Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Morty Corb was born Mortimer Gerald Corb on April 10, 1917 in San Antonio, Texas. He played four years with Bob Crosby’s television program, Morty also worked extensifly as a studio session musician in studios, appearing on some 300 recordings. He worked in Disneyland bands after moving to California in 1947.

Particularly interested in scary, haunted house stuff, in 1973 Morty developed the “Hallowed Haunting Grounds”, a trick or treating evening with a special flair for theatrical effects that made his homemade shenanigan impressive even to the Tinsel Town crowd.

His name has been mentioned alongside Wrecking Crew studio bassist Carol Kaye, he curbed his session availability as the rock and roll era progressed or perhaps regressed. The bassist instead went to work at Disneyland, playing in the attraction’s bands but also mingling with special effects folk.

Corb’s long career began in 1946 and lasted until his death. He performed and recorded with Pete Fountain, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey, Louis Armstrong, Claude Thornhill, Kid Ory, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Pete Kelly, Barney Kessel, Claire Austin, George Van Eps, Eartha Kitt, Mel Lewis, Earl Grant, Red Nichols, Wild Bill Davison, Muggsy Spanier, Plas Johnson, Gene Krupa, Louie Bellson, Jonah Jones, and Billy May among numerous others.

Double bassist Morty Corb, whose only album as a leader recorded in Los Angeles, California was his 1957 Strictly From Dixie featuring His Dixie All Stars, passed away on January 13, 1996 Las Vegas, Nevada..

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joseph Robichaux was born on March 8, 1900 in New Orleans, Louisiana and played piano from a young age and studied at New Orleans University. After working in the O.J. Beatty Carnival, he played with Tig Chambers briefly in 1918, then returned to New Orleans where he played with Oscar Celestin, Earl Humphrey, Lee Collins, and The Black Eagles.

Arranging for the Jones-Collins Astoria Hot Eight in 1929, Joe also recorded with them. He accompanied Christina Gray on record that year. In 1931 he formed his own ensemble, which featured Eugene Ware on trumpet, Alfred Guichard on clarinet and alto saxophone, Gene Porter on tenor sax, and Ward Crosby on drums.

The group journeyed to New York City to record for Vocalion in August 1933, laying down twenty-two mostly stomping, uptempo sides and two alternate takes in a marathon five day recording schedule which included Rene Hall on tenor banjo. Vocalion issued ten records over the next year and two tracks with Chick Bullock vocals were issued under his name on Banner, Domino, Oriole, Perfect, and Romeo.

Working and recording during the height of Jim Crow, problems arose with the musicians’ union in New York that prevented the group from playing live there, so they returned to New Orleans not long after recording. Robichaux expanded the size of his ensemble over the course of the 1930s, with Earl Bostic was among those who joined its ranks.

Touring Cuba in the mid-1930s, the band also recorded for Decca Records in 1936, recording 4 sides in New Orleans, but unfortunately they were all rejected. By 1939 Robichaux’s ensemble disbanded and he found work as a solo performer, mostly in New Orleans. During the 1950s he recorded on R&B recordings and played with Lizzie Miles.

From the late 1950s to the mid Sixties he played with George Lewis, Peter Bocage; and performed at Preservation Hall. Pianist Joe Robichaux passed away of a heart attack at the age of 64 on January 17, 1965 in his hometown.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Sterling Belmont “Bozo” Bose was born on September 23, 1906 in Florence, Alabama and his style was heavily influenced by Bix Beiderbecke and changed little over the course of his life.

His early experience came with Dixieland jazz bands in his native Alabama before moving to St. Louis, Missouri in 1923. He played with the Crescent City Jazzers, the Arcadian Serenaders, and the Jean Goldkette’s Orchestra in 1927-28 after the departure of Beiderbecke. Following this he worked in the house band at radio station WGN in Chicago, Illinois before joining Ben Pollack from 1930 to 1933. He also worked with Eddie Sheasby in Chicago.

Moving to New York City in 1933, Bose had many gigs in the city during the 1930s to the mid 1940s, including time with Joe Haymes, Tommy Dorsey, Ray Noble, Benny Goodman, Lana Webster, Glenn Miller, Bob Crosby, Bobby Hackett, Bob Zurke, Jack Teagarden, Bud Freeman, George Brunies, Bobby Sherwood, Miff Mole, Art Hodes, Horace Heidt, and ending with Tiny Hill in 1946.

Following this period he did some further freelancing for the next two years in Chicago and New York, and finally moved to Florida in 1948, setting up his own bands there. Suffering from an extended period of illness in the 1950s, trumpeter and cornetist Sterling Bose, whose nickname was Bozo, eventually committed suicide in June of 1958. in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joe Tarto was born Vincent Joseph Tortoriello on February 22, 1902 in Newark, New Jersey. He played trombone from age 12 before settling on tuba as a teenager. When World War I hit, he enlisted and played in an Army band where he was wounded, and received his release in 1919.

The 1920s saw him working with Cliff Edwards, Paul Specht, Sam Lanin, and Vincent Lopez, in addition to doing arrangement work for Fletcher Henderson and Chick Webb and playing in pit orchestras on Broadway. Throughout the 1920s recording copiously, he accompanied among others, Bing Crosby, The Boswell Sisters, Ethel Waters, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Miff Mole, Red Nichols, The Dorsey Brothers, Bix Beiderbecke, and Phil Napoleon.

During the 1930s he spent two years playing with Roger Wolfe Kahn, then worked extensively as a session musician both on tuba and double bass. He also played with radio ensembles and in theater and symphony orchestras. He remained active as a performer into the 1980s, playing in Dixieland jazz revival groups in his last years. Tubist and bassist Joe Tarto passed away on August 24, 1986 in Morristown, New Jersey.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Harold Andrew Dejan was born on February 4, 1909 into a Creole family in New Orleans, Louisiana and took clarinet lessons as a child before switching to the saxophone. He became a professional musician in his teens, joining the Olympia Serenaders and then the Holy Ghost Brass Band.

He played regularly in Storyville, at Mahogany Hall, and on Mississippi riverboats. He also worked in the mail office of the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company for 23 years. In World War II, he played in Navy bands, then returning to his day job and his parallel musical career after the war, he led his own band, Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band, from 1951, was considered one of the top bands in New Orleans.

The band often appeared at Preservation Hall, recorded nine albums, and also toured internationally, making 30 concert tours of Europe and one of Africa. It was featured in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, and as well as in many TV commercials.

Suffering a stroke in 1991 left him unable to play the saxophone, but he continued as a band leader and singer until shortly before his death. Alto saxophonist and bandleader Harold Dejan, known affectionately as Duke, passed away on July 5, 2002 in New Orleans.

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