Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles Tolliver was born on March 6, 1942 in Jacksonville, Florida and while still a child received his first trumpet from his grandmother. He attended Howard University in the early Sixties as a pharmacy student, but when he decided to pursue music as a career he moved to New York City.
Coming to prominence in 1964, playing and recording on Jackie McLean’s Blue Note albums, seven years later he and Stanley Cowell founded Strata-East Records. The label was one of the pioneer jazz artist-owned and Tolliver released many albums and collaborations as a leader.
Following a long hiatus, he reemerged in the late 2000 decade, releasing two albums arranged for big band “With Love” that was nominated in 2007 for a Grammy award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble and “Emperor March: Live at the Blue Note” in 2009.
He has recorded with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Gary Bartz, Cecil McBee, Jimmy Hopps, Alvin Queen, Jon Faddis, Charles McPherson, Reggie Workman, John Hicks, Billy Harper, Robert Glasper, Max roach, Horace Silver and McCoy Tyner to name a few.
Hard bop, post bop, modern big band, trumpeter Charles Tolliver continues to be a force in the jazz idiom.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dannie Richmond was born Charles Daniel Richmond on December 15, 1931 in New York City and grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. He started playing tenor saxophone at the age of thirteen, and went on to play R&B with the Paul Williams band in 1955.
His career took off when he transferred his talents to the drums, which he had taught himself to play in his early twenties, through the formation of what was to be a 21-year friendship and an indispensable ingredient of the Mingus sound. Upon Mingus’ death Richmond became the first musical director of the group Mingus Dynasty in 1980.
Drummer Dannie Richmond, best known for his work with Charles Mingus, died of a heart attack in Harlem, New York on March 16, 1988, at the age of 56.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Alterman was born November 16, 1988 in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from New York University with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Jazz Piano Performance.
He has performed at iconic venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland, and Blue Note, sharing stages with jazz greats like Houston Person, Les McCann, and Ramsey Lewis. He also had the privilege of opening for Dick Gregory at the Kennedy Center.
He leads his trio or performs solo with a deep groove, bluesy touch, and an exuberance that’s hard to resist, his playing is both deeply rooted and refreshingly modern. He has recorded eight critically acclaimed albums to his name, including the 2023 release Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe, Alterman continues to evolve as a recording artist while honoring jazz’s deep traditions.
His creativity extends to his cultural leadership and writing. As the Executive Director of Neranenah, an Atlanta-based Concert & Culture series, he celebrates Jewish contributions to music and the arts. His writing has also garnered acclaim, he has penned liner notes for three Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra albums. Alterman was the subject of Nat Hentoff’s final piece on music and in 2025, he was featured on President Jimmy Carter’s Grammy-winning album, Last Sundays In Plains: A Centennial Celebration.
Pianist, composer, writer, and cultural curator Joe Alterman continues to record and swing with style all over the world.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chris Flory was born November 13, 1953 in New York City, New York and began playing guitar in his early teens. Around that time he heard his first jazz album, Forest Flower by Charles Lloyd. He was influenced by seeing live performances of Jimi Hendrix, B. B. King, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk during the late 1960s. Through his friend Scott Hamilton he met musicians and while babysitting the children of Gil Evans he listened to albums by Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. His music has been inspired by Charlie Parker, Charlie Christian, T-Bone Walker.
In his early teens Flory played in rock bands but three years later had a couple jazz lessons with guitarist Tiny Grimes. In the early 1970s he studied at Hobart College, and performed with Hamilton intermittently from 1975 through the early 1990s. He began to record his own albums as a leader after Hamilton’s quintet broke up.
From 1977 to 1983 Chris played in the Benny Goodman Sextet, then worked with Ruby Braff, Judy Carmichael, Roy Eldridge, Illinois Jacquet, Buddy Tate, Bob Wilber, Milt Hinton, Hank Jones, Duke Robillard, and Maxine Sullivan.
Guitarist Chris Flory, who has recorde six albums as a leader and as a sideman twenty-eight, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Theodore Powell was born October 24, 1914 in New York City. In the Thirties he worked with Frank Newton and other leaders in the city. In 1940 and ‘41 he recorded with Billie Holiday, whose band was composed of Roy Eldridg, Carl Frye, Kermit Scott, Sonny White, Lawrence Lucie, John Williams and Hal West. The second date had him working with Lester Boone, Ernie Powell, Eddie Heywood, Paul Chapman, Grachan Moncur, and Herbert Cowans.
Throughout the decade he recorded with Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra. The resulting album was released in 1960 as Mr. B. He also recorded in New York with Don Byas and Hal Singer. Powell then joined the Illinois Jacquet Orchestra with Tadd Dameron and Jimmy Mundy arranging
The Fifties saw Jimmy as a member of the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band that recorded Groovin’ High live at Birdland. He went on to record several albums with Gillespie. He recorded with Betty Carter, Bernard Purdie and Otis Redding. Throughout the rest of his career he performed and recorded into the !970s.
Alto saxophonist Jimmy Powell died on February 16, 1994.
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