Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rick Henderson was born on April 25, 1928 in Washington, D.C. and studied composition as a high schooler and played locally in the late 1940s. He served in the Army from 1951 to 1953, then joined Duke Ellington’s Orchestra after being recommended by Clark Terry.
He played with Ellington during his years on Capitol Records, doing arrangements in addition to his duties as a player. He also composed tunes such as Carney for the Ellington band. After leaving Ellington’s employ in 1956, Rick returned to D.C. where he led the Howard Theatre’s house band until 1964.
Following this he worked as an arranger and composer for jazz orchestras, military bands and school ensembles. Among those who used his charts, in addition to Ellington, were Count Basie, Illinois Jacquet, and Billy Taylor. Henderson continued to lead bands into the 1990s, including the University of Maryland Jazz Ensemble from 1977 to 1978.
Saxophonist and arranger Rick Henderson passed away from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease on May 21, 2004.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Emil Mangelsdorff was born April 11, 1925, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 1942 and 1943, he studied clarinet at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany.
As a member of the Frankfurt Hot Club, his performance of jazz with Hans Otto Jung among others, led to his being imprisoned by the Gestapo. He was forced into the German army and was a Russian prisoner of war for four years. In 1949 he returned to Frankfurt and decided to become a professional jazz musician. Emil played in the combos of Joe Klimm and Jutta Hipp, and was also a member of the Frankfurt All Stars and the Jazz-Ensemble des Hessischen Rundfunks from 1958.
Since the 1960s he has directed his own quartet. In 1964 Mangelsdorff wrote an instruction manual for jazz saxophone. In 2006 he was awarded the Goethe-Plakette des Landes Hessen and in 2008 he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz.
Alto saxophonist Emil Mangelsdorff, who also played soprano saxophone, clarinet and flute, has retired from music at 96.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Oliver Edward Mitchell was born April 8, 1927 in Los Angeles, California. He was the son of Harold Mitchell, lead trumpeter for MGM Studios, who taught him to play the trumpet.
Mitchell would go on to play in big bands for Harry James, Buddy Rich and Pérez Prado, among others, as well as the NBC Symphony Orchestra. In the 1960s, he joined The Wrecking Crew, a group of studio and session musicians who played anonymously on many records for popular singers of the time, as well as theme songs for television, film scores, and advertising jingles.
Mitchell was an original member of Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass. He would go on to have his own bands, Ollie Mitchell’s Sunday Band, and the Olliephonic Horns
Moving to Puako, Hawaii in 1995 he founded the Horns. In 2010, he published his memoir, Lost, But Making Good Time: A View from the Back Row of the Band. He stopped playing the trumpet toward the end of his life, due to macular degeneration and hand problems from an automobile accident.
Trumpeter Ollie Mitchell, who recorded with Chet Baker, Harry James, Stan Kenton, Irene Kral, Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Dan terry and Gerry Wilson among others, suffered from cancer and passed away on May 11, 2013.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pat La Barbera, born Pascel Emmanuel LaBarbera on April 7, 1944 in Mt. Morris, New York. He moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1974, and is a member of the faculty at Humber College.
La Barbera began working with Elvin Jones in 1975, touring Europe with him in 1979. While working with Buddy Rich, he also worked in groups led by Woody Herman and Louie Bellson.
Playing with Carlos Santana, Pat has played a major role in the development of a generation of Canadian saxophonists. In 2000, he won a Juno Award for Best Traditional Instrumental Jazz Album for Deep in a Dream.
Tenor, alto and soprano saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist Pat LaBarbera, most notable for his work as a soloist in Buddy Rich bands from 1967 to 1973, continues to perform and educate.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ola Onabulé was born in Islington, London, England on March 30, 1964 and at the age of seven he was sent to Lagos, Nigeria, where he spent the next ten years in school. When he was seventeen he returned to the UK to study at Millfield School, then attended law school, almost completing a three-year degree before deciding to enroll at Middlesex Polytechnic for an arts degree. While studying, he began to perform in London clubs and venues, writing and performing his own material.
Onabulé’s career spans nearly two decades, releasing his music on his own label, Rugged Ram Records, after recording for Elektra and Warner Bros. His debut album, More Soul Than Sense, was released in 1995.
He has performed internationally, performed with Germany’s WDR Big Band and the SWR Big Band and appeared with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg in Potsdam for a concert. Ola has played the main stages of the Montreal Jazz Festival and Vancouver Jazz Festival. A return to Canada in 2010 he performed at Victoria Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, and the Edmonton Jazz Festival. His list of credits reads like a who’s who of bog bands and small combos and continues to grow.
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