Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hampton Hawes was born November 13, 1928 in Los Angeles, California and his first experience at the piano was as a toddler sitting on his mother’s lap while she practiced. He was reportedly able to pick out fairly complex tunes by the age of three. Entirely self-taught and influenced by Earl Hines, Bud Powell and Nat King Cole, by his teens Hawes was playing with the leading jazz musicians on the West Coast, including Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Art Pepper, Shorty Rogers and Teddy Edwards. His second professional job, at 19, was playing for eight months with Howard McGhee’s Quintet at the Hi De Ho Club, in a group that included Charlie Parker, who became a great influence on his playing.
After serving in the U.S. army in Japan from 1952–1954, Hampton formed his own trio, with the bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Chuck Thompson. The subsequent three-record “Trio” sessions made by this group in 1955 for Contemporary Records were considered some of the finest records to come out of the West Coast at the time. The following year he added guitarist Jim Hall for the “All Night Sessions” that produced three records made during a non-stop recording session at the Contemporary Studios in Los Angeles.
In 1956, Hawes won the “New Star of the Year” award in Down Beat magazine, “Arrival of the Year” in Metronome magazine and the following year Hawes recorded in New York City with Charles Mingus on the album “Mingus Three”.
Struggled for many years with a heroin addiction and became the target of a federal undercover operation in Los Angeles in 1958. The DEA bargained that Hawes would inform on dealers in L.A. rather than risk a successful career. Coerced into selling a small amount of heroin to an undercover agent, he was arrested on his 30th birthday. Refusing to talk landed him a twice the mandatory minimum, ten-year sentence at Fort Worth Medical Facility, a federal prison hospital. However, after serving three years, in 1963 he was granted Executive Clemency by President Kennedy in 1963, the 42nd of only 43 such pardons given in the final year of Kennedy’s presidency.
After his release from prison, Hampton resumed playing and recording and during a world tour in 1967-68, the pianist was surprised to discover that he had become a legend among jazz listeners in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. During a ten-month period overseas he recorded nine albums, played sold out shows and concert halls in ten countries, and was covered widely in the press, appearing on European television and radio.
As a pianist Hawes’s style is instantly recognizable – for its almost unparalleled swing, unique approach to time and harmony, and its depth of emotional expression, particularly in a blues context. Hawes influenced a great number of other pianists including Andre Previn, Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver, Claude Williamson, Pete Jolly, Toshiko Akiyoshi and others.
Pianist Hampton Hawes died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage on May 22, 1977 at 48 years old. In 2004, the City Council of Los Angeles passed a resolution declaring November 13th “Hampton Hawes Day”.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Terumasa Hino was born in Tokyo, Japan on October 25, 1942. His initial exposure to music began at four was with his father, a step dancer and trumpeter, taught him tap-dancing. He soon began performing with the trumpet when he was 9 years old, later adding flugelhorn to his arsenal. In the Fifties, Hino began his career as a professional jazz musician and by 1965 after working with several noted jazz artists, he joined Hideo Shiraki’s Quintet. He remained with the band till 1969, leaving to lead his own band full-time, which he formed in 1964.
1969 saw Hino releasing his successful third album “Hi-nology” to critical acclaim and was soon performing at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide before settling in New York City in 1975. Once there he found work with numerous jazz musicians including among others Gil Evans, Elvin Jones, Jackie McLean, Ken McIntyre, Dave Liebman, Hal Galper, Carlos Garnett, Greg Osby and Sam Jones in between leading his own group, which is credited by the jazz guitarist John Scofield for him turning from fusion to jazz.
From the 1980s, he spent more time in Japan and helped incorporate several elements such as avant-garde and fusion into his music. Trumpeter Terumasa Hino has a current catalogue of fifty-one albums and he continues to perform, record and tour around the world.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Russell Gunn was born October 20, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois but grew up in East St. Louis when his family moved when he was nine. His interest in music led Russell to the trumpet and at Lincoln high school he joined the band where his cousin Anthony Wiggins, the band’s featured trumpeter, and the band director fueled his musical interest. Gunn spent two years at Jackson State University on a full music scholarship, moved back to East. St. Louis, freelancing and working odd jobs. While performing at Cicero’s in St. Louis in 1993 saxophonist Oliver Lake happened to hear the young trumpeter, and immediately invited him to perform at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
This was followed by a fortuitous appearance at a 4am jam session at the Blue Note where Denis Jeter, an assistant to Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center, heard and recommended him for the third trumpet chair in Marsalis’ Blood on the Fields. Receiving rave notices for his work with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Russell started earning recognition as one of the most dynamic and exciting musicians of his generation. Continuing to freelance with Lake and various other top jazz artists, Gunn began leading his own groups and in 1994 and issued his first recording for the legendary Muse record label, “Young Gunn”.
Always fascinated with hip-hop Russell suffered undue criticism from the neo-conservative jazz mainstream for his culture style of dress, however, Russell’s virtuoso abilities and command of all musical styles from funk to the avant-garde evidenced a serious new talent on the scene. His eclectic musical approach had him collaborating with Cee-Lo, Maxwell, D’Angelo, Ne-Yo, Branford Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
With a singular style that incorporates the influences of masters like Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, and the underrated Booker Little, Gunn has continued to gain recognition for his own music through touring and well-received albums, including the Grammy-nominated Ethnomusicology, Vol. 1 and Ethnomusicology Vol. 2.
Understanding his range means listening as he interprets the standards on Mood Swings, putting on a twist as he Plays Miles Davis, challenging the parameters of freedom in jazz with his latest Ethnomusicology project “Return Of Gunn Fu” or his requiem with Love Stories. Trumpeter Russell Gunn continues to compose, record, perform, tour worldwide and push the jazz envelope with his groups “Bionic” and “Electrik Butterfly”.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Biréli Lagrène was born September 4, 1966 in Soufflenheim, Bas-Rhin Alsace, France in a traditional manouche-Gypsy family and community. He started playing the guitar at the age of four. He grew up in the loving but tough environment of the “tzigane” or Romani Gypsies. His biggest influences came from family with a gifted violinist father. At age eight, he covered Django Reinhardt’s repertoire, at twelve won a Gypsy music festival in Strasbourg and later recorded his live performance on the double LP, “Route to Django”.
Offered the chance to leave for the U.S., Biréli met the greatest jazz musicians of the international scene such as Stephane Grappelli, Benny Goodman and Benny Carter. In 1984, he met Larry Coryell in New York, then later introduced to bassist Jaco Pastorious and ventured with him into jazz-fusion. Together, they toured Europe, which contributed a great deal to Lagrène’s musical emancipation.
Lagrène, a guitarist and bassist, came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt influenced style. He often performs within the swing; jazz-fusion and post bop mediums. He has also performed live with guitarist Al Di Meola, recorded “Gipsy Project” and “Gipsy Project & Friends” in 2002. He has thirty-seven albums and four film scores to date and continues to record, perform and tour.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wilton Lewis Felder was born August 31, 1940 in Houston, Texas and is both saxophonist and bass player. He is best known as an original member of The Jazz Crusaders, founded while still in high school, along with Joe Sample, Wayne Henderson and Stix Hooper.
The Jazz Crusaders evolved from a straight-ahead jazz combo into a pioneering jazz-rock fusion group, with a soul music influence. They dropped jazz from the name and became simply known as The Crusaders. Felder worked with the original group for over thirty years, and continues to work in its current versions, which often features other founding members.
Felder also worked as a west coast studio musician, mostly playing electric bass, for various soul and R&B musicians. He was one of the in-house bass players for Motown Records when the label opened operations in Los Angeles in the early 70s working with The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, America, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell and Michael Franks.
Wilton worked with Dizzy Gillespie, John Klemmer, Richard Groove Holmes, Grant Green and Milt Jackson among others during his studio years. His solo release titled “Secrets” featured vocalist Bobby Womack singing the hit “(No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up To You”. Wilton Felder continues to perform and record.