murray Abraham.
In 2000 Miles released The Music of Weather Report, the first of several tribute albums. During the next year he won a Grammy Award for producing A Love Affair: The Music of Ivan Lins with appearances by Sting and Brenda Russell. His next solo album To Grover, with Love, was a tribute to Grover Washington Jr. that was nominated for Record of the Year by the National Smooth Jazz Awards. He also recorded tributes to Miles Davis and Marvin Gaye.
Keyboardist, composer and record producer Jason Miles, who has a discography of nineteen albums, continues to compose and perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Louisa West was born in Thomasville, Georgia on June 14, 1979 and began playing flute at the age of ten. She went on to receive a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Georgia and while studying there she performed in numerous ensembles including an orchestra conducted by Sammy Nestico. She studied privately with classical flutists Angela Jones-Reus, William Bennett, Mary Karen Clardy, and Mimi Stillman, as well as jazz flutists Nestor Torres and Holly Hofmann.
A winner of numerous competitions, after graduating from college in 2001, she relocated to southern California where she has been performing in the musical genres of world music, jazz, Latin jazz, and classical music. Playing extensively in the U.S, Canada and Mexico, Louisa has appeared onstage with touring acts such as Persian pop star Shakila, flutist Nestor Torres, and Brazilian singer Diogo Nogueira.
West recently attended California Brazil Camp, where she delved into the history and music of Brazil through workshops and performances by Brazilian jazz artists. This experience inspired her 2010 debut release with Jimmy Patton titled Sambarina.
Flutist Louisa West continues to perform, tour and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Henri Grusin was born April 22, 1941 and grew up in Littleton, Colorado to a Latvian, classical violinist father. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in economics. In the early Seventies he was an economics professor in Guadalajara, Mexico but soon after he taught economics at Foothill College in California.
By the mid Seventies Grusin was touring with Pete Escovedo’s group Azteca alongside his daughter Sheila E in Bogota, Colombia. The trip sparked a lifelong interest in Latin music. In 1975, Quincy Jones invited him to tour with his band, and he left teaching for a career in music.
He worked as a studio musician on albums by Randy Crawford, Billy Eckstine, Joe Pass, and the Pointer Sisters. He formed the fusion group Friendship with Lee Ritenour, Ernie Watts, and Alex Acuña and recorded one album, then released solo albums in 1981 and 1983. By 1985 Don had produced the album Musician for Ernie Watts, winning a Grammy Award.
Grusin’s 2004 live album The Hang received a Grammy Award nomination, and he won Grammy Awards for his work on two albums by the Paul Winter Consort. He won an Echo Award for the album Quality Time, recorded with Peter Fessler.
As a record producer or keyboardist, Grusin has worked with Gerald Albright, Patti Austin, David Benoit, Larry Carlton, Oscar Castro-Neves, Dori Caymmi, Gilberto Gil, Jim Hall, Sérgio Mendes, Airto Moreira, Milton Nascimento, Flora Purim, Nelson Rangell, Brenda Russell, Zoot Sims, Leon Ware, and Sadao Watanabe.
Keyboardist, composer, and record producer Don Grusin, who is Dave Grusin’s younger brother, continues to push the boundaries of jazz and Latin jazz music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mayuto Correa was born March 9, 1943 in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and began playing in local bands from the age of twelve when he became a member of the big band Rapazes da Alvorada. At age 16 he formed the ensemble Samba Show with musicians from Niterói and made several recordings for the CBS label with them.
In the 1960s Correa was the artistic director of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro where he wrote and directed several plays. During this time, he also made several recordings in Brazil and worked as the musical director for the shows of Maria Bethânia, Elza Soares, and Eliana Pittman as well as playing in Roberto Carlos’s ensemble RC-7 and performing in Chacrinha’s television shows.
Leaving Brazil for Mexico in 1969 he worked with the Brazilian bossa nova group Tamba 4 before moving to the United States. Establishing himself as a musician in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s, Mayuto became a vital session player in hundreds of major and minor albums taped in the city by 1977.
Some of the artists he recorded with are Howard Roberts, Charles Lloyd, Nat Adderley, Cannonball Adderley, Cal Tjader, Miriam Makeba, Gábor Szabó, Gato Barbieri, Kenny Burrell, Moacir Santos, Donald Byrd, Henry Mancini, Jon Lucien, Freddie Hubbard, and Richard “Groove” Holmes, among numerous others.
During that period he toured with many of the artists and became the record producer for the Argentine group Arco Iris. He returned to Brazil in 1972 when he toured with Carlos Santana and again in 1979 when he appeared on the Rede Globo television show Sexta Super.
Among his compositions is the soundtrack for the 1979 documentary Homeboys depicting Chicano youth gang culture in East Los Angeles, California. In the later years of his career, Correa performed with his bands Mayuto & Genuises 2000, Mayuto & The Dream Team Big Band, and Mayuto & Samba Pack.
Mayuto Correa continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Celia Malheiros was born on October 2, 1960 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and from early childhood she was immersed inthe world of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. She was introduced to the schools of samba, bossa nova, choro, baião, frevo and indigenous music, as well as Tropicália and political revolutionary movements.
By 18 she was completely supporting herself through music she composed, playing at festivals, theatrical productions, nightclubs, radio and TV shows. She scored films, taught music and led bands to perform her music.
Moving to the U.S. she settled in San Francisco, California where she performed and competed in street carnaval, winning numerous awards. Malheiros spent thirteen years as the music director, arranger and performer with the Brazilian All Star Big Band with Elza Soares, Emilinha Borba and Walter Wanderley. She went on to tour the U.S. opening for the likes of Tony Benett, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Santana and Ray Charles.
Touring internationally as a solo artist and leading her band tRIO, she has accepted commissions by the Wheaton College Choir and the Akat Dance Company. Celia lectures, holds clinics and master classes around the world. She has been a composer in residence at the OMI International Music Program in New York City and artist in residence twice at Massachusetts’ Wheaton College.
Ever vigilant about bringing awareness to the plight of the Amazon’s indigenous and forest, her latest album is also a one woman show. She has more than 50 musicians on each of her albums. Vocalist Celia Malheiros is writing her memoirs.
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