Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Robert Sherwood Haggart was born March 13, 1914 in New York City, New York. He became a member of the Bob Crosby Band in 1935 and composed and arranged Big Noise from Winnetka, My Inspiration, What’s New?, and South Rampart Street Parade. He remained with the band until its 1942 dissolution. He went on to work as a session musician, with much of his time spent at Decca Records.
He recorded with Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Ella Fitzgerald and his arrangements can be heard on Fitzgerald’s album Lullabies of Birdland. Haggart also starred in several commercials for L&M cigarettes on the radio program Gunsmoke.
He and Yank Lawson formed the Lawson~Haggart Band, and together led the World’s Greatest Jazz Band from 1968 until 1978. Over the next two decades he appeared at jazz festivals. Double bassist, composer and arranger Bob Haggart, who was associated with dixieland and swing, transitioned on December 2, 1998 in Venice, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Arthur Probert, Jr. was born on March 5, 1927 in Los Angeles, California and was an autodidact on his instruments. He first played with Bob Scobey from 1950 to 1953 and then went on to play with Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band.
Between 1954 and 1969, George played in the Firehouse Five Plus Two Dixieland Revival Band, an ensemble formed by Walt Disney Studios animators. They recorded with Disney composer George Bruns in 1957 and again in 1968.
Probert led his own bands from 1973, touring America and Europe. In 1997 he toured England, Germany & the Netherlands with Big Bill Bissonnette’s International Jazz Band. The all-star group featured Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen of New Orleans & British pianist Pat Hawes.
Clarinetist, soprano saxophonist and bandleader George Probert, who also worked as a television and movie music editor, transitioned on January 10, 2015 in Monrovia, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Albert “Abbie” Brunies was born on January 19, 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana into a famous musical family, which counted among its members George Brunies and Merritt Brunies.
He was the leader of the Halfway House Orchestra from 1919 to about 1927, playing at the Halfway House Club in New Orleans. This ensemble recorded for Okeh Records in 1925. Among the musicians who played in this group were New Orleans Rhythm Kings members Charlie Cordella, Mickey Marcour, Leon Rappolo, Sidney Arodin, Bill Eastwood, Joe Loyacano and Leo Adde.
He played in New Orleans into the mid-1940s, after which time he moved to Biloxi, Mississippi. There he played with Merritt in the Brunie Brothers Dixieland Jazz Band. Unfortunately, this ensemble recorded sparsely. Cornetist Abbie Brunies transitioned on October 2, 1978.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Abbey “Chinee Bébé” Foster was born on January 9, 1902 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A self-taught jazz drummer, he played in Storyville with William Ridgley’s Tuxedo Orchestra, and with Buddie Petit in the Eagle Band.
He recorded with Celestin’s Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra in 1927. After years of retirement, he made a comeback with Punch Miller’s Band at Preservation Hall in 1961.
On September 12, 1962 drummer Abbey Foster transitioned in his hometown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Willie James Humphrey was born on December 29, 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana into a musical family, the son of prominent local clarinetist and music teacher Willie Eli Humphrey. His brothers Earl and Percy also became well known professional musicians.
After establishing himself with such New Orleans bands as the Excelsior and George McCullum’s band, Humphrey traveled north, playing with Lawrence Duhé, and King Oliver in Chicago, Illinois. In the 1920s he made his first recordings in St. Louis, Missouri.
Returning to New Orleans, he played for many years with the Eureka and Young Tuxedo Brass bands, the bands of Paul Barbarin and Sweet Emma Barrett, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Clarinetist Willie Humphrey, whose playing remained vigorous and continued to grow more inventive in his old age, passed away at 93 on June 7, 1994.
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