Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roy Assaf was born on April 10, 1982 in Beersheba, Israel and studied at Tel Aviv Conservatory. Coming to America he continued his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and then migrated to New York City and while earning his Master of Art at the Manhattan School of Music, he established his reputation as one of the most sought-after young pianists in the New York jazz scene.
After a meeting with legendary bassist and producer John Lee soon found Roy touring around the world and playing the most prestigious festivals, clubs, and concert halls with the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars, a band that included James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Paquito D’Rivera, Roy Hargrove, Lewis Nash, Randy Brecker, Antonio Hart, and other jazz masters.
Before long, Assaf was getting calls from some of the world’s most influential contemporary jazz bands that included the Slide Hampton Sextet, The Mingus Big Band, Steve Turre’s bands, Roberta Gambarini Quartet, David Sanborn Group, Claudio Roditi Quartet, and many others.
In 2012, he released his debut album, Respect, on Jazz Legacy Productions accompanied by bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson. The following year he formed a trio with Raviv Markovitz on bass and Jake Goldbas on drums and together they began to establish the unique voice of the Roy Assaf Trio.
Pianist and composer Roy Asssaf, who has released two albums and has won several awards including one from ASCAP, a Eubie Blake and two from DownBeat and others, continues to perform across the globe.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Bain was born January 26, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois and began his professional career in the 1940s playing guitar in popular big band outfits led by Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby. He is credited with guitar on one of Dorsey’s biggest hits, Opus No. 1.
An unusually early adopter of the electric guitar, Bob started playing an early Gibson Les Paul model before switching to a modified 1953 Fender Telecaster. Like most jazz guitarists, he also favoured semi-acoustic models such as the Gibson L-5 and ES-150.
A long time collaborator with composer Henry Mancini, he is also credited with the guitar introduction to the theme from the popular 1950s television private detective series Peter Gunn. Bain contributed his guitar talents on another of Mancini’s significant soundtrack albums, the musical score to the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, as well as playing on the soundtrack to the television Western series Bonanza.
Guitarist Bob Bain, who was mainly known for his film music contributions, including Dr. Zhivago, where he played the balalaika in the score for certain scenes where Lara’s Theme is heard, died on June 21, 2018 in Oxnard, California. He was 94.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ethel Smith was born Ethel Goldsmith on November 22, 1902 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began performing from a fairly young age. Traveling widely, after studying both music and several languages at Carnegie Institute of Technology, she became proficient in Latin music while staying in South America.
Smith performed in several Hollywood films such as George White’s Scandals and Melody Time. Her appearance in these films brought notoriety to her colorful, elaborate costumes, especially her hats.
Her rendition of Tico Tico became her best-known hit. She performed it in the MGM film Bathing Beauty in 1944, after which her recording reached the U.S. pop charts that November, peaking at #14 and selling nearly two million copies worldwide. Her other well known hits were Down Yonder and Monkey on a String.
Smith was a guitarist as well as an organist, and in her later years occasionally played the guitar live for audiences, but all her recordings were on the organ. She recorded dozens of albums, mostly for Decca Records.
Organist Ethel Smith, who became widely known as associated with Latin music, transitioned on May 10, 1996, at age 93 in Palm Beach, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Benitez was born on November 12, 1956 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and his family moved to Europe soon after his birth for his father’s work. Raised in Italy and Spain, the family returned to the U.S. when he was nine and settled in Brooklyn, New York. He formed his first band at age twelve and began competing and winning local battles of the bands in Brooklyn. It was at one such battle of the bands where he was discovered by an AR person from Fania Records. Soon after the teenage guitarist was signed to the label.
Playing his first concert at Marcala la paz Honduras in front of 20,000 fans soon after joining the label in 1976, his performance with his band Nebula and the Fania All Stars marked the beginning of his early rise to fame as a guitarist. His debut release Nightlife was followed six months later with Essence of Life. He would later perform with such stars as Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaría.
His musical style began with Latin jazz as part of the Fania family, and would later incorporate smooth jazz and world music styles. His performing career came to a sudden halt at the age of 23 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, changing his life forever. Surviving cancer he took time off to reflect on life and spirituality and throughout his life Benitez has claimed to have had many spiritual visions, including those that occurred while overcoming a heart attack and an unexplained three-day coma.
He returned to performing with a private concert in Phoenix, Arizona in 2003 and it was there that reports that some in attendance saw mysterious beings, some would claim they were angels, on the stage with Benitez when he performed. That event gave rise to the title of his book and his tour.
Guitarist Eddie Benitez transitioned on January 17, 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Manny Flores Jr. was born in El Paso, Texas on October 9, 1954. He spent his first eighteen years of life as an army brat, traveling and listening to music in a variety of different places. He began his playing career in the summer of 1971 at a gig at the Fort Huachuca NCO Club. At this time his inspiration for the bass was fellow left-handed bass player Paul McCartney. Graduating from Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona in l972.
He also listened to jazz when he would buy Blue Note LPs at the bargain bin with Eric Dolphy and Charles Mingus among his favorites. He then graduated from Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona in 1974 with an Associates degree in Liberal Arts. By 1975 he was back in his hometown of El Paso and began playing in various groups including Top 40 and Country/Western groups in New Mexico, Wyoming and Arizona. Enrolling at the University of Texas at El Paso, he received his Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1982.
In 1983 he auditioned for and began playing with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Abraham Chavez Jr. He also began teaching instrumental music in the Ysleta Independent School District. During the decade Manny met many musicans who inspired him to make music a way of life including Frank Zappa, Jaco Pastorius, Ray Brown and Julliard cello teacher Harvey Shapiro.
In 1985 he began the first of a four-year trek to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to attend the prestigious Johannesen International School of the Arts. He attended six-week master classes, and spent a summer in New York City studying jazz and listening to live performances of Charlie Haden, Marc Johnson, Harvie Swartz, and Eddie Gomez.
Flores has played with several big bands in addition to Bobby Saunders, Frank Dove and the Sundowners, Mario Otero, Crossroads, El Paso Brass Quintet, Bobby Booth Dixieland Band, M.D. Quartet, U.T.E.P. Lab Band I with Gene Lewis, Mike Francis Quartet, Gerald Hunter and the Quintones, Art Lewis and the Earthmen, Orchestra Puerto Rico, Spice of Life, Bing Browning Trio, Cecile Larochelle, The Platters, The Four Lads, The Four Aces, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Mel Carter, Roger Miller, Johnny Mathis, Guy Lombardo’s Royal Canadians, Charlie Rouse and Boyz II Men.
By 1998 he made his first trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to fulfill a lifelong desire to experience Brasilian music firsthand and to meet one of his favorite musicans Hermeto Pascoal. He hung out with his friends Albert Suhett, Itibere Zwarg, Marcio Bahia, and Hermeto. Marcio Bahia introduced him to bassist Adriano Giffoni with whom he studied with each summer in Rio.
Bassist Manny Flores Jr. is involved in the Universal Music movement and continues to perform locally in Austin and El Paso.
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