Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Samuel D. Margolis was born on November 1, 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts. Early in his career he played locally with Shad Collins, Vic Dickenson, Bobby Hackett, Nat Pierce, and Rex Stewart.
Between 1954 and 1958 Sam worked extensively with Ruby Braff and as sidemen for other musicians, including Pee Wee Russell. He would continue working intermittently with Braff for several decades.
In 1970 Margolis appeared briefly in the parade scene in the Dick Van Dyke movie Some Kind of a Nut. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he played often in the New York area, with Ed Polcer, Buzzy Drootin, Max Kaminsky, Roy Eldridge, Tony Bennet, Claude Hopkins, Dill Jones, Vic Dickenson, and Red Balaban.
Clarinetist and saxophonist Sam Margolis, who near the end of his life moved to Deerfield Beach, Florida, transitioned from prostate cancer on March 27, 1996.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Graham Burbridge was born on October 1, 1933 in Stepney, London, England. He started drumming about the age of six, playing things like British Grenadiers with Boy Scouts Bands. It was only after the war when he was around twelve that he found jazz and progressed from Spike Jones through Spanier, Bunk Johnson to Lennie Tristano. It was a fairly rapid musical education that sat him on the modern side of the fence in his genre choice.
Graham played drums in the RAF with a Military Band, but also managed to get into the dance band. Back in civilian life in 1954 he worked a daytime job and played in a trio in the evening with Pete Elderfield and Maurice Hinson. His early interests in jazz led him to all the clubs, sitting in whenever he could. One night in Humph’s he was invited to play with the Sandy Brown Band and the next day was asked to join the band full time, and his professional career took off. He played with Brown until Sandy retired.
Joining the Chris Barber Band in 1957 was fortuitous, as the relationship lasted nearly two decades. Off stage Burbridge’s interests ran towards new and antique guns, and building model aircraft, something that had been a part of his life for a long time. His interest in guns was a new endeavor but also helped to re-energize and replace the nervous energy used on stage.
Drummer Graham Burbridge transitioned in 2003.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Brandee Younger was born on July 1, 1983 in Hempstead, New York and grew up between her birth city and Uniondale, New York. She began her harp studies as a teen under the tutelage of Karen Strauss and continued with several harpists and bassist Nat Reeves. On to undergrad she earned degrees in Harp Performance and Music Business from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. While at the latter she was mentored by Jackie McLean and the faculty of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz and African American Studies.
Off to New York University for grad school six months later with an impressive résumé, she opened for Slide Hampton as a member of Hartford-based collective The New Jazz Workshop. Younger then developed a working relationship with Grammy-nominated producer and artist Ryan Leslie and Grammy Award-winning producer Omen. Building upon that foundation, Younger began working with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane on a series of concerts honoring the music of his late mother, harpist Alice Coltrane.
Over time, Younger has built her career as an educator, concert curator, performer, and bandleader of the Brandee Younger Quartet. Her debut recording as a leader came with Prelude, released in 2011 with Dezron Douglas, E.J. Strickland and vocalist Niia. Since that auspicious moment she has performed with The Harlem Chamber Players, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Ensemble Du Monde, Camerata New York and the Red Bull Artsehcro.
Younger is on the teaching artist faculty (harp) at New York University and The New School College of Performing Arts. She has taught at Adelphi University, Nassau Community College, The Hartt School Community Division at the University of Hartford and has lectured on both sides of the pond. As a leader she has released 6 albums and two compilations since her debut album Prelude in 2011. As a sidewoman/contributor since 2006 she has 38 albums to her credit with folks like E. J. Strickland, Ravi Coltrane, Jeremy Pelt, Common, Robert Glasper, Jane Monheit, Christian McBroide, Lauryn Hill, Drake, and more.
Harpist Brandee Younger infuses classical, jazz, soul, and funk influences to the harp tradition pioneered by her predecessors and idols Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. She continues to explore and expand her musical vocabulary.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Calvin Jackson was born May 26, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a concert singer mother. He played piano from childhood, taking lessons with a private teacher. He went on to study at Juilliard and New York University.
At the beginning of his career Jackson worked with Frankie Fairfax. Moving to Los Angeles, California from 1943–47 he worked in Hollywood as an assistant director of music for MGM on productions including Meet Me in St. Louis and Anchors Aweigh.
1947 saw Calvin recording with Phil Moore and also as a solo pianist for Discovery Records. The following summer he played with singer Mildred Bailey and dancer Avon Long at Café Society in New York City. In 1950, he moved to Toronto, Canada where he often played on television and radio. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s he released several LPs for labels such as Columbia Records.
Returning to Los Angeles in 1957 he resumed work as a composer and orchestrator for television and hit musicals like Where The Boys Are and The Unsinkable Molly Brown, which was Oscar-nominated for best adapted score. Occasionally he could be seen on screen as a piano-playing character.
Jackson arranged for Ray Charles at one point, receiving an arrangement and co-producer credit for Charles’ 1964 release Sweet & Sour Tears . By the early 1980s, he moved to San Diego County, where he lived in semi-retirement where he gave music lessons on a piano in his apartment. In 1984 he sat in as a guest at the Sunday night jam sessions Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham hosted at the Bahia resort on Mission Bay, playing piano and harmonica between sets and occasionally with the band.
He was working on arrangements for a 31-piece concert jazz orchestra in Point Loma when he developed a heart ailment and was taken to the hospital. Pianist, composer, and bandleader Calvin Jackson transitioned on December 9, 1985 at age 66.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nenad Vasilic was born on May 8, 1975 in Niš, Serbia and started playing piano at the age of 5. By twelve he received his first bass guitar and at the age of 15 he enrolled in the Secondary Music School in Niš. When he was 19 he studied contrabass and bass guitar at the Jazz Academy in Graz, Austria.
In 1998 he formed his own band Vasilić Nenad Balkan Band and 1999 saw him in Austria recording his debut album as a leader titled Jugobasija. Since that first outing he has produced albums as a band leader, double bass player and composer, collaborating with jazz singers Mark Murphy and Sheila Jordan, as well as Ritchie Beirah, Peter Ralchev, Vlatko Stefanovski, Wolfgang Puschnig, Bojan Zulfikarpasic, John Hollenbeck, Martin Lubenov, Stjepko Gut, Bilja Krstić, Tamara Obrovac, Lori Antonioli, Amira Medunjanin and others.
Bassist, composer and bandleader Nenad Vasilic continues to explore the possibilities of his music creativity.
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