Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gail Thompson was born on June 15, 1958 in London, England. Coming from a musical family as a child she learned to play the clarinet. At 16 she was playing baritone saxophone as a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and founded her own bands.
She went on to become a founding member alongside with Courtney Pine of the British band Jazz Warriors. She played briefly with Art Blakey becoming the second female member of the Jazz Messengers along with Joanne Brackeen.
In 1986, she led the big band of Charlie Watts and then founded her first big band Formation Gail Force, for which she also composed music. Thompson’s music is inspired by Africa rhythms and hard bop bringing her stylistically close to the big band sounds of Abdullah Ibrahim and Quincy Jones.
In 1994, her debut recording session and album as a leader came with Gail Force. One year later as a product of a journey through the African continent, she recorded live in Duisburg the album Jazz Africa for Enja Records with Harry Beckett, Claude Deppa, Jerry Underwood and Patrick Hartley. After a stay in the Australian Queensland in 1999 she recorded the album Jadu, referencing Jazz Africa Down Under with bassist Mario Castronari.
For health reasons, flutist, saxophonist, composer and arranger of modern jazz Gail Thompson had to quit playing the saxophone but she put her energies towards focusing on music education activities. In 2003 she organized the Afro-European Women’s Big Band Femmes Noires , who performs her compositions.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jack Wilkins was born on June 3, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York. He has played with many jazz greats including Bob Brookmeyer, Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Heath, Epitaph Mingus and Eddie Gomez as well as singers Mel Torme, Ray Charles, Morgana King, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, The Manhattan Transfer, Nancy Marano and Jay Clayton.
Wilkins’ cover of the Freddie Hubbard standard “Red Clay”, from his 1973 album Windows, was sampled by the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest on their 1993 album Midnight Marauders and also by Chance the Rapper on the song NaNa, off his 2013 mix-tape Acid Rap. His full cover was subsequently included on the 1998 break beat compilation Tribe Vibes Volume 2.
Wilkins was awarded an NEA grant in recognition of his work with the guitar. He currently teaches at The New School, New York University, Long Island University and the Manhattan School of Music in addition to performing, recording and touring.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Elisabetta Serio was born on June 1, 1972 in Italy. Inspired by the music of all genres she heard helped form her artistic personality. As a child, she trained in classical and modern studying at the Conservatorio Nicola Sala in Benevento, Italy. She graduated with a degree in jazz and pursued further studies with Maestro Valerio Silvestro and followed with seminars in Rome with Barry Harris and also the Italian musicians Rita Marctulli and bassist Pippo Matino.
Her musical journey in the strict sense is “the street” with the conventional forms of love and sacrifice make it a viable learning ground. This makes each performance unique and unrepeatable.
Modern jazz pianist Elisabetta Serio continues to collaborate with her countrymen musicians such as Pino Daniele, Rino Zurzolo – double bassist, Matino as well as James Senese, Tullio De Piscopo, Rino Zurrolo, Enzo Gragnianello. She has worked with international pop stars Noa, dipped into the funky blues with British singer Z Star and ventured into world music withSarah Jamne Morris.
She leads her own trio, drummer Leonardo De Lorenzo and bassist Marco de Tilla performing throughout Italy, at festivals around the world and in most jazz clubs. She often invites trumpeter Fulvio Siqurta for her quartet and Morris is a frequent guest. With all this she still finds time to participate on numerous recording and performing projects as a sideman/woman.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wycliffe Gordon was born May 29, 1967 in Waynesboro, Georgia and was heavily influenced musically by the church music his organist father played at several churches in Burke County as well as being a classical pianist and teacher.
It wasn’t until 1980 that Gordon became particularly inspired in jazz at age thirteen, listening to jazz recordings inherited from his great aunt. The collection included a five-LP jazz anthology produced by Sony-Columbia and was drawn in particular to Louis Armstrong and the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens.
Wycliffe attended, at that age, Sego High School in Augusta, Georgia and played in the band under direction from Don Milford. He graduated from Butler High in 1985, performed in New York City as part of the McDonald High School All-American Band, went on to study music at Florida A&M where he played in the marching band.
His early works as a professional were with Wynton Marsalis but in recent years he expanded beyond swing and experimented with new instruments, notably the indigenous Australian wind instrument, didgeridoo. In 1995, Gordon arranged and orchestrated the third version of the theme song for NPR’s All Things Considered, the widely recognized melody composed in 1971 by Donald Joseph Voegeli.
In 2006 he founded Blues Back Records, his was an independent jazz label and released his Rhythm On My Mind album, a collaboration with bassist Jay Leonhart. His desire for full artistic control was the impetus for creating Blues Back. Blues Back had produced other artists in Wycliffe’s universe who met Gordon’s criteria for originality, however, since 2011 has been inactive.
Jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and music educator at the collegiate-conservatory level, Wycliffe Gordon also plays didgeridoo, trumpet, tuba, piano, and sings. To date he has a catalogue of 19 albums as a leader and another eight as a sideman performing with John Allred, Marcus Roberts, Randy Sandke, Maurice Hines, Ron Westray, and Chip White. He continues to perform, tour, record and educate.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dudley Stuart John Moore was born on April 19, 1935 in London, England. Notably short in stature and born with clubfeet he was the butt of children’s jokes. He became a choirboy at the age of six and by eleven he earned a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music where he took up harpsichord, organ, violin, musical theory and composition. He rapidly developed into a highly talented pianist and organist and was playing the pipe organ at local church weddings by the age of 14. He attended Dagenham County High School where he received musical tuition from a dedicated teacher, Peter Cork, who would also become a lifelong friend and confidant.
Moore’s musical talent won him an organ scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford and it was during his university years that he developed a love of jazz. He soon became an accomplished pianist and composer and began working with John Dankworth and Cleo Laine. During the 1960s he formed the Dudley Moore Trio, with drummer Chris Karan and bassist Pete McGurk. Moore’s admitted principal musical influences were Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner. Mastering the latter’s cadence he recorded songs like Baubles, Bangles and Beads, My Blue Heaven, Indiana and Autumn Leaves among others. The trio performed regularly on British television, made numerous recordings and had a long-running residency at Peter Cook’s London nightclub, The Establishment.
Dudley became an American household name in his role as Arthur but as his star waned he opted to concentrate on the piano, continuing to work as a composer and pianist, writing scores for a number of films and giving piano concerts. Moore co-owned the fashionable restaurant 72 Market Street OysterBar & Grill in Venice, California and played the piano whenever he was there.
In June 2001, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Pianist, composer, actor and comedian Dudley Moore passed away on March 27, 2002 as a result of pneumonia, secondary to immobility caused by progressive supranuclear palsy in Plainfield, New Jersey.
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