Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sammy Cahn was born Samuel Cohen on June 18, 1913 in the lower East side of New York City and began his music career studying the violin. After only three lessons at thirteen years he joined a small Dixieland band called Pals of Harmony, touring the Catskill Mountains summer resorts and play private parties. By16 he was writing his first lyric “Like Niagara Falls, I’m Falling For You” and his songs were being sung on the vaudeville stage by Jack Osterman.
Much of Cahn’s early work was written in partnership with Saul Chaplin writing witty special material for Warner Brothers musical short subjects. They continued to work with then up-and-comers Milton Berle, Danny Kaye, Phil Silvers and Bob Hope. Cahn soon began a partnership with Lou Levy and writing for Jimmie Lunceford, Glen Gray, Tommy Dorsey and eventually teaming with Jimmy Van Heusen and writing for Frank Sinatra.
His impressive career spawned lyrics for Until The Real Thing Comes Along, Love and Marriage, Three Coins In The fountain, I Fall In Love Too Easily, All The Way, I’ll Never Stop Loving You, The Second Time Around and All My Tomorrows among many more.
Cahn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame, nominated for 23 Academy Awards, five Golden Globes and an Emmy. He received four Oscars, and had the Sammy Awards created in his honor for movie songs and scores.
Sammy Cahn, best known for his romantic lyrics for film, Broadway and stand alone songs, many of which have become jazz standards, passed away on January 15, 1993 at age 79 in Los Angeles California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles Fowler Singleton Jr. was born on September 17, 1913 in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended several schools in and around the city and graduated from Stanton High School in 1935. Always interested in singing and dancing, by the time he left school he had become a proficient songwriter. He also produced shows and was responsible for several musical extravaganzas, including April Frolics, which was staged at a nightspot in LaVilla in Jacksonville. Singleton continued to work in Jacksonville into the 1940s.
The early 1950s Singleton moved to New York City and presented his lyrics to Decca Records, who signed him up as a songwriter. By 1954, he had teamed up with Rose Marie McCoy, and the pair went on to write successful hits for Joe Turner, Faye Adams and Ruth Brown. In 1956, Singleton and McCoy, as Charlie and Rosie, recorded a single together on RCA Victor.
Singleton went on to write songs for Pat Boone, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, B. B. King, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Wayne Newton and Andy Williams. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Singleton largely wrote songs without a writing partner, and also recorded an album, The Big Twist Hits, released in 1962 and credited to the Charlie “Hoss” Singleton Combo.
When the song Beddy Bye by Bert Kaempfert came to Frank Sinatra through his producer Jimmy Bowen, he asked the composer to tune it into a song. Bert engaged Singleton wrote the lyrics and Eddie Snyder adapted the music for what became Strangers in the Night and the song became a #1 hit for Sinatra.
He and Snyder had also reworked another Kaempfert instrumental called “Moon Over Naples” into the song Spanish Eyes. Composer and lyricist Charles Singleton, who was known as Hoss, and who also produced several platinum albums, died on December 12, 1985 in his home city.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Laurie Antonioli was born on March 9, 1958 in Marin County. California. At the age of sixteen she began playing guitar and performing primarily her own original music as well as that of the singer-songwriters of the era. In 1975 she won the American Songwriters Contest for high school students, studied jazz at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon and Cal State Long Beach. She took private lessons from Mark Murphy and Joe Henderson.
After graduation, Laurie continued composing and performing. In 1980 she toured Europe for eight months with New Orleans saxophonist Pony Poindexter. When he suffered a stroke, a record date in Paris with pianist Kenny Drew was canceled and they were unable to finish out their tour. Laurie brought Pony back to California where she lived and led her own bands based out of San Francisco.
1985 saw Antonioli signing with Catero Records and her first album was the live two-track Soul Eyes, with the title song given to her by composer Mal Waldron. She was accompanied by pianist George Cables. After a hiatus from music, she settled in Vienna, Austria from 2002 to 2006 and began recording again.
Her Nabel Records album Foreign Affair was a Balkan jazz hybrid recorded in Slovenia with musicians from Serbia, Albania, Germany, and the U.S. It was well received in Europe. Her next album The Duo Session enlisted Richie Beirach where she wrote lyrics to his compositions. Laurie also wrote lyrics to some Miles Davis tunes and free improvisation pieces. This recording was also well-received but like Foreign Affair was known primarily to European audiences.
As an educator she held the position of Professor of the Vocal Department at KUG University’s Jazz Institute in Graz, Austria from 2002 to 2006 while living and performing in Europe. Antonioli was offered a position at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, California as the school’s vocal program director and created an eight-semester vocal performance curriculum. Singer and record producer Laurie Antonioli, who between 1985 and 2018 she has recorded seven albums, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Duncan Lamont was born on July 4, 1931 in Greenock, Scotland. His first instrument was trumpet and he clearly showed promise right from the start. His father played accordion and soon he was joining him on the many gigs all over town. Falling in love with music he practiced all the time and began making a name for himself. In his teens he formed a jazz band with some of his fellow teenage enthusiasts and after taking part in a ‘Melody Maker’ magazine contest, received an offer to join Kenny Graham’s band and turn professional. Initially turning down the offer for work in the shipyards, friends persuaded him to go to London, England and joined the band. It was here that he met and eventually married vocalist Bridget Harrison.
Struggling with his lip he decided to quit the band and return home at just 21 years old. Once again a friend interceded and suggested he try the tenor saxophone, and found an affinity with it. Mastering the instrument he hit the road withthe big bands which led him back to London. A call to become a part of the Swinging Scots recording with Johnny Keating proved fortuitous and he became Keating’s go to saxophonist.
For the next thirty years, session work for TV, films and radio was to be a big part of his life. In this capacity, it’s fair to say he worked with most of the 20th century icons of popular entertainment, from Bing Crosby to Paul McCartney. During the 1960’s, to fuel his jazz needs he became a member of the Johnny Scott Quintet. Encouraged to write for the band’s book, Duncan gravitated to leading his own big band on the BBC.
His most enduring musical partnership was with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, which lasted decades. As the industry changed Lamont turned his attention to songwriting, composing and lyrics. Having written hundreds of songs, many were recorded by the likes of Blossom Dearie, Natalie Cole, George Shearing, Cleo Laine and a long list of great vocalists. Returning home to Greenock a month towards the end of his career, he performed a homecoming gig with singers Esther Bennett and Daniela Clynes. Tenor saxophonist Duncan Lamont transitioned on July 2, 2019 at 87.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jerry Ross was born Jerold Rosenberg on March 9, 1926 in Bronx, New York to Russian parents of the Jewish faith. Growing up, he was a professional singer and actor in the Yiddish theater. Following high school, he studied at New York University under Rudolph Schramm and introductions to singer Eddie Fisher and others brought him into contact with music publishers at the Brill Building, the center of songwriting activity in New York.
Ross met Richard Adler in 1950 and as a duo they became protégés of composer, lyricist, and publisher Frank Loesser. They began their career in the Broadway theater with John Murray Anderson’s Almanac, a revue for which they provided most of the songs, resulting in recordings of Acorn in the Meadow by Harry Belafonte and Fini by Polly Bergen.
Their second effort, The Pajama Game, opened on Broadway in May 1954. It ran for 1063 performances, produced the jazz standard Hey There, won a Tony Award, Donaldson Award and the Variety Drama Critics Award. Two songs from the show,
Their next musical, Damn Yankees, opened on Broadway in 1955, starring Gwen Verdon. It ran for 1019 performances and produced the jazz standard Whatever Lola Wants, and won the Tony Award for Composer/Lyricist and Musical.
Composer and lyricist Jerry Ross, who wrote, alone or in collaboration more than 250 songs and was entered posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, transitioned on November 11, 1955, at the age of 29, from complications related to the lung disease bronchiectasis.
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