Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Johnny Windhurst was born John Henry Windhurst on November 5, 1926 in New York City, New York and was a self-taught trumpeter known for his solos. He considered Bix Beiderbecke, Wild Bill Davison, and Bunny Berigan among his influences and his feathery vibrato and mobility was mixed with the delicate playing style of Bobby Hackett.
At 15 he played his first public performance at Nick’s in New York City and made his professional debut during the spring of 1944 at one of Eddie Condon’s concerts at the Town Hall in New York City. At 18 years old, he was chosen to replace Bunk Johnson by Sidney Bechet to play at the Savoy Cafe in Boston, Massachusetts. Windhurst was initially recruited to the band to play the cornet and this engagement launched his career as a trumpeter.
He went on to play with Art Hodes and James P. Johnson at the Jazz at Town Hall concert in 1946. He then moved to the midwest and after a brief stint in the Chicago jazz scene he returned to the Savoy Cafe as a member of Edmond Hall’s band. Johnny eventually moved west to experience the West Coast jazz scene in California. His inability to read music had him declining gigs with Benny Goodman and Woody Herman while emphasizing his preference of informal jamming. Over the years, he played with musicians Louis Armstrong, Nappy Lamare, Walt Gifford, Edmond Hall and Eddie Condon. He led his own band, Riverboat Five, through Columbus, Ohio and Boston for several years, refraining from playing the most popular east coast venues and nightclubs to play college campuses and other small venues.
During the 1950s Windhurst worked with Ruby Braff in one of the groups known as Jazz at Storyville, performed at Condon’s club and performed with George Wettling, Jack Teagarden, Barbara Lea and took a stage role with actor Conrad Janis in an off-broadway musical titled, Joy Ride. He only made one recording with his swing quartet, the John Windhurst Quartet that included Buell Neidlinger as a sideman, titled Jazz at Columbus Avenue.
Throughout the 1960s and 70’s he opted to perform primarily in obscure venues in out-of-the-way corners of the USA. Despite his range of talent and success, Windhurst was seemingly content to hide from the big-time spotlight. He eventually moved upstate to Poughkeepsie with his mother, where he finished his career in a dixieland band at Frivolous Sal’s Last Chance Saloon. Several years later, after receiving an invitation to play the Manassas jazz festival in 1981, Windhurst passed away of a heart attack on October 2, 1981 in Dutchess County, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jack Delaney was born on August 27, 1930 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He studied at Southeastern Louisiana College and worked the late 1940s and early 1950s in New Orleans with Johnny Reininger, Sharkey Bonano and Tony Almerico.
Recordings were mainly mid-1950s with Almericos Parisian Room band with singer Lizzie Miles. Around this time he put together a group with Ken Colyer and Pete Fountain. From 1958 he worked at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans with Leon Kellner, later with Pete Fountain. His jazz career primarily spanned from 1950-1977 and he recorded 52 sessions.
Dixieland trombonist Jack Delaney, who also played the trumpet and sang, passed away on September 22, 1975.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Knocky Parker was born John William Parker, II on August 8, 1918 in Palmer, Ellis County, Texas. By the Thirties he was playing in Western Swing bands such as The Wanderers and the Light Crust Doughboys through the end of the decade before serving in the military during World War II.
After the war Parker worked with Zutty Singleton and Albert Nicholas, then earned a Ph.D in English and taught at Kentucky Wesleyan College and the University of South Florida. While fulfilling his teaching responsibilities he worked with Doc Evans, Omer Simeon, and Tony Parenti, among others, as well as working as a solo artist.
In the early 1960s he recorded every Scott Joplin rag, one of the first to do so. In addition, he recorded the complete works of Jelly Roll Morton. Knocky recorded extensively, for the labels Texstar, Paradox, GHB, London, Audiophile, Jazzology, and Euphonic.
Pianist Knocky Parker, who played primarily ragtime and Dixieland jazz passed away on September 3, 1986 in Los Angeles, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roy Crimmins was born on August 2, 1929 in London, England of Irish and English descent. Originally self-taught, he was later mentored by the American bass trombonist Ray Premru of the Philharmonic Orchestra, and Ted Heath’s principal trombonist Don Lusher.
Crimmins turned professional in 1952 when he joined the Mick Mulligan band and over a career spanning 50 years he has played and collaborated with Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Archie Semple, Freddy Randall, Harry Gold and Lennie Hastings to name a few notables.
Collaborating with Alex Welsh in 1954, they started their own band and recorded with clarinettist Pee Wee Russell and Wild Bill Davison. The band was active for the following decade until Roy moved to Germany in 1965 where he kept a consistent lineup and a regular group. From 1970 until 1977 he lived in Switzerland again putting together a group using the pseudonym of Roy King and recorded three albums.
During this period he toured Europe extensively, had his own television show in Vienna for five years, and In the late 1970s, Crimmins went back to England and worked once again with Welsh until his death in 1982.
By the mid 1980s, Crimmins was approached by Bob Wilber to join his Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington orchestras, interpreting the original Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton and Juan Tizol trombone solos, performing at the Nice and North Sea Jazz Festivals.
He was integral in establishing what is now known as the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Israel, moved to Tel Aviv, started the Israel Jazz Ensemble, and composed a commissioned concerto for Musica Nova that premiered at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to great acclaim. His music is still broadcasted regularly.
Trombonist, composer and arranger Roy Crimmins, who composed some two dozen original compositions, passed away at the age of 85 on August 27, 2014 in London, England.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Omer Victor Simeon was born on July 21, 1902 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a cigar maker. His family moved to Chicago, Illinois but he learned to play the clarinet from the New Orleans master Lorenzo Tio, Jr., and started playing professionally in 1920.
He worked in Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin with various bands, including Jimmy Bell’s Band and Charlie Elgar’s Creole Orchestra. Starting in 1926 he began playing with Jelly Roll Morton, and made a well regarded series of recordings with Morton’s Red Hot Peppers and smaller groups.
By 1927 he was a member of King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators with whom he moved to New York City. After time back in Chicago with Elgar, he joined Luis Russell in Manhattan, New York then again returned to Chicago in 1928 to play with the Erskine Tate Orchestra. 1931 saw him beginning a 10-year stint with Earl Hines.
In the 1940s he worked with Coleman Hawkins and Jimmie Lunceford. After some recordings with Kid Ory’s band, he spent most of the 1950s with the Wilbur de Paris band, including a tour of Africa in 1957. In 1954 he played saxophone in a duet on Louis Armstrong’s popular dixieland recording of Skokiaan.
Clarinetist Omer Simeon, who taught music and also played soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones and bass clarinet, passed away of throat cancer on September 17, 1959 in New York City at the age of 57.