Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Andy Narell was born March 18, 1954 in New York City and took up the steelpan at a very young age after his father invited Ellie Mannette to bring steel pan to Queens, New York in an attempt to get kids off the street and out of gangs.
Moving with his family to California in his teens he eventually studied music at the University of California, Berkeley. He played piano with UC Jazz Ensembles and graduated in 1973. In the 1980s he worked in the project Bebop & Beyond, recording tribute albums to Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. He has performed with the Caribbean Jazz Project, Montreux, Sakésho, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
A composer and arranger Andy has created music for Trinidad’s national steelband competition Panorama, and has also performed in South Africa. He has performed and recorded with Spyro Gyra, Taj Mahal, Toto and Mike Marshall and has recorded more than two dozen albums for Windham Hill, Inner City and Heads Up record labels and continues to compose, arrange, perform and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joachim Kühn was born March 15, 1944 in Leipzig, Germany. He was a musical prodigy and made his debut as a concert pianist, having studied classical piano and composition. Influenced by his elder brother, clarinetist Rolf Kühn, he simultaneously got interested in jazz and in 1961 he became a professional jazz musician.
He put together a trio in 1964 and presented the first free jazz in East Germany. In 1966 he left the country and settled in Hamburg and together with his brother played the Newport Jazz Festival and recorded with Jimmy Garrison on the Impulse Record label.
Kühn moved to Paris in 1968 and has since worked with Don Cherry, Karl Berger, Slide Hampton, Phil Woods and Jean-Luc Ponty among others. As a member of Association P.C. he turned to electronic keyboards and during the second half of the 70’s he lived in California and joined the West Coast fusion scene. This period saw him recording with Alphonse Mouzon, Billy Cobham, Michael Brecker and Eddie Gomez.
Returning to Europe and settled near Paris again, he has played in an acoustic trio with Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark and Daniel Humair since 1985. In the summer of 1996, he joined Ornette Coleman for two concerts at the Verona and Leipzig festivals, which opened the way for his Diminished Augmented System. He continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Norman Connors was born on March 1, 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He became interested in jazz as a child when he began to play drums and while in middle school once sat in for Elvin Jones at a John Coltrane performance. He continuing music studies took him to Temple University and Julliard.
His first recording was on Archie Shepp’s 1967 release, Magic of JuJu and then played with Pharoah Sanders for the next few years. In 1972 he signed with Cobblestone Records and released his first album as a leader. He went on to front some great jazz recordings with Carlos Garnett, Gary Bartz, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Herbie Hancock such as “Love From the Sun”.
By the mid 70s Norman’s focus leaned more towards R&B, scoring several U.S. hits with songs and love ballads featuring guest vocalists such as Michael Henderson, Jean Carn and Phyllis Hyman. He also produced recordings for various artists, including collaborations with Carn and Hyman and also Norman Brown, Al Johnson, and Marion Meadows.
Norman Connors is a drummer, composer, arranger and producer who has recorded for Buddah, Arista, Capitol, Motown and Shanachie record labels; worked with Howard Hewitt, Bobby Lyle, Ray Parker Jr., Peabo Bryson and Antoinette and has since ventured into disco and smooth jazz and urban crossover arenas.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Moses was born Rakalam Bob Moses on January 28, 1948 in New York City. Studying drums during his childhood by the time he was a teenager in 1964, he was playing with Roland Kirk. In 1966 he and Larry Coryell formed the jazz-fusion group “Free Spirits” two years later and then in 1967 began working with Gary Burton, with whom he would record with in the Seventies.
During this era he released his first album as a leader titled “Bittersuite” in 1975 followed by his “Devotion” in ’79. He was a member of “Compost” with Harold Vick, Jumma Santos, Jack Gregg and Jack Dejohnette; and began working with Dave Liebman/Open Sky, Pat Metheny, Hal Galper, Gil Goldstein, Steve Swallow, George Gruntz and Emily Remler to name a few.
Moses would continue to record from the 80s into the new millennium as a leader for Gramavision, Amulet, Navarre, Sunny Side and Jazzwerkstat record labels with many of his releases receiving critical acclaim.
Drummer Bob Moses currently performs alongside John Lockwood, Don Pate, and John Medeski with noted guitarist Tisziji Muñoz and teaches at the New England Conservatory.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dave Wecklwas born January 8, 1960 in St. Charles, Missouri and attended Francis Howell High School playing drums and majored in jazz studies at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. After graduating he hit New York City’s fusion scene and soon found himself working with artists such as Paul Simon, Madonna, George Benson, Michel Camilo, Robert Plant and Anthony Jackson.
Weckl’s popularity rose when he spent a total of seven years with Corea from 1985 to ’91 as a member of his Elektric Band and his Akoustic Band. During this period he worked as a session player, appeared with the GRP All-Star Big Band, recorded four albums with the Manhattan Jazz Quintet.
After leaving Corea’s band, Weckl recorded and toured with guitarist Mike Stern and under his own name, he has been the leader of ten recordings since 1990, seven of which as the Dave Weckl Band. Dave has also released a series of instructional videotapes, but around 1996, his style and setup radically changed, in large part because of his studies with Freddie Gruber. He continues to perform, record and tour.
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