Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rabih Abou-Khalil ربيع أبو خليل, was born August 17, 1957 in Beirut, Lebanon and studied the oud at the Beirut Conservatory with oudist Georges Farah. After moving to Munich, Germany at 21, he studied classical flute at the Academy of Music under Walther Theurer.
Combining elements of Arabic music with jazz, rock, or classical music, he has earned praise as a world musician years before the phrase became a label. Along with Tunisian oud virtuosos Anouar Brahem and Dhafer Youssef, he has helped establish the oud as an important instrument of Ethno jazz and world fusion.
Among other musicians, Abou-Khalil has worked with ARTE Quartett, Alexander Bălănescu, Luciano Biondini, Milton Cardona, Sonny Fortune, Michel Godard, Joachim Kühn, Howard Levy, Charlie Mariano, Ricardo Ribeiro, Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler. He has recorded for ECM, Enja, MMP, Granit, and World Village record labels.
Rabih has hosted the 13 part documentary television series Visions of Music, that explores the blending of jazz with different music styles of the world. The music of the TV-series was released on the album Visions of Music – World Jazz by Enja Records.
Oudist Rabih Abou~Khalil continues to be active in music, composing, recording and performing worldwide.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mikio Masuda 益田 幹夫, also known as Mickey Masuda, was born on August 14, 1949 in Osaka, Japan. Largely self-taught, he played bass at the age of 16, before switching to piano and performing in various Osaka clubs. Moving to Tokyo, Japan In 1969 he played around the Japanese jazz scene, notably in a quartet with Motohiko Hino, Shunzo Ohno and Terumasa Hino.
Recording his debut album Trace for East Wind Records in 1974, he followed it with his sophomore jazz-fusion album Mickey’s Mouth in 1976. The following years saw Masuda working with a number of Japanese musicians prior to moving to New York City in 1978. He recorded the album Corazón, and worked in New York City with David Matthews. He recorded the trio album Black Daffodils in 1996 with Ron Carter and Lewis Nash, and Blue Dumplings in 1998 with Ron Carter and Grady Tate.
In the field of jazz he was involved between 1972 and 1998 in 46 recording sessions, most recently with Chie Ayado. Pianist Mikio Masuda continues to be active on the jazz scene.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William E. Clark was born July 31, 1925 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He worked professionally starting shortly after World War II, playing drums with Jimmy Jones, Dave Martin, Mundell Lowe, and George Duvivier.
He was principally active in the 1950s, working with Lester Young, Mary Lou Williams, Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, Duke Ellington, Don Byas, Arnold Ross, Bernard Peiffer, George Shearing, Toots Thielemans, Ronnell Bright, Jackie Paris, and Rolf Kuhn. Later in his career Bill worked with Eddie Harris and Les McCann.
Drummer Bill Clark, known for his versatility playing Dixieland, swing, bebop, avant-garde and fusion, passed away on July 30, 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia.Share a dose of a Jonesboro drummer to inspire inquisitive minds to learn about musicians whose legacy lends their genius to the jazz catalog…
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jamaaladeen Tacuma was born Rudy McDaniel on June 11, 1956 in Hempstead, New York. Raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania he showed interest in music at a young age, taking up the electric bass and performing with the organist Charles Earland in his teens.
Through Earland, he came to know the record producer Reggie Lucas, who introduced Jamaaladeen to Ornette Coleman in 1975 at age 19. As the electric bassist for Coleman’s funky harmolodic Prime Time group, he rose to prominence quickly. During the 1980s he was playing a Steinberger bass that helped him create his readily identifiable sound.
His work with Prime Time got him an appearance with the band on Saturday Night Live in 1979. He went on to work with James “Blood” Ulmer, Walt Dickerson, Chuck Hammer, David Murray, and collaborated with The Golden Palominos in 1983. Tacuma recorded his first solo album as a leader, Show Stopper, that same year.
During the 1980s Jamaaladeen started to perform in a relatively straightforward funk/R&B setting with his group Cosmetic. He received the highest number of votes ever for an electric bassist in the “talent deserving wider recognition” category of the Down Beat magazine critics poll.
Though maintaining a low profile since the early 1990s, he has remained active but has maintained a lower profile. He has made numerous solo and collaborative recordings, returning to the jazz spotlight with an appearance on the World Saxophone Quartet’s Political Blues.
In 2007, he joined with Grant Calvin Weston and guitarist Vernon Reidto form the power trio Free Form Funky Freqs. He recorded two albums with Basso Nouveau. He has received numerous awards and fellowships and since 2015 he has presented the annual Outsiders Improvised & Creative Music Festival in Philadelphia. Bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma continues to tour, produce and record worldwide.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Edwin Morrissey was born on May 9, 1940 in Horley, Surrey, England. Self-taught, he started playing clarinet in his school band, The Delta City Jazzmen, at the age of sixteen with fellow pupils. He then joined the Original Climax Jazz Band before going on to join trumpeter Gus Galbraith’s Septet, where alto saxophonist Peter King introduced him to Charlie Parker’s recordings, Shortly afterward he began specializing on tenor saxophone.
Making his name as a hard bop player, Morrissey appeared regularly at the Marquee Club in 1960, and recorded his first solo album It’s Morrissey, Man! in 1961 at the age of 21 for Fontana Records. Spending most of 1962 in Calcutta, India as part of the Ashley Kozak Quartet, they played three 2-hour sessions seven days a week. Upon returning to the UK he formed his quartet and recorded three LPs, Have You Heard?, Storm Warning!, and Here and Now & Sounding Good!.
He went on to play regular gigs in London and during this time Dick also played extensively in bands led by Ian Hamer and Harry South, including The Six Sounds. He also played briefly in Ted Heath’s Big Band, Johnny Dankworth and his Orchestra, the Harry South Big Band. and Eric Burdon and The Animals’ Big Band.
The mid-1960s, saw Dick played with Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy Witherspoon, J. J. Jackson and Sonny Stitt together with guitarist Ernest Ranglin recorded with him during the Sixties and early Seventies.
In 1969, Morrissey by thenwas a many-time winner and runner-up of the Melody Maker Jazz Poll, and teaming up with another Melody Maker award-winner, guitarist Terry Smith, with whom he had worked in J. J. Jackson’s Band, to form an early jazz-rock group, If.
When If disbanded in 1975, he toured Germany and the United States, recording with the Average White Band, before meeting up with Glaswegian guitarist, Jim Mullen. With some of the members of AWB, together they formed Morrissey–Mullen, recording their first album, Up in 1976) in New York. On returning to Great Britain, Morrissey–Mullen formed another band which rapidly became Britain’s most highly acclaimed jazz-fusion band of the day. They ultimately recorded seven albums over the 16 years they were together, with Morrissey and Mullen collaborating on each other’s solo albums.
He went on to have numerous collaborations with Tubby Hayes, Bill Le Sage, Roy Budd, Ian Hamer, Ian Carr, Tony Lee, Tony Archer, Michael Garrick, Spike Robinson, Allan Ganley, Peter King, Ray Warleigh, and Hoagy Carmichael among others. Tenor and soprano saxophonist, flautist, and composer Dick Morrissey passed away on November 8, 2000.
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