Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ian Wilfred Hamer was born on September 11, 1932 in Liverpool, England, the son of a successful Merseyside dance band leader. Together with his two brothers he played in the band run by his mother until serving in the Royal Air Force.

Moving to London, England in 1953 he worked for clarinettist Carl Barriteau and for a brief period with the Oscar Rabin Band. For a year beginning in 1955 he was part of the Tubby Hayes octet then later joined the Vic Ash quintet. In 1963, together with Harry South, he led a band called The Six Sounds, featuring Ken Wray and Dick Morrissey. By 1966 the band had developed into the Ian Hamer Sextet. In 1966 Ian joined the Top of the Pops studio orchestra conducted by Johnny Pearson.

Hamer played in big bands led by Tubby Hayes, Ted Heath, Mike Gibbs, Jack Parnell and Harry South. He also played with Kenny Wheeler, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, as well as in smaller bands with Stan Tracey, Benny Golson, Lalo Schifrin, Gary McFarland, Woody Herman’s Anglo-American Herd, Barbara Thompson, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band, Eric Delaney, John Dankworth and Joe Harriott.

As a session musician, he played on recordings by The Beatles, Bing Crosby, Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, James Last, Matt Monro, and Peter Herbolzheimer. Ian played trumpet on the theme tune for The Sweeney, written and arranged by Harry South.

In 1987, Hamer moved to Brighton, England and founded the group Ian Hamer and the Sussex Youth Jazz Orchestra, later dropping Youth. On September 3, 2006, trumpeter Ian Hamer transitioned in Brighton at 73.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Francis Craig was the son of a minister born on September 10, 1900 in Dickson, Tennessee. He studied mathematics and political science at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. While he was at Vanderbilt, he formed an orchestra, the Vanderbilt Jazz Band. When the university’s chancellor told him to change the name of the group, disband it, or leave Vanderbilt, he dropped out and changed the orchestra’s name.

Craig went on to have three stints on WSM radio in Nashville and his Francis Craig Orchestra played on the station from 1926 to 1928 and again in 1935~1939. He returned to the station in 1947 to work as a disc jockey on the program Featured by Francis Craig. He also worked on WGN in Chicago, Illinois, in 1940.

The recording of his own composition Near You was released by Bullet Records and reached the Billboard Best Seller chart in 1947, peaked at #1 and lasted 21 weeks on the chart. It was the first pop hit record ever to come out of Nashville. His other compositions were Dynamite, Beg Your Pardon and Red Rose, among others.

Songwriter, pianist and dance band leader Francis Craig, who played honky~tonk transitioned at age 66 on November 19, 1966, in Sewanee, Tennessee.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Michael Steven Bublé was born September 9, 1975 in Burnaby, British Columbia to a fisherman and homemaker. Their surname was originally spelled Bubli. Dreaming of becoming a famous singer since he was two, his interest in jazz began at around age five when his family played Bing Crosby’s White Christmas album. The first time his family noticed his singing talent was during the Christmas holidays, when Bublé was 13 years old, and they heard him powerfully sing the phrase “May your days be merry and bright” when singing on a car ride.

His first singing engagements were in nightclubs at age 16 and were facilitated by his plumber grandfather who offered his plumbing services in exchange for stage time for his grandson and paid for his singing lessons. As a children’s entertainer he used the name Mickey Bubbles.

Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather’s collection of jazz records and credits his grandfather in encouraging his love for jazz music. At 18 he entered a local talent contest and won, but was disqualified for being underage. He went on to enter other contests and perform in clubs, conventions, cruise ships, hotel lounges, and shopping malls.

By 1996 Michael appeared in different roles on television in Death Game, The X-Files, Big Band Boom!, and on the CTV network. He received two Genie Award nominations for Best Original Song in 2000 for I’ve Never Been in Love Before and Dumb ol’ Heart, two songs he wrote for the film Here’s to Life!.

He recorded three independent albums First Dance, Babalu, and Dream before his self-titled debut album in 2003 featuring a range of standards from various eras and genres. He has followed with seven more through 2022 along with tours, a residency, four Grammy awards, 8 Juno awards and numerous nominations. He received the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.

Vocalist Michael Bublé, who is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songbook, due to his musical influences Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin and Sam Cooke. He continues to perform and tour.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

William Henry Graham was born on September 8, 1918 in Kansas City, Missouri and grew up in Denver, Colorado. During his years in Denver he led his own ensemble which included Paul Quinichette among its members. He went on to study at Tuskegee University and then Lincoln University of Missouri after a stint in the Army during World War II.

He worked with Count Basie, Lucky Millinder, Herbie Fields, and Erskine Hawkins early in his career. From 1946 to 1953, he worked with Dizzy Gillespie as a baritone saxophonist. As a composer under Gillespie, he penned the tune Oh-Sho-Be-Do-Be.

Following his Gillespie years he led his own band in New York City, in addition to touring Europe with Sarah Vaughan in 1953. From 1955 to 1957, Bill was back with Basie, including on the 1956 release April in Paris and the Newport Jazz Festival. In 1956-57 he teamed again with Quinichette, then in 1958 he found work with Duke Ellington and Mercer Ellington from 1958–59.

Outside of jazz, Graham also played on numerous R&B recordings, including those of Wynonie Harris, Joe Williams, and Little Willie John. In the 1960s he quit active touring and became a teacher in the New York City Public Schools system.

Saxophonist Bill Graham transitioned on December 29, 1975 in New York at the age of 57.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jon Mayer was born September 7, 1938 in New York City and grew up in the fertile modern jazz evolution. Learning piano in childhood he confidently expresses strong emotions in his playing.

He also spent time in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band as well as on the road with Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O’Day and Manhattan Transfer. Mayer’s compositions have been recorded by Les McAnn, Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, Nancy Wilson, Gladys Knight, Ernie Watts and Jackie Ryan.

He has recorded eleven albums as a leader and two as a sideman, Strange Blues with Jackie McLean and Like Sonny with John Coltrane.

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