Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Cory Weeds was born and raised in Burnaby, British Columbia on December 5, 1975. His interest in jazz began in secondary school, and then chose to pursue his post-secondary education by attending Capilano University and the University of North Texas.
>At the age of 26, Weeds purchased a jazz club which would become the Cellar Jazz Club. The venue was selected by DownBeat named Cellar to its list of the world’s greatest jazz clubs. Thirteen years later in 2014 the Cellar Jazz Club shuttered its doors.
Remaining vital in the jazz community of Vancouver, British Columbia he books musicians at Frankie’s Jazz Club and the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby.
In 2023, Cellar Music Group was awarded their first Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. The Grammy was awarded to Steven Feifke and Bijon Watson’s Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra for their album Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra.
Weeds has performed alongside musicians including Christian McBride, Joey DeFrancesco, Peter Bernstein, Eric Alexander, Mike LeDonne, and Joe Farnsworth.
Alto and tenor saxophonist and impresario Cory Weeds, who is the founder and owner of the Cellar Music Group record label, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Bruce Roberts was born on December 4, 1917 in Melbourne, Australia and studied both clarinet and saxophone. Known to the world by his nickname Pixie, he started his music career in the 1930s.
Over the course of his career Pixie was a member of the Don Roberts’ Wolf Gang, Graeme Bell And His Australian Jazz Band, Graeme Bell And His Dixieland Jazz Band, Graeme Bell And His Orchestra, Graeme Bell’s Original Four, Pixie Roberts’ Leprechauns, Roger Bell’s Jazz Gang, The Bell-Lyttelton Jazz Nine, The Bell-Lyttelton Jazz Ten, The Bell-Lyttelton Jazz Twelve.
He was among the co-founders of the Australian jazz label Swaggie Records. Clarinetist and saxophonist Pixie Roberts transitioned on August 16, 1992 in his home city of Melbourne. He was 74.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph William Thomas was born on December 3, 1902 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His first professional gig was in his home city with trombone player Joe Harris in 1923. Soon after that, he worked with Jack Carey, Chris Kelly, and Kid Rena. He recorded with Charles Derbigny in 1941, but the recordings were not publicly released until the 1960s, by which time Thomas had become a figure in the Dixieland revival movement.
He led his own ensemble at New Orleans’s H&J Tavern for much of the 1940s, then in 1951, he became a sideman for Papa Celestin. He worked with this ensemble for years, including after Papa French and Eddie Pierson had taken over as leader.
Other associations in the 1950s and 1960s included work with Freddie Kohlman, Punch Miller, the Olympia Brass Band, and on Swedish television with Sweet Emma Barrett in 1968. In the 1970s he worked with the Legends of Jazz, replacing Joe Darensbourg.
Clarinetist and vocalist Joe Thomas, also known as Brother Cornbread and was closely associated with the New Orleans jazz scene, February 18, 1981 in New Orleans at 78.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jay Corre was born on Nov 30, 1924 and grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His interest in music began at five years old, when he started to experiment with various instruments, including the harmonica, violin and clarinet. He picked up the saxophone at age 14 and showed a natural ability for this instrument.
By the time he was sixteen he was playing dates at various clubs that made the shore area a virtual hot bed of fine jazz entertainment. Completing his music studies at the Atlantic City High School he played with the Alex Bartha Orchestra on the Steel Pier. After a stint in the US Navy Band, his discharge favored the opportunity to join the Raymond Scott Orchestra, featuring Dorothy Collins.
He joined the Buddy Rich Big Band before performing with Harry James, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, The Duke Ellington Band under Mercer Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and many more.
Tenor saxophonist, composer, arranger and jazz educator Jay Corre, whose influences were Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker, transitioned on Oct 26, 2014 in Stuart, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Donaldson was born Robert Stanley Donaldson on November 29, 1922 in Boston, Massachusetts. Early in his career he played with the Boston Symphony. After playing locally in the early 1940s, he played with Russell Procope while serving in the Army in New York City.
In 1946–47 Bobby worked with Cat Anderson. Following this stint he played with Edmond Hall, Andy Kirk, Lucky Millinder, Buck Clayton, Red Norvo, and Sy Oliver/Louis Armstrong.
A prolific session musician for much of the 1950s and 1960s, he played with Helen Merrill, Ruby Braff, Mel Powell, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Bobby Jaspar, Herbie Mann, André Hodeir, Kenny Burrell, Lonnie Johnson, Frank Wess, Willis Jackson, and Johnny Hodges.
Drummer Bobby Donaldson, who played both in the jazz, Dixieland and R&B idioms, transitioned in 1971.
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