Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Steven Dirk Gilmore was born January 21, 1943 in Trenton, New Jersey and picked up bass when he was twelve years old, playing locally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a teenager. At age 17 he enrolled at the Advanced School of Contemporary Music, run by Oscar Peterson.
Later in the 1960s Steve played with Ira Sullivan and the Baker’s Dozen Big Band. In 1967 he joined Flip Phillips’s group and remained until 1971, after which he worked with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Mose Allison, The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Phil Woods, Richie Cole, and the National Jazz Ensemble.
The 1980s saw him performing with John Coates, Meredith D’Ambrosio, Dave Frishberg, Hal Galper, Tom Harrell, and Toshiko Akiyoshi, as well as with Woods. Gilmore and Woods would remain collaborators well into the 1990s.
In 1988 he began working with Dave Liebman, with whom he would work intermittently through the late 1990s. Other performing and recording associations included Carol Sloane, Susannah McCorkle, Bill Charlap, and Jim Hall, Tony Bennett, Michele LeGrand, Tom Waits, Susannah McCorkle, and Eddie Jefferson.
An experienced clinician, he has recorded eight jazz Play-along teaching recordings with Jamey Aebersold. In addition he has produced two transcribed bass line books and has received three Best Of The Year Grammy Group Awards in 1977, 1982, 1983 as part of the Phil Woods Quartet. Bassist Steve Gilmore continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Al Foster was born on January 18, 1943 in Richmond, Virginia and grew up in New York City. He began playing drums at the age of 13 and made his recording debut on Blue Mitchell’s The Thing to Do at age 20.
He joined Miles Davis’s group when Jack DeJohnette left in 1972 and stayed with Davis until 1985. Foster began composing in the 1970’s, and has toured with his own band, including musicians such as bassist Doug Weiss, saxophonist Dayna Stephens, and pianist Adam Birnbaum.
He played with Miles Davis during the 1970s and was one of the few people to have contact with Davis during his retirement from 1975 to 1981. Al also played on Davis’s 1981 comeback album The Man with the Horn. He was the only musician to play in Davis’s band both before and after his retirement.
Other artists Foster has performed and recorded with include Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Randy & Michael Brecker, Bill Evans, George Benson, Kenny Drew, Carmen McRae, Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Dexter Gordon and Chick Corea.
Drummer Al Foster, who has toured extensively with Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson continues to engage in jazz.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
As we progress further into this new year with social distancing and self~quarantine from the madness of those who feel the need to live like it’s 2019 some of us have adapted to this new normal. For those of us who no longer consider this pandemic life interrupted, we kick back and relax and listen to music.
This week I chose the second studio album by guitarist Emily Remler titled Take Two. Credited to The Emily Remler Quartet, and she was joined on the recording session by pianist James Williams, bassist Don Thompson, and drummer Terry Clarke. Williams was best known at the time for his four years with The Jazz Messengers, and Thompson and Clarke frequently worked together as part of the Jim Hall Trio.
The hard bop album was produced by Carl E. Jefferson, recorded in June 1982 at Soundmixers, New York City and released on the Concord Jazz label the same month. Leonard Feather called the album a carefully planned and brilliant executed set of performances.
Track List | 42:24
- Cannonball (Cannonball Adderley) ~ 4:48
- In Your Own Sweet Way (Dave Brubeck) ~ 4:52
- For Regulars Only (Dexter Gordon) ~ 6:43
- Search For Peace (McCoy Tyner) ~ 5:17
- Pocket Wes (Emily Remler) ~ 6:45
- Waltz For My Grandfather (Emily Remler) ~ 6:35
- Afro Blue (Mongo Santamaría) ~ 2:24
- Eleuthra (Monty Alexander) ~ 6:20
- Emily Remler – electric guitar
- James Williams – piano
- Don Thompson – bass
- Terry Clarke – drums
I’m in this for the long run and we’re going to get through this pandemic, so when the world opens back up for international travel, I’m hitting the friendly skies to once again jet setting around the globe. In the meantime, stay vigilant, wear masks and remain healthy.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Calvin “Cal” Massey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 11, 1928 and studied trumpet under Freddie Webster. Following his studies, he played in the big bands of Jay McShann, Jimmy Heath, and Billie Holiday.
In the late 1950s Cal headed an ensemble with Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, and Tootie Heath. Occasionally John Coltrane and Donald Byrd would play with Massey’s group and in the 1950s he gradually receded from active performance and concentrated on composition.
His works were recorded by Coltrane, Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, Philly Joe Jones, Horace Tapscott and Archie Shepp. Massey played and toured with Shepp from 1969 until 1972 and also performed in The Romas Orchestra with Romulus Franceschini.
Massey’s political standpoint was radical and his work was strongly connected with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ’70s. The Black Panther Party was an inspiration for The Black Liberation Movement Suite which he created with Franceschini and was performed three times at Black Panther benefit concerts. His ideology resulted in him getting whitelisted from major recording companies and only one album was recorded under his name.
Trumpeter and composer Cal Massey passed away from a heart attack on October 25, 1972 at the age of 44 in New York City, New York.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Musa Kaleem was born Orlando Wright on January 3, 1921 in Wheeling, West Virginia. He bought a clarinet in 1937, and by 1939 was touring as a saxophonist with the El Rodgers Mystics of Rhythm, featuring Eddie Jefferson on lead vocals.
In the early 1940s he began using the name Gonga Musa, and then Musa Kaleem, the name by which he is best known. He played often in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the Fortiess, gigging with Erroll Garner, Mary Lou Williams, and Art Blakey.
In the middle of the decade he toured with Fletcher Henderson, then relocated to New York City and played with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, and the Savoy Sultans by the end of the 1940s. The 1950s saw Kaleem playing on cruise ships, however, upon his return in the 1960s he played with James Moody, Coleman Hawkins, Tiny Grimes, and rejoined Jefferson.
Saxophonist and flautist Musa Kaleem passed away on March 26, 1988 in Los Angeles, California.