Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gerry Brown was born on November 9, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began playing the drums at the age of five and played with soul groups and played in high school with bassist John Lee, with whom he attended music academy in 1970.
In 1971, he moved to New York City where he played with Lionel Hampton. In 1972 he moved to the Netherlands with Lee to join Chris Hinze’s rock jazz group. They recorded a series of albums in the 1970s. Alongside Lee, he also worked for Jasper van ‘t Hof, Toto Blanke, Charlie Mariano, Eef Albers and Gary Bartz mid-decade. Subsequently, they were members of Larry Coryell’s The Eleventh House for two years; Brown also played for Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea. In 1979, he accompanied Didier Lockwood at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Settling in Berlin, Germany for some time in 1982 and worked with George Gruntz, with Joachim Kühn, and with Chris Beckers, Herb Geller, Anne Haigis and Kraan until he returned to the United States. As a sideman Gerry has worked with including ones with George Benson, Michał Urbaniak, Urszula Dudziak, Marcus Miller, Lionel Richie, Sonny Fortune, Alphonso Johnson, Roberta Flack, Joe Sample, Tom Harrell, Dave Samuels, and Chuck Loeb, among others.
Drummer Gerry Brown continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Reginald Veal was born November 5, 1963 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Growing up he began piano lessons at a very early age and received a bass guitar as a gift from his father at the age of eight. He went on to later join his father’s gospel group as the bassist.
Veal studied with the legendary New Orleans bassist Walter Payton, attended Southern University, studying bass trombone with clarinetist Alvin Batiste. From 1985 to 1989 he toured with pianist and teacher Ellis Marsalis as his bassist. During this time he also worked with Pharoah Sanders, Elvin Jones, Charlie Rouse, Hamiet Bluiett, Harry Connick Jr., Terence Blanchard, Dakota Staton, Donald Harrison and Marcus Roberts.
In 1987 he began playing in the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, which became the Wynton Marsalis Septet in 1988. He is the original bassist for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Reginald has worked with Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner, Branford Marsalis, Cassandra Wilson, Courtney Pine, Yusuf Lateef, Nicholas Payton, Eric Reed, Dianne Reeves, Junko Onishi, Mark Whitfield and Greg Tardy.
Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Reginald Veal resides on the West Coast where he continues to record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tommy Whittle was born on October 13, 1926 in Grangemouth, Scotland. He started playing clarinet at the age of twelve before taking up tenor saxophone at 13, guided by Alan Davie. When he was sixteen he moved to Chatham, Kent, England and in 1943 started playing in Claude Giddins’ dance-hall band in nearby Gillingham.
The 1940s saw Whittle playing with Johnny Claes, Lew Stone, Carl Barriteau, and Harry Hayes. In the middle of the decade he joined Ted Heath’s band, playing with him until 1952 when he moved on to play in Tony Kinsey’s small group. In the 1950s he joined Cyril Stapleton’s BBC Show Band where he became a featured soloist in nationwide broadcasts.
Forming a quintet in 1954 with Harry Klein and Dill Jones, and later toured with a ten-piece band for nealy a year and a half. He went on to lead small groups and performed in clubs. In 1955 he was voted Britain’s top tenor-sax player in the New Musical Express and Melody Maker polls, topping the latter the following year.
During the 1950s his sextet performed in France and the United States, where in 1956 he also participated in an exchange visit with Gerry Mulligan. He briefly worked in the Stan Kenton Band, was hired as bandleader at the Dorchester Hotel in London, then followed a period of 12 years with the Jack Parnell ATV Orchestra, accompanying Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, and Barbra Streisand.
He went on to run a weekly club at the Hopbine pub, worked with Laurie Johnson’s London Big Band and recorded with Benny Goodman. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was in demand as a session musician, performed with his quartet and wife Barbara Jay and became a member and then leader of the Pizza Express All Stars Jazz Band.
Saxophonist Tommy Whittle while on holiday in Spain died on his 87th birthday after contracting pneumonia on October 13, 2013.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chris Bauer was born on September 29, 1960 and raised in Long Island, New York and was surrounded by his father’s harmonica trio. He started playing at age nine and began appearing with his father’s trio by thirteen. At sixteen he placed third in a worldwide harmonica competition and in 1987 placed fourth in a field of 27 at the International Harmonica Federation competition, both times finishing as the highest placed American harmonica player.
Chris has gone on to perform at many New York City and New Jersey venues and was the harmonica in the play Big River. He was a regular contributing writer to The Harmonica Educator magazine on jazz topics and continues to work on recording projects that exemplify jazz harmonica. He also performs both in jazz trio or quartet settings, as a soloist utilizing custom backgrounds that provide the sound of a jazz ensemble, or can sit in with rock, blues, or jazz bands.
Playing harmonica for over fourty years, his performance and recording experiences are diverse including jazz gigs, harmonica trios, church worship bands, and production library tracks. He performs and gives harmonica technique seminars at numerous festivals around the country. His album In A Yuletide Groove has been featured on jazz radio station playlists.
Residing in Weatogue Connecticut, harmonica player Chris Bauer continues to perform popular jazz standards with a repertoire from upbeat bop tunes and cool Latin numbers to soulful ballads.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Peter Ecklund was born on September 27, 1945 in Woodbridge, Connecticut. In 1967 he received a degree from Yale University.
He went on tour with singer Paula Lockheart and started a jazz band. Additionally, he worked with many pop and rock bands in the 1970s and 1980s. He became a substitute for the Nighthawks Orchestra led by Vince Giordano and a member of the Orphan Newboys led by Marty Grosz.
He recorded six albums as a leader and another forty-five with David Bromberg, Marty Grosz, Geoff Muldaur, Leon Redbone, Paul Butterfield, Doveman, Bob Dylan, Howard Fishman, Steve Forbert, Gloria Gaynor, Steve Goodman, Hello People, Ian & Sylvia & the Great Speckled Bird, Keith Ingham, Michael Jerling, George McCrae, Martin Mull, Alex Pangman, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Sancton, Cynthia Sayer, Johnny Shines, Paul Siebel, Siegel–Schwall Band, Eric Von Schmidt, Andrea True Connection, Terry Waldo, Loudon Wainwright III, and Mitch Woods.
Cornetist Peter Ecklund died on April 8, 2020 from Parkinson’s disease.
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