Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Luděk Hulan was born on October 11, 1929 in Prague, Czechoslovakia and started his career as a founder-member of the amateur Hootie Club ensemble in 1948. In the early Fifties he performed in various professional jazz ensembles and helped organize jam sessions in Prague. From 1953 to 1957 he moved to Brno and played double bass with the Gustav Brom Orchestra.
Upon his return to Prague he co-founded Studio 5, which later became a part of The Dance Orchestra of Czechoslovak Radio. Studio 5, one of the country’s most important modern jazz ensembles, disbanded in 1961. Then Hulan founded his next band, The Jazz Studio, which often performed his own short compositions. The late 1960s he still collaborated with the Jazz Orchestra of Czechoslovak Radio and actively participated in Czech musical life.
He was one of the pioneers of the Jazz and Poetry movement which focused on cross-connections between various spheres of the Arts. In his Jazz Studio, Luděk collaborated with many important jazz instrumentalists, among them tenor saxophonist Milan Ulrich and trumpeter Richard Kubernát.
Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 he emigrated to Switzerland, but couldn’t find any work connected with music and soon returned while his wife and daughter remained abroad. Listed as politically undesirable he had to organize night-time jam sessions in the poetic wine bar Viola, founded a new band, Jazz Sanatorium with former colleagues from Jazz Studio, and helped its younger members in their careers.
He also found work – occasional at first – with the Linha Singers ensemble. In 1972 the Traditional Jazz Studio invited him to record with the New Orleans clarinetist Albert Nicholas. He also performed with the American clarinetist Tony Scott, and prepared a TV series, The Jazz Herbarium. He then organized the Jazz Quiz as part of his Jazz Sanatorium, using American films, recordings and literature.
Double bassist Luděk Hulan, an important exponent of Czech jazz in the second half of the 20th century, transitioned in Prague on February 22, 1979 under unhappy circumstances, breaking a rib in a stairway fall which pierced a lung. Unaware of the nature or extent of his injury, he went to bed as usual, not to awaken.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Freddie Jenkins was born on October 10, 1906 in New York City, New York and played in the Jenkins Orphanage Band when young before he attended Wilberforce University. Following this he played with Edgar Hayes and Horace Henderson between 1924 and 1928.
He then took a position in Duke Ellington’s Orchestra in 1928 where he soloed in the 1930 film Check and Double Check, during a performance of the song Old Man Blues. He remained with the Ellington Orchestra until 1935, when lung problems forced him to quit.
Recovered, he formed his own group in 1935, recording one session as a leader. His sidemen included Ward Pinkett, Albert Nicholas and Bernard Addison. After this he played with Luis Russell in 1936. Rejoining Ellington in 1937 he played with him for a year, then for a short time thereafter played with Hayes Alvis.
After 1938, his lung ailment returned and he retired again from performance. In his later years he worked as a songwriter, disc jockey, and in music press. He became a deputy sheriff in Fort Worth, Texas.
Trumpeter Freddie Jenkins transitioned in 1978.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a New York City trumpeter to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
Freddie Jenkins: 1906~1978 | Trumpet
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Myron Pierman “Mynie” Sutton was born October 9, 1903 in Niagara Falls, Canada. He worked in dance ensembles in Buffalo, New York and Cleveland, Ohio between 1924 and 1931. Returning to Canada in 1931 he founded the Canadian Ambassadors in Aylmer, Quebec. This was one of very few black jazz bands based out of Canada in the 1930s.
The group operated out of Montreal, Canada from 1933, playing at Connie’s Inn, the Hollywood Club, and Cafe Montmartre. Additionally they toured Quebec and Ontario. Pianists in the ensemble included Lou Hooper and Buster Harding.
By 1941 the Ambassadors had disbanded and Sutton returned to his birthplace of Niagara Falls, where he played locally for decades. He made no commercial recordings. A collection of materials devoted to Sutton is held at the Concordia University library in Montreal.
Alto saxophonist and bandleader Mynie Sutton transitioned on June 17, 1982 in Niagara Falls.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Samuel Benskin was born in The Bronx, New York on September 27, 1922 and made his professional debut around 1940 as piano accompanist to singer and guitarist Bardu Ali. He worked throughout the 1940s with among other jazz musicians Stuff Smith, Benny Morton and Don Redman. The 1950s witnessed Sammy leading his own piano trio, appearing as a soloist and accompanying singers Roy Hamilton, Dinah Washington and Al Hibbler. In 1954 he also joined a group, The Three Flames, which also featured Tiger Haynes.
By the end of the decade with a band credited as The Spacemen, Sammy recorded an instrumental, The Clouds, written and produced by Julius Dixson for his Alton record label. A departure from jazz, the song’s original vocals were removed and presented as an instrumental. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and No. 41 on the pop chart. The song was the first number one on any chart released by an African-American owned independent record label, predating Motown’s first No. 1 by a year.
From the 1960s Benskin worked primarily as a vocal coach, arranger and producer. In 1986, he recorded an album in Paris, France for Black & Blue Records, These Foolish Songs. Pianist Sammy Benskin transitioned in Teaneck, New Jersey on August 26, 1992 at 69.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Steve Marcus was born September 18, 1939 in The Bronx, New York, and studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts between 1959 and 1961. He gained experience playing in the bands of Stan Kenton, Herbie Mann and Larry Coryell from 1963 to 1973.
His debut album as a leader included an arrangement of the Beatles’ song, Tomorrow Never Knows, which also was the album’s title. He worked with jazz drummer Buddy Rich for the last twelve years of the drummer’s life. After Rich died, Marcus led the band and renamed it Buddy’s Buddies.
Saxophonist Steve Marcus transitioned on September 25, 2005 in New Hope, Pennsylvania. He was 66.
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