Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Red Holloway was born James Wesley Holloway on May 31, 1927 in Helena, Arkansas, and  started playing banjo and harmonica before switching to tenor saxophone when he was 12 years old. Graduating from DuSable High School, where he had played in the school big band with Johnny Griffin and Eugene Wright, and attended the Conservatory of Music, Chicago, Illinois.

Joining the Army when he was 19, Red became bandmaster for the U.S. Fifth Army Band, and after completing his military service returned to Chicago and played with Yusef Lateef and Dexter Gordon, among others. In 1948, he joined blues vocalist Roosevelt Sykes, and later played with other rhythm & blues musicians such as Willie Dixon, Junior Parker, and Lloyd Price.

In the 1950s, he played in the Chicago area with Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Ben Webster, Jimmy Rushing, Arthur Prysock, Dakota Staton, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Wardell Gray, Sonny Rollins, Red Rodney, Lester Young, Joe Williams, Redd Foxx, B.B. King, Bobby Bland, and Aretha Franklin. During this period, he also toured with Sonny Stitt, Memphis Slim and Lionel Hampton. He became a member of the house band for Chance Records in 1952. He subsequently appeared on many recording sessions for the Chicago-based independents Parrot, United, States, and Vee-Jay.

From 1963 to 1966, he was in organist Brother Jack McDuff’s band, which also featured guitarist George Benson, who was then at the start of his career. In 1974, Holloway recorded The Latest Edition with John Mayall and toured Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. From 1977 to 1982, he worked with Sonny Stitt, recording two albums together. Following Stitt’s death, he played and recorded with Clark Terry.

Tenor saxophonist Red Holloway passed away in Morro Bay, California, aged 84 of a stroke and kidney failure on February 25, 2012, one month after Etta James, with whom he had worked extensively.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Sandy Mosse was born on May 29, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan and learned clarinet and alto saxophone early in life, but switched to tenor saxophone at the beginning of the 1950s. Based out of Chicago, Illinois during the decade, he made several forays abroad, playing in Paris with Wallace Bishop in 1951. On his 1953 tour of Europe he performed with Django Reinhardt and Woody Herman.

Upon returning to Chicago in 1955 he played with Bill Russo, Chubby Jackson, James Moody, and Cy Touff. Mosse and Touff also co-led an octet called Pieces of Eight late in the 1950s into the early 1960s, featuring trumpeter John Howell. He received awards from Down Beat and Playboy late in the 1950s.

The 1960s saw him playing with Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, and Dave Remington. During this time Sandy formed a band with flugelhornist Warren Kime called Pieces of Eight. Unfortunately, that same decade he was diagnosed with cancer.

Marrying a Dutch woman Clara, he moved to Amsterdam in the 1970s, playing on national radio and teaching at the Royal Dutch Conservatory. Recording less, he occasionally toured the U.S. with Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. In the Netherlands, he played with an ensemble called Volume Two, with Irvin Rochlin, Klaus Flenter, Evert Hekkema, Ben Gerritsen, and Lex Cohen.

Tenor saxophonist Sandy Mosse, influenced by Lester Young, passed away on July 1, 1983 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Herbert “Kat” Cowans, also spelled Cowens, was born May 24, 1904 in Texas. Working as a shoeshine boy as a child, his first professional engagement as a drummer was with the Satisfied Five, a local Texas ensemble. After moving to Wichita Falls, Texas he played in Frenchy’s New Orleans Jazz Band, then worked with Charlie Dixon. Quitting Dixon’s ensemble to finish high school while still in his teens, he went on to play in theater orchestras early in the 1920s.

Moving to New York City, Cowans played with Cleo Mitchell in the Shake Your Feet revue. Following this, he did work with the Kansas City Blackbirds, Jimmy Cooper’s Black and White Revue, and Eubie Blake in addition to leading his own band.

In the 1930s Herbert played with Fats Waller and Stuff Smith, before joining Eddie Heywood’s band for recordings behind Billie Holiday in 1941. He worked with Garvin Bushell in 1942, then played in the pit orchestra for the Broadway show The Pirate.

Cowans led a USO band in 1943, touring military bases worldwide, then led small ensembles for several decades thereafter. He also worked with Louis Metcalfe in 1963. He worked with USO again in East Asia in the 1970s, then retired to Dallas, Texas. Drummer Herbert Cowans passed away on January 23, 1993.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joe Springer was born on May 22, 1916 in New York City, He played locally on Coney Island from about 1931. His first major gig was with Wingy Manone in 1935.

He first recorded in 1940 with Louis Prima and soon after worked with Buddy Rich in 1942, followed by a year with Gene Krupa until 1943. Joe went on to work with Oscar Pettiford, Tiny Grimes, Ben Webster, Charlie Barnet, Jimmy McPartland, Charlie Shavers, Roy Eldridge, and Raymond Scott.

Accompanying Billie Holiday regularly in the 1940s, Springer also worked with Anita O’Day. He continued working in New York City into the 1960s before retiring to Florida that decade.

Pianist Joe Springer passed away on October 24, 2004 in Miami, Florida.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

David Izenzon was born on May 17, 1932 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Graduating from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, he later received a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

Izenzon began playing double bass at the age of twenty-four and played in his hometown before moving to New York City in 1961. There he played with Paul Bley, Archie Shepp, Sonny Rollins, and Bill Dixon, but he is best known for his association with Ornette Coleman, which began in October 1961. He played in Coleman’s 1962 Town Hall concert and played with him frequently from 1965 to 1968, often in a trio format with Charles Moffett.

During this time Izenzon also recorded with Harold McNair and Yoko Ono. He taught music history at Bronx Community College from 1968 to 1971 and played with Perry Robinson and Paul Motian, but reduced his time in music in 1972 when his son became ill. In 1973 Izenzon received a Ph.D. in psychotherapy from Northwestern University. The following year, he co-founded Potsmokers Anonymous with his wife, Pearl.

In 1975 he composed a jazz opera titled How Music Can Save The World, dedicated to those who helped his son recover. From 1977 he worked again with Coleman and Motian up until his death. Double bassist David Izenzon passed away on October 8, 1979 of a heart attack, arriving dead on arrival at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

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