Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Grant Stewart was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on June 4, 1971. His father was a part-time jazz guitarist and at age ten, he played alto saxophone solos from saxophonists Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, and Wardell Gray that had been transcribed by his father. In his early teens, he was gaining experience with such artists as Pat LaBarbera and Bob Mover. By 18 he was leading a quartet in Toronto and had a regular gig at C’est What café and pub.
A move to New York City when he was 19 saw Grant working with guitarist Peter Bernstein and saxophonist Jesse Davis. He then began playing at Smalls Jazz Club from when it opened in 1993. His younger brother, Philip, has been his drummer since 2005.
For his 2007 recording Young at Heart, Stewart chose some challenging compositions, including by Elmo Hope and Neal Hefti, as well as originals. On Around the Corner in 2010, Stewart also played soprano sax.
Saxophonist Grant Stewart continues to play steady swinging hard bop, with a current catalog of seventeen albums as a leader and has recorded with Ehud Asherie and John Swana.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager is placing Mode For Joe on the turntable and is another timeless classic that influenced my listening in the Eighties and has since been a part of my collection. Recorded and released in 1966 box tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, it would be the last Blue Note album to feature Henderson as a leader in the classic era. The session was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on January 27, 1966, and produced by Alfred Lion for Blue Note Records.
It is a concept album combining modal and hard bop modes aimed at creating an oceanic atmosphere. Many of the track titles refer to marine biology or the sea, and the musicians develop the concept through their use of space. The album was presented with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
A Shade of Jade, Mode for Joe, Black, Caribbean Fire Dance, Granted, and Free Wheelin’ are the six compositions that make up the hard-bop album. The personnel on the date are tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Joe Chambers.
So stay diligent my fellow voyagers in being healthy, continue to practice social distancing, and don’t be so anxious to rush back to the new normal. It has been said that music soothes the savage beast, so listen to great music. I share that music to give you a little insight into the choices this voyager has made over the years during this sabbatical from jet setting investigations of jazz around the globe.
More Posts: adventure,club,genius,jazz,museum,music,preserving,restaurant,saxophone,travel,voyager
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Gant was born on May 26, 1931 in Detroit, Michigan. His first gigs were with Billy Mitchell and Pepper Adams, and after working with Little John Wilson and his Merry Men at the Madison Ballroom, including four days backing Billie Holiday, he went on to join Alvin Jackson’s house band at the Blue Bird..
Gant recorded with Donald Byrd, Sonny Stitt, and extensively with Yusef Lateef in the late 1950s and then Red Garland before becoming a member of Ahmad Jamal’s trio from 1966 to 1976. As the house drummer at Detroit’s Club 12, with Jackson’s band, he backed Thelonious Monk and Charlie Rouse in September 1959. In the 1970s, he accompanied Jamil Nasser and Harold Mabern as the rhythm section for workshops run by Cobi Narita.
From 1955 to 1986 he recorded as a sideman or group member on twenty albums with the above-mentioned musicians, as well as several with Al Haig. There is no more information following this recording period about the drummer as he has never been a leader, however, at eighty-nine he may still be occasionally performing.
More Posts: drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Daniel Humair was born May 23, 1938 in Geneva, Switzerland and played clarinet and drums from the age of seven and won a competition for jazz performance in his teens. By the time he was twenty he was in Paris, France accompanying visiting musicians with his most celebrated season with tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson at a club called Le Chat Qui Pèche.
Humair became the drummer American musicians would ask to work with, despite a gig with the Swingle Singers in the early 60s. In 1967 he played on violinist Jean-Luc Ponty’s debut Sunday Walk, also contributing the title track. When alto saxophonist Phil Woods emigrated to Paris in 1968 it was natural that Humair should be the drummer in what Woods called the European Rhythm Machine.
In 1969 he won the Downbeat critics’ poll as Talent Deserving Wider Recognition. Humair was so in demand that his job-sheet reads like a list of the pre-eminent names in jazz, Herbie Mann , Roy Eldridge, Stéphane Grappelli, Chet Baker, Michel Portal, Martial Solal, Dexter Gordon, and Anthony Braxton all availed themselves of his graceful, incisive drums. He played with Gato Barbieri on the soundtrack to Last Tango In Paris in 1972.
In 1986, Daniel’s record Welcome on Soul Note, a record which listed all members of the quartet as leaders, was a perfect demonstration of his warmth and responsiveness as a drummer and continued to top drum polls in France well into the 90s. In 1991, Surrounded documented a selection of his work from 1964-87, including tracks with legends such as Eric Dolphy, Gerry Mulligan and Johnny Griffin – a neat way of giving Humair centre-stage and celebrating the breadth of his involvement with jazz history.
To date he has recorded more than four-dozen albums as a leader, became a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1986 and Officier in 1992. A talented painter, he describes his own work as figurative abstract. Drummer Daniel Humair continues to perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,composer,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager is pulling down from the shelves a timeless classic that has been a part of my collection since 1971. Maiden Voyage is the fifth album led by jazz musician Herbie Hancock and was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on March 17, 1965, for Blue Note Records.
It is a concept album combining modal and hard bop modes aimed at creating an oceanic atmosphere. Many of the track titles refer to marine biology or the sea, and the musicians develop the concept through their use of space. The album was presented with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.
The five compositions that comprise the album are Maiden Voyage, The Eye Of The Hurricane, Little One, Survival Of The Fittest and Dolphin Dance. The personnel on the date are pianist Herbie Hancock, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams.
Stay diligent my fellow voyagers in being healthy, continue to practice social distancing, and don’t be so anxious to rush back to the new normal. It has been said that music soothes the savage beast, so listen to great music. I share that music to give you a little insight into the choices this voyager has made over the years during this sabbatical from jet setting investigations of jazz around the globe.
More Posts: adventure,club,genius,jazz,museum,music,preserving,restaurant,travel,voyager