Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Terry Plumeri was born John Terryl Plumeri on November 28, 1944 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and grew up in Tampa, Florida. He began studying music when he was 10 and while attending Chamberlain High School, he was introduced to the double bass by band director Robert Price. He went on to attend the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, studying with Robert Brennand, then the principal bassist in the New York Philharmonic. Later, he studied composition and conducting with Antal Doráti.
During his military service, Terry was a member of the Air Force Band. After his discharge he played with among others John Abercrombie, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, Woody Herman, Quincy Jones, Yusef Lateef, Les McCann, Wayne Shorter, Frank Sinatra, Ralph Towner, and Joe Williams.
He performed, toured, and recorded with Roberta Flack from 1969 to 1974, playing electric and acoustic bass. He appears on the albums Chapter Two, Quiet Fire, Killing Me Softly, and wrote the song Conversation Love on the latter album.
Moving to Los Angeles, California to work in the film industry, Terry wrote the music for over 50 feature films, and his score for the film One False Move was nominated for Best Score by the IFC Independent Spirit Awards. In later years, he was guest conductor for the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and was a frequent guest lecturer, teacher, music producer, and photographer.
Double bassist, classical and film score composer, orchestra conductor, lecturer, teacher, and producer, and composer Terry Plumeri was murdered by burglars during a home invasion on March 31, 2016 in Dunnellon, Florida. He was 71.
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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…
Francesca Tanksley was born November 21, 1957 in Vincenza, Italy but grew up in Munich, Germany where she studied music from the age of seven. Moving to Boston, Massachusetts at 16, she studied piano and composition at Berklee College Of Music.
Two years later she returned to Munich. In 1980 she moved to New York City where she worked with Melba Liston until 1983, then she joined Billy Harper’s quintet with whom she toured extensively.
She has worked with Clifford Jordan, Cecil Payne, Bill Hardman and Erica Lindsay. She leads her own quintet and co-leads the Erica Lindsay/ Howard Johnson Quintet. As an educator she has been on the faculty of the New School, Berklee College. She has facilitated workshops and masterclasses at University of Southern California at Santa Cruz, Hampton University, Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute, Arizona State University, and Bard College.
Pianist Francesca Tanksley, who is a composer and educator, continues to perform and compose.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mario Pavone was born on November 11, 1940 in Waterbury, Connecticut and attended B. W. Tinker grammar school, Leavenworth High School, and the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where he graduated with a B.S. in engineering. When his neighbor, guitarist Joe Diorio, recognized him as an unrealized musician Mario was inspired to take up the bass. Primarily self-taught, he was a natural on his instrument. Pavone began playing bass soon after witnessing John Coltrane at the Village Vanguard in 1961.
Pavone’s career took off during the Sixties when he toured Europe and was involved in the jazz loft era, playing in jam sessions nightly in New York City. From the late in the decade into the early Seventies he was a member of Paul Bley’s trio. The New Haven based Creative Musicians Improvising Forum (CMIF) was founded in 1975 by Pavone, Wadada Leo Smith, and Gerry Hemingway was influenced by Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. His venture into composition began here.
In 1979 Mario recorded his debut album as a leader and was a member of Bill Dixon’s trio during the 1980s. He also performed with Barry Altschul, Smith, and Hemingway. In 1980 he began an 18-year musical relationship with saxophonist Thomas Chapin. With drummer Michael Sarin, the group recorded seven albums for Knitting Factory Records, which also released an eight-CD box set of these albums plus a live recording following Chapin’s death in 1998.
He co-led a group with Anthony Braxton in the early 1990s, with Braxton on piano rather than his usual saxophones. His groups have included Matt Wilson, Gerald Cleaver, Peter Madsen, Joshua Redman, Tony Malaby, Dave Douglas, Steven Bernstein, George Schuller, Craig Taborn, and Jimmy Greene.
Bassist Mario Pavone, who has over 40 recordings and several films documenting his compositions and performances, died from carcinoid cancer in Madeira Beach, Florida on May 15, 2021 at the age of 80.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gustavo Casenave was born on November 10, 1971 in Montevideo, Uruguay where he studied classical piano from age 6 with Maestro Hector Tosar, who was Aaron Copland’s student. He led the group Kongo Bongo and recorded two albums, however, following a conversation with Hugo Fattoruso he decided to study in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1994 received a full scholarship from O.A.S. to study at the Berklee College of Music and two years later he graduated magna cum laude.
During this period he was awarded the Professional Music Achievement, and his composition Fragiltimer for the Past Future for piano was selected as one of the ten best original compositions coming out of Berklee in the last 30 years, 1966-1996. In 1995 he was accepted as a private student by the legendary jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton.
1997 saw Gustavo settling in New York City and creating a name for himself. He has been awarded three Grammys as a producer, composer and performer, Best Latin Jazz Album (producer), Best Tango Album, and Best Instrumental Album that showcased his ability to create compositions that resonate with audiences worldwide. He has also had six Latin Grammy nominations and three nods for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.
As an educator, Casenave has held positions as Jazz Department Director at the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts and has conducted Tango Master Classes as well as being a guest artist lecturer at The Juilliard School, Yale University, Eastman School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University.
Pianist Gustavo Casenave continues to contribute to jazz as a performer, composer, educator, and scholar, having published his first music theory book, “The Harmonic Structure Levels.
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