Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Tommy Turrentine was born Thomas Walter Turrentine, Jr. on April 22, 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is the older brother of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.

Tommy played in the bands of Benny Carter, Earl Bostic, Charles Mingus, Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie. While his brother had a successful career and recorded a number of albums over his lifetime, Tommy only recorded one album under his name with Julian Priester, Bob Boswell, Max Roach and Horace Parlan before retiring in the 1960s.

However, he recorded a number of sessions as a sideman with Sonny Clark, Booker Ervin, Lou Donaldson, Abbey Lincoln, Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra and his brother’s bands. In the late 1950s Turrentine began a working relationship with Max Roach that was spawned in part when he joined the Max Roach Quintet following the death of Clifford Brown.

In the 1970s he lived on the ground floor of a brownstone with his wife Jane on West 82nd Street in New York City, a street which during that period had a number of jazz luminaries living along its blocks between Broadway and Central Park, including Tommy Flanagan and Pharoah Sanders.

In the summer of 1979 Turrentine was one of several star trumpeters who appeared at the Village Gate for an all-star tribute to Blue Mitchell. He was also adept on the piano at chord blockings and was a compositional exponent of Thelonious Monk’s earlier chordal voicing. His bebop compositions combined a sophisticated and emotional fusion and poignant lyricism reminiscent of Benny Golson and with the passionate, spirited influence of the Brown/Roach Quintet. Trumpeter Tommy Turrentine passed away on May 13, 1997 in New York City.

Dose A Day – Blues Away

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mundell Lowe was born April 21, 1922 in Laurel, Mississippi and in the Thirties he played country music and Dixieland jazz. He later played with big bands and orchestras, and on television, and in the 1960s he composed music for films and television in New York City Los Angeles.

Mundell has performed and/or recorded with with a Who’s Who list not limited to Billie Holiday, Bobby Darin, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Helen Humes, Charles Mingus, Stan Getz, Doc Severinsen, Kai Winding and Sarah Vaughan. He also worked with Carmen McRae, Benny Carter, Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow, Barry Manilow, Andre Previn, Ray Brown, Kiri Te Kanawa, Tete Montoliu, Harry Belfonte and numerous others.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s Lowe was also a well-respected teacher at Dick Grove Music Workshop, later the Grove School of Music, in Studio City, California, teaching guitar as well as film scoring.

Lowe was responsible for introducing the pianist Bill Evans to producer Orrin Keepnews resulting in Evan’s first recordings as a leader. He is a regular featured performer at the annual W.C. Handy Music Festival and a member of the W.C. Handy Jazz All-Stars. He was inducted into the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame, was conferred an honorary Doctorate of Arts from Millsap College and proclaimed Mundell Lowe Day as July 18 by his home town of Laurel. The guitarist continues to teach, perform and record.

Inspire A Young Mind

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

James Edward Rowser was born on April 18, 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a professional jazz bassist he played with Philly Joe Jones from 1954, with Dinah Washington in 1956-57 and from 1957 to 1959 with Maynard Ferguson, as well as Red Garland.

By 1963 he was touring Mexico with Benny Goodman and followed with a stint in 1964 accompanying Friedrich Guida in South America. He would go onto play out the decade with Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Les McCann, with whom he recorded frequently.

The consummate sideman, bassist Jimmy Rowser can list 97 recording sessions to his name. He has played or recorded with Ray Bryant, Yusef Lateef, Junior Mance, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Illinois Jacquet, Hilton ruiz, Eddie Harris, Cannonball Adderley, Herb Ellis, Sonny Criss, Ben Riley and Albert “Tootie” Heath.

Dose A Day – Blues Away

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Benny Green was born in New York City on April 4, 1963 and grew up on the West coast in Berkeley, California. From the age of seven he studied classical piano and had an interest in jazz from an early point, as his father played jazz tenor saxophone.

Discovered by Faye Carroll, while still in his teens worked in a quintet led by Eddie Henderson. He attended Berkeley High, participated in the school’s jazz ensemble and in his later school career had a weekly trio gig at Yoshi’s, which marked his entrance to the world of professional jazz.

After graduation he spent time in San Francisco but became more successful on his return to New York. Green joined Betty Carter’s band in 1983 and since 1991 has led his trio, recording for Blue Note, Telarc and Criss Cross.

As an educator Benny frequently teaches in workshops across the United States, such as Jazz Camp West in California, and Centrum/Jazz Port Townsend in Washington. He currently is on faculty at the University of Michigan.

Pianist Benny Green has sixteen albums as a leader, 75 to date as a sideman and has performed and recorded with Art Blakey, Anat Cohen, Ray Brown, Gary Bartz, Bob Belden, Clark Terry, Don Braden, Cecil Brooks III, Arnett Cobb, Mark Elf, Larry Gales, Tim Hagans, Jay Hoggard, Freddie Hubbard and Milt Jackson among many, many others. He continues to perform, record and tour.

Give The Gift Of Knowledge

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jimmy McGriff was born James Harrell McGriff on April 3, 1936 in Germantown, Pennsylvania and started playing piano at the age of five. By his teens he learned to play vibes, alto saxophone, drums and upright bass. His first group was as bassist in a piano trio. When he joined the United States Army he served as an MP during the Korean War, later became a police officer in Philadelphia for two years.

Music kept drawing McGriff’s attention away from the police force. His childhood friend, Jimmy Smith began earning a substantial reputation and he became entranced by the organ sound while Richard Groove Holmes played at his sister’s wedding. Holmes went on to become his teacher and friend.

Buying his first Hammond B-3 organ in 1956, spent six months learning the instrument, and then studied at New York’s Juilliard School. Influenced by Count Basie, Howard “The Demon” Whaley, Austin Mitchell and Milt Buckner with whom he studied privately and as well with Jimmy Smith and Sonny Gatewood.

Forming a combo Jimmy played around Philadelphia often featuring tenor saxophonist Charles Earland, who soon switched to the instrument. During this time, McGriff also accompanied such artists as Don Gardner, Arthur Prysock, Candido and Carmen McRae, who came through town for local club dates.

In 1961, McGriff’s trio recorded an instrumental version of Ray Charles’ hit “I Got A Woman” for Jell Records, and after the record received substantial local airplay, Sue Records picked it up and recorded a full album of McGriff’s trio, released in 1962. The album established his credentials as a fiery blues-based organist, well versed in gospel, soul and “fatback groove”.

McGriff would recorded a series of popular albums by the mid Sixties ending with what still stands as one of his finest examples of blues-based jazz, Blues for Mister Jimmy. Over the next decade he went on to continue recording for Solid State, opened his own supper club “The Golden Slipper” in Newark, New Jersey and performed regularly performed with the Buddy Rich Band.

Though he retired from the music industry in 1972 to start a horse farm in Connecticut his records were being issued at three to four a year by Sonny Lester’s Groove Merchant label. By 1973, Jimmy was touring relentlessly and actively recording again and though disco was gaining a hold it did little to stop the organist. He produced some of his best music during this period: Stump Juice, Red Beans and Outside Looking In.

The 1980s saw McGriff working with Rusty Bryant, Al Grey, Red Holloway, David “Fathead” Newman, Frank Wess and Eric Alexander, and started a longtime partnership with Hank Crawford. Into the new millennium he experimented with the Hammond XB-3 and organ synthesizer with Midi enhancements. Along with his soul jazz sound, forming the Dream Team group he recorded and released his last album, McGriff Avenue in 2001.

On May 24, 2008 at the age of 72, hard bop and soul jazz organist and bandleader Jimmy McGriff, who left a catalogue of 57 albums to posterity, passed away in Voorhees Township, New Jersey from complications due to multiple sclerosis.

Take A Dose On The Road

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