Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dr. Lonnie Smith was born July 3, 1942 in Lackawanna, New York into a family with a vocal group and radio program and a mother who introduced him to gospel, classical and jazz music. He learned to play piano as a child and was part of several vocal ensembles in the 1950s, including the Teen Kings. Local music storeowner Art Kubera gave Smith his first Hammond B3 organ.
Smith’s affinity for R&B melded with his own personal style as he became active in the local music scene. Moving to New York City he met and connected with George Benson, and the two formed the George Benson Quartet, featuring Lonnie Smith, in 1966.
Lonnie recorded his first solo album ”Finger Lickin’ Good” in 1967, with Benson, Melvin Sparks and Ronnie Cuber and Marion Booker. After recording several albums with Benson, Smith became a solo recording artist. In 1967, Smith meeting Lou Donaldson led to a Blue Note introduction, a record date for Alligator Boogaloo and subsequent signing to a four-album deal.
He has since recorded over 30 albums under his own name. He has performed and recorded with among others Lee Morgan, David “Fathead” Newman, Blue Mitchell, King Curtis, Esther Phillips, Bennie Maupin, Idris Muhammad, Joey DeFrancesco and Joe Lovano, however the list inside and out of jazz is too long to enumerate.
He has been named “Organ Keyboardist of the Year” in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009 by the Jazz Journalist Association and continues to tour, perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Russo was born William Russo on June 25, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois and studied piano under Lennie Tristano. He would become an arranger and composer and by the 1950s was writing groundbreaking orchestral scores for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. He would compose for Kenton 23 Degrees N 82 Degrees W, Frank Speaking, Portrait of a Count and one of his most famous Halls Of Brass, featuring Buddy Childers, Maynard Ferguson and Milt Bernhart.
By the 60s Russo moved to England, founded the London Jazz Orchestra, and contributed to the Third Stream movement that sought to close the gap between jazz and classical music. Returning to Chicago by mid-decade he founded Columbia College’s music department, became the director of its Center for New Music, the college’s first full-time faculty member and the Director of Orchestral Studies at Scuola Europea d’Orchestra Jazz in Palermo, Italy.
Bill has composed classical symphonies, choral works, operas and several works for the theater. He has received a Koussevitsky award, had his work performed by the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, and has set music to the poetry of Gertrude Stein as well as scores for dance and film.
Russo has worked with Manny Albam, Teo Macero, Teddy Charles, Donald Byrd, Phil Woods, Bill Evans, Eddie Costa, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Art Farmer among others. Starting the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, which is dedicated to preserving and expanding jazz, He was succeeded by Jon Faddis and it is currently under the artistic direction of Dana Hall. Trombonist, composer, arranger, eudcator and author Bill Russo passed away on January 11, 2003 after a bout with cancer. He was 74 years old.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lalo Schifrin was born Boris Claudio Schifrin in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 21, 1932. At the age of six he began a six-year course of study on piano with Enrique Barenboim and at 16 studied piano with Andreas Karalis and harmony with Argentine composer Juan Carlos Paz. By twenty he was attending the Paris Conservatoire during the day and playing at night in jazz clubs.
1955 saw Lalo playing with Astor Piazzolla and on stage at the International Jazz Festival in Paris. Back in Argentina he formed a jazz orchestra, met Dizzy in ’58 and wrote Gillespiana for his big band. He would go on to work with Xavier Cugat, move to New York, take the piano chair in Dizzy’s quintet and wrote a second extended composition titled, The New Continent.
The Sixties had MGM signing Schifrin to his first movie score, he moved to Hollywood, changed The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to a jazz melody and won an Emmy for the theme. He would go on to score television and movies like Mission Impossible, Mannix, Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry, The Exorcist, Bullitt and even ABC’s Eyewitness News.
Over the course of his career Lalo Schifrin has recorded over 50 albums and soundtracks, 90 television and film scores as a leader, composer and conductor; and has worked with Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris, Count Basie, Luiz Bonfa, Candido Camera, Louis Bellson, Al Hirt, Jimmy Smith, Sarah Vaughan, Cal Tjader, Paul Horn and many others.
In 1997, the composer founded Aleph Records; played an orchestra conductor in Red Dragon, has had his music sampled by hip-hop artists, has been nominated twenty-one times and won four Grammy Awards, one Cable Ace Award, received six Oscar nominations and has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. He continues to compose, conduct and perform.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Buddy Catlett was born George James Catlett on June 13, 1933 and grew up in Seattle, Washington. During his childhood he listened to records his mother brought home, and learned to play the cornet around age 10 after hearing Louis Armstrong, and by fourteen had saved enough money from his movie theater job to buy a saxophone. He would soon be gigging with his childhood friend Quincy Jones till 5:30 in the morning and then the two would go to Garfield High School a few hours later. It was during this time that he also met and performed with Ray Charles.
He first professional gig was with vibraphonist Bumps Blackwell’s band that included Ernestine Anderson, but by 17 had to stop performing due to tubercular pleurisy that hospitalized him for two years. Not to be beaten, he started taking bass lessons with Tiny Martin of the Seattle Symphony. Learning quickly he was soon asked to join pianist Horace Henderson’s band and on the road he went. This was followed up with a stint with Cal Tjader, a move to New York in 1958, and a European tour with Quincy Jones playing for the musical Free and Easy starring tapper Harold Nicholas.
Throughout his career he performed with Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and Louis Armstrong among others. He has appeared on over 100 recordings and is recognizable on the Sinatra/Basie arrangement of Fly Me To The Moon and Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World. With declining health, bassist Buddy Catlett scaled down his jazz performances in his hometown of Seattle but has not lost his popularity or respect from an admiring community. Bassist Buddy Catlett passed away on November 12, 2014, at age 81 at the Leon Sullivan Health Care Center in Seattle’s Central District.
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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