Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chick Corea was born Armando Anthony Corea on June 12, 1941 in Chelsea, Massachusetts of Sicilian and Spanish descent. His father, a jazz trumpeter led a Dixieland band introduced him to the piano at the age of four. Growing up surrounded by jazz music, he was influenced at an early age by bebop stars Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver and Lester Young. At eight Corea added drums, which later influenced his use of the piano as a percussion instrument.
Corea started taking piano lessons and musical composition at age eight and went on to spend several years in the drum and bugle corps, the Knights of St. Rose. By high school he was gigging, listening to Herb Pomeroy’s band at the time, and had a trio that performed Horace Silver’s music at a local jazz club.
A move to New York had him studying music at Columbia University and The Julliard School but found them both disappointing, subsequently immersing himself in the New York jazz scene. Corea’s first major professional gig was with Cab Calloway, followed by Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria. He released his debut album Tones For Joan’s Bones in 1966 and has followed with an impressive discography.
He would venture into the avant-garde with Miles Davis on Filles de Kilimanjaro, In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew; and on Joe Farrell’s Song of the Wind. Hew would record and tour with Davis into the 70s until leaving to form the group “Circle” with Dave Holland, pushing more free jazz. Striking out on his own, in 1971 he formed the fusion band Return To Forever that featured Flora Purim on vocals and has spawned a multitude of albums with his most popular tune “Spain” coming from the Light As A Feather album.
He has done duet projects, delved into electric instrumentation, has won 18 Grammys out of 51 nominations, two Latin Grammy awards, has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, formed the 5 Peace Band and continued to perform, tour and record until his death. Pianist, keyboardist, and composer Chick Corea passed away of a rare form of cancer at his home near Tampa Bay, Florida on February 9, 2021, at age 79
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Paulinho da Costa was born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Learning to play percussion as a child of five by exploring the different sounds of everything he could get his hands on. While still in his early teens, he joined several musical groups, traveling extensively throughout the world. Upon arriving in the United States, the multi-versed percussionist carved a sizable niche in the music community,
Over the course of five decades Paulinho has participated in thousands of recording sessions, performed on the soundtracks of nearly two hundred films and television shows, recorded seven albums as a leader for A&M, Concord and Pablo record labels, and has been a part of several Grammy winning albums.
He playing has crossed over to work in a variety of music genres including Brazilian, blues, Christian, country, disco, gospel, hip hop, jazz, Latin, pop, R & B, rock, soul and world.
He has performed, collaborated and recorded with an impressive list of musicians and vocalists from A to Z not limited to Bill Cunliffe, Chico Freeman, Chicago, Miles Davis, Earth Wind and Fire, Ricky Martin, Eliane Elias, Toots Thielemans, Sammy Nestico, Dizzy Gillespie, Cher, The Gap Band, Bobby McFerrin, Michael Jackson, Ramsey Lewis, Chet Atkins, Sadao Watanabe, Tori Amos, Stix Hooper and Quincy Jones to name just a few.
Percussionist Paulinho Da Costa is currently proficient on more than two hundred percussion instruments and is considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Claudio Roditi was born on May 28, 1946 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. He began his musical studies of trumpet when he was just five years old and his native Brazilian music nearly took a back seat as he became enamored with jazz recordings of Louis Armstrong, Harry James and other American trumpeters.
By 13, he became familiar with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. At the age of twenty, he was named a finalist in the International Jazz Competition in Vienna, and the following year, moved to Mexico City where he was active on the contemporary music scene. Relocating to Boston in 1970 he enrolled at the Berklee School of Music.
In 1976 Roditi moved to New York eventually establishing himself in the highly competitive atmosphere of the world’s jazz capital. He would go on to perform with Joe Henderson, Charlie Rouse, Herbie Mann, Tito Puente, McCoy Tyner, and Paquito D’Rivera. He has been a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra, The Jazz Masters led by Slide Hampton and his solo work Symphonic Bossa Nova with Ettore Stratta and the Royal Philharmonic earned Roditi a Grammy nomination in 1995 as well as Brazilliance X4 in 2010.
Claudio easily integrates post-bop elements and Brazilian rhythmic concepts, is in demand as a studio musician and a sideman, has composed, arranged and recorded seventeen critically acclaimed albums. The trumpeter currently tours leading his own band, is frequently travels as a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra and is on the faculty of the School of Contemporary Music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rubén González was born on May 26, 1919 in Santa Clara, Cuba. He learned to play piano at the music high school of Cienfuegos. He studied medicine for a time, abandoned it due to financial difficulties and began playing with groups in Las Villas. In 1940, he moved to Havana, where he played in the charangas of Paulina Álvarez and Paulín, with Arsenio Rodríguez, Kubavana and Senén Suárez and in the big bands Siboney and Riverside.
By 1943, he released his first recording with Arsenio Rodriguez and during the 50s he served as a member of the Orquesta America, Orquesta de Enrique Jorrin and CMQ. Between 1957 and 1961, he worked in Venezuela but very soon he became known in Cuba and other parts of Latin America. In the early 1960s Rubén became the pianist for the Orquesta de Enrique Jorrín for 25 years, took over leadership after Jorrín’s death in 1987, but retired soon after.
It wasn’t until a meeting with Ry Cooder that González came out of retirement, recorded his first solo album in years and became a part of the Buena Vista Social Club with a host of veteran Cuban musician whose fame became worldwide.
Pianist Ruben González’s last public appearances were in Mexico and Cuba in 2002 and the next year the pianist passed away on December 8, 2003 at age 84.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pablo Aslan was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 5, 1962 and began playing bass in his youth. He received his music education at University of California – Santa Cruz, CalArts and UCLA, and in the 90’s in the clubs of New York.
Pablo has led several groups like New York Buenos Aires Connection, Avantango, and New York Tango Trio, which included musicians such as the late Thomas Chapin, pianist Ethan Iverson (now of The Bad Plus), drummer Kenny Wollesen, saxophonist Donny McCaslin, and bandoneonists Raul Jaurena and Tito Castro.
Aslan has worked with Yo Yo Ma, Lalo Schifrin, Pablo Ziegler, Osvaldo Golijov, Arturo O’Farrill, Emilio Solla and Fernando Otero. In 2009 he released “Tango Grill” that was nominated for both a Grammy and Latin Grammy. He has collaborated with Paquito D’Rivera, “Tango Jazz” Live at Jazz @ Lincoln Center” and also for a tribute to tango master Astor Piazzolla on the 90th anniversary of his birth. Bassist Pablo Aslan continues to champion the fusion of jazz and tango as he records, performs and tours.