Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jon Larsen was born on January 7, 1959 in Bærum, Norway and when he was in his early teens he learned rock and soul songs on an acoustic steel-string guitar. Through friends, he learned about blues, jazz, flamenco, and classical guitar. After he heard Tears by Django Reinhardt on the radio, he decided that this is how he wanted his guitar to sound. At seventeen he formed a string trio and had his first professional job.

The 1970s Jon worked mainly as a painter until 1980 when he started the Hot Club de Norvege with guitarists Per Frydenlund and bassist Svein Aarbostad. They had a hit record when they performed with pop singer Lillebjørn Nilsen. He has worked with Chet Baker, Philip Catherine, Stéphane Grappelli, Warne Marsh, Biréli Lagrène, Babik Reinhardt and Jimmy Rosenberg. He has produced more than 450 jazz records for the label he founded, Hot Club Records.

He has led a group of musicians who played with Zappa and started the label Zonic Entertainment to record musicians who played with him .including Arthur Barrow, Jimmy Carl Black, Bruce Fowler, Bunk Gardner, Tommy Mars, and Don Preston.

A documentary Symphonic Django was released in 2008 about Larsen and guitar virtuoso Jimmy Rosenberg titled Jon & Jimmy, and appeared in the documentary film Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds  In 2012.

Gypsy jazz guitarist, record producer, painter, and amateur scientific researcher Jon Larsen, who founded the group Hot Club de Norvège and received the Buddy Award for his lifelong contribution to jazz, continues to perform, record and produce.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Theodore G. Brown was born into a musical family on December 1, 1927 in Rochester, New York. He learned banjo and violin from his father who also taught him to read music at six, and clarinet and tenor sax from his uncle. After playing in army bands from 1945 to 1947 and then in Hollywood, California for the following year, he moved to New York City.

He worked with Lennie Tristano and fellow pupils and associates Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh for two years beginning in  1955. During that time Ted recorded a session for Vanguard, worked with Ronnie Ball, and played a date in Hollywood with Warne Marsh.

>Returning to New York City he worked extensively in clubs. Brown recorded with Konitz in 1959, and again in 1976, while leading his own group in the late Seventies. He also worked and recorded with Art Pepper and Hod O’Brien.

Cool jazz tenor saxophonist Ted Brown, who recorded as a leader or co-leader thirteen albums and as a sideman was a part of five albums with Tristano, Marsh and Konitz, is 97 years old.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Michael DiPasqua was born May 4, 1953 born in Orlando, Florida into a highly musical family. He began his professional career very early, gigging as a drummer with a band co-led by Zoot Sims and Al Cohn while still in his mid-teens.

During the next few years DiPasqua played with Don Elliott and Gerry Mulligan, and also accompanied singers Jackie Cain and Roy Kral. Towards the end of the 70s, the drummer was for a number of years co-leader of Double Image, a vibraharp, marimba and bass quartet that toured internationally.

Michael then co-led Gallery and followed that with a spell in Later That Evening, a band led by Eberhard Weber, before joining Jan Garbarek. He was a consistently inventive percussionist with the ability to comfortably co-exist in a range of musical styles, from the modern end of the mainstream through jazz rock to the cutting edge of improvisational music.

He recorded three albums as a leader with his debut on the Inner City label in 1977. He went on to record as a sideman with Jan Garbarek for two albums, three with Eberhard Weber, and one each with Adelhard Roidinger and Robert Towner all for ECM. On a variety of other labels he recorded with Siegfried Fietz, Volker Kriegel, Marian McPartland, and Gerry Mulligan.

Beyond jazz, ​​Michael was locally known for his role in helping to develop over 300 Subway Sandwich Shops in Central Florida, as well as co-founding PCMD Management Company, which owns and operates over 40 Subway franchises.

Cool jazz drummer and percussionist Michael DiPasqua lost his battle with cancer on August 29, 2016. He was 63.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Don Ferrara was born on March 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York and began playing trumpet at the age of ten, avidly listening to jazz and swing era giants on both radio and records. Roy Eldridge became and remained his single most important influence on his playing. In 1945 he had a brief stint with Jerry Wald’s band, then moved over to George Auld.

Enlisting in the Army in mid-1946, during this time he played in a band with bassist Red Mitchell, drummer Howie Mann and met Warne Marsh. It was through him that he became interested in the work of Lennie Tristano. After his discharge he began studying with Tristano, something he continued to do until the 1960s. During this same period, Don taught and played in the big band assembled by Gene Roland for a Charlie Parker recording session, though he missed the recording session because of a date clash. He then joined Woody Herman’s Third Herd. After a year he returned to New York where he gigged and taught and continued his own studies with Tristano.

In the mid-1950s New York he played and sometimes recorded with various bands, including those of Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan. In the early Sixties Ferrara played a regular engagement with Tristano at New York’s Half Note Club and during the rest of the decade continued with his teaching. The early 70s, had him relocating to the west coast and joining Gary Foster’s teaching studio. He continued to live and teach in California through to the 90s, most of his teaching work being conducted at long range through audio cassettes.

Trumpeter Don Ferrara, who was also a skilled and highly individual soloist, died on January 18, 2011 in San Diego, California.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jan Verwey was born on February 24, 1936 in Vlissingen, The Netherlands. A self-taught harpist, he created his own style on this characteristic instrument. He is the only one who plays octaves on the harmonica.

Very much a bebopper and his unique self-developed instrumental technique, he boldly brings about his desired harmony and melody to his solo’s. During his first visit to the United States in 1990 he was immediately rushed into the recording studio by producer Bill Goodwin, Phil Woods drummer, to record The Dutch Connection which led to a performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands.

In 1991 he was back in the States being the only European invited to play at the festival Celebration Of The Arts in Watergap, as a soloist. He also gave a duo concert with pianist Hod O’brien who recorded with Chet Baker at The Dearhead Inn. In 2007 he was playing at festivals in Medicine Hat and Calgary in Canada. He has toured Europe, playing in Copenhagen, Denmark as well as Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Rhede and Darmstadt in Germany.

He has a nomination for the Pall Mall Export Award, was a guest soloist with the Metropole Orchestra, in addition to guest performances on television- and radio shows. As a composer he has written for television series, documentaries and commercials.

He has recorded eight albums as a leader with his last being his 2019 The Music of Horace Silver. Harmonica player Jan Verwey, who plays bebop and cool jazz, continues to perform.

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