Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Darius Brubeck was born David Darius Brubeck on June 14, 1947 in San Francisco, California into a musical family. His father Dave and mother Iola Brubeck named after his father’s teacher and mentor, French composer Darius Milhaud. Moving from Oakland, California they settled in Wilton, Connecticut in 1960 and ultimately graduated from Wilton High School in 1965.
Darius majored in ethnomusicology and the history of religion at Wesleyan University, graduating cum laude in 1969. While there he composed and performed the music for the film Christopher’s Movie Matinee. During the next decade and into the early 1980s he would go on to lead two groups, The Darius Brubeck Ensemble and Gathering Forces, cross America as a sideman with Don McLean and record two albums with guitarist Larry Coryell. He toured the world and recorded as a member of Two Generations of Brubeck and The New Brubeck Quartet, both led by his father.
In 1983, Brubeck and his South African wife, Catherine, moved to Durban, South Africa, joined the music Department at the University of Natal and initiated the first degree course in Jazz Studies offered by an African university. In 1989, he was appointed as Professor of Jazz Studies and Director of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music, where he taught until 2005.
A move to London, England in 2005, Darius taught courses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Brunel University. Appointed as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Jazz Studies in 2007, he taught at Yıldız Technical University in Istanbul, turkey and subsequently at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2010.
His years in South Africa saw him forming five student/staff bands, record the album The Jazzanians: We Have Waited Too Long to be released in 2024, form the band Afro Cool Conceptwhich toured for nearly 15 years and recorded a live album in New Orleans.
As a composer Brubeck has written music for all types of ensemble, large and small. He has arranged and written an original composition for his father’s 80th birthday, and the Rockefeller Foundation awarded him a residency as a composer at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy.
Pianist, author, composer, arranger and educator Darius Brubeck, who has had a documentary film made by Michiel ten Kleij titled Playing the Changes: Tracking Darius Brubeck, currently leads The Darius Brubeck Quartet.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard M. Jones, born Richard Marigny Jones on June 13, 1892 in Donaldsonville, Louisiana and grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Suffering from a stiff leg he walked with a limp, causing fellow musicians to give him the nickname “Richard My Knee Jones” as a pun on his middle name. In his youth he played alto horn in brass bands. His main instrument, however, became the piano and by 1908 he was playing in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans. A few years later, he often led a small band which sometimes included Joe Oliver and also worked in the bands of John Robichaux, Armand J. Piron, and Papa Celestin.
In 1918, Jones moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked as Chicago manager for publisher and pianist Clarence Williams. Jones began recording in 1923, making gramophone records as a piano soloist, accompanist to vocalists, and with his bands The Jazz Wizards and The Chicago Cosmopolitans. He recorded for Gennett, OKeh, Victor, and Paramount record labels in the 1920s.
He also worked for OKeh Records as supervisor of the company’s “Race” Records for most of the decade, separately the Caucasian artists from the Black. During this period he was the producer of Louis Armstrong’s influential Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. In the 1930s, Jones performed a similar management role for Decca.
Pianist, composer, band leader, and record producer Richard M. Jones, sometimes written Richard Mariney Jones and who had numerous songs bearing his name as author, including Trouble in Mind and worked for Mercury Records until his death on December 8, 1945 in Chicago, at the age of 53.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Karl Sterling was born in Ithaca, New York on June 5, 1961. Growing up in a musical household, it was a natural thing for him to take to music and drums. Both parents attended the Ithaca College School of Music with his father, a drummer, composer/arranger, and band leader, his mother, a vocalist and pianist.
His interest turned to medicine and he became a nuerorehabilitation specialist, educator, and advocate for people with Parkinson’s disease. So in 2018 Karl founded the Parkinson’s Global Project nonprofit corporation dedicated to funding research and supporting associations around the world.
Using his musical talents to raise awareness of the disease, in 2019, Sterling recorded Dream, a project in which Jimmy Haslip, Jeff Richman, Peter Erskine, Scott Kinsey, and other musicians donated their time and talent.
He has since traveled, researching with and educating neurologists, physical therapists, fitness trainers, people with Parkinson’s, and caregivers all over the world.
Drummer Karl Sterling has spent the majority of his life in the Syracuse, New York area and continues to perform, compose and educate.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Corey Wilkes was born June 3, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois. He began his musical journey at a young age and received a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating, he became an in-demand touring and recording artist, collaborating with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roy Hargrove, Kahil El Zabar, James Carter, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Nicole Mitchell, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Makaya McCraven and many more.
Wilkes’ talents as a composer won him an Outstanding Achievement for Documentary Program ~ Historical Emmy Award for his film score for the Ida B Wells documentary. He is also a Grammy-nominated musician for his work as a member of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. His electro-acoustic soulmusic blends jazz, electronic music, and soulful vocals in his solo projects.
Beyond music Corey has also worked with visual artists such as Theaster Gates, Nick Cave, Lucy Slivinski and Rashid Johnson, creating multi-disciplinary performances that blend music, art, and culture. He has also worked with renowned House Music DJ’s such as Osunlade, Ron Trent, Jaimie Principle, and Vick Lavender, fusing jazz with electronic and house music.
Trumpeter, producer, composer and actor Corey Wilkes continues to captivate audiences around the world.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Morell was born into a family of guitarists on June 2, 1958 in Niagara Falls, New York. His father was his first teacher and together they would play jazz with him leading and his father accompanying him and then they would switch.
As he matured he began composing and controlling the setting. His most recent recording Trading Places is an album that swings with a more contemporary sound. Morell often played with drummer John Guerin and added organist and keyboardist Steve Bohanon to make a trio.
He and Guerin have played on 40 films and countless TV soundtracks or at recording sessions for albums. The guitarist figures he’s played on 40 films, and countless TV soundtracks and recordings.
In 1968 Berkeley, California he played a concert with the Gil Evans Orchestra and the Miles Davis Quintet. For four years beginning in 1970, John was a member of the Shelly Manne outfit. Then, for a period of time Morell gave up playing to focus on building furniture. Though it paid the bills it wasn’t satisfying and he returned to music, operating his own studio and continued to flourish in a side career as a woodworker.
Guitarist, organist and composer John Morell, best known for his work with drummer Shelly Manne’s sextet, continues to perform and record.
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