Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nabuko Kiryu was born on May 18, 1968 in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in a musical family. Her mother and stepfather both are jazz pianists and a brother plays classical trumpet. The daughter of Toshiko Kiryu, a classically trained pianist who has performed at Carnegie Hall, she learned an appreciation for music early. However, her stepfather Kanji Ohta, was the one who inspired her movement toward jazz.
She started singing jazz in 1990 in Japan after graduating from Shobi Junior College of Music with a degree in composition. But her musical career began much earlier. Since her arrival in New York City in 1996, she has been performing in restaurants, cafes, and jazz clubs such as Blue Note, Lenox Lounge, and Showmans. She completed her B.A. in jazz vocal performance from City College of New York in 2001 and also graduated with her M.A. at Queens College in 2004.
Nabuko has performed with jazz giants such as Jimmy Heath, Grady Tate, Earl May, and Jimmy Lovelace, the last two of which appear on her latest What’s New Records release titled Singing Love. She studied with Sheila Jordan and has participated in the Barry Harris Jazz Vocal Ensemble.
Vocalist Nabuko Kiryu continues to perform and record as she explore the jazz idiom.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Karl Drewo was born May 17, 1929 in Vienna, Austria and as a child studied piano and accordion, but switched to tenor saxophone in his teens. In the late 1940s he worked with Charlie Gaudriot and Paul Reischman, followed by performing with Gert Steffens and Horst Winter in the early Fifties. He was a member of the Austrian All Stars in the mid-1950s and from 1956 to 1958 he worked with Fatty George.
He continued on by becoming a member of Kurt Edelhagen’s orchestra, where he played into the early 1970s. In the 1960s he recorded with Francy Boland, Kenny Clarke, Zoot Sims, and Jimmy Woode, among others.
After leaving Edelhagen’s group, he played with the Österreichischer Rundfunk band, and in the 1980s was a member of Peter Herbolzheimer’s ensemble. Later that decade he took a position as a lecturer at an arts school in Graz, Austria. In the Nineties he played with the Lungau Big Band, Rudolf Josel, and Rudi Wilfer.
Saxophonist Karl Drewo, often spelled Carl Drewo or Drevo, transitioned on May 10, 1995 in Wels, Austria.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Friedrich Gulda was born on May 16, 1930 in Vienna, Austria and as the son of a teacher began learning to play the piano at age 7 with Felix Pazofsky at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium. In 1942, he entered the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied piano and musical theory under Bruno Seidlhofer and Joseph Marx.
During World War II as teenagers, Gulda and his friend Joe Zawinul were rebellious and would perform forbidden music, including jazz, in violation of the government’s prohibition of playing such music. Winning first prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1946, he began to play concerts worldwide, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1950, and with Jörg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda, formed what became known as the “Viennese troika”. Friedrich enjoyed a renowned classical career for years before his 1956 engagement at Birdland in New York City and at the Newport Jazz Festival.
In 1966 he organized the International Competition for Modern Jazz in 1966, and established the International Musikforum, a school in Ossiach, Austria two years later, for students who wanted to learn improvisation. From the 1950s on Gulda cultivated a professional interest in jazz, writing songs and free improvisation or open music improvisations. He also recorded as a vocalist under the pseudonym “Albert Golowin”, fooling music critics for years until it was realized that Gulda and Golowin were the same person.
In jazz, he found “the rhythmic drive, the risk, the absolute contrast to the pale, academic approach I had been taught. He also took up playing the baritone saxophone. His 1970 album, As You Like It, includes the standards Round Midnight and What Is This Thing Called Love?, as well as his own classic Blues For H.G. that is dedicated to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer.
From the late 1960s through the 1980s he continued his straight-ahead swing and bop-based jazz often in European Jazz big bands, which he often organized yearly performances and recordings. He performed and recorded playing clavichord, percussion instruments, and a bass recorder wooden flute with musicians involved in free improvisation, including Cecil Taylor, Barre Phillips, Ursula Anders, John Surman, Albert Mangelsdorff, Stu Martin, and Fritz Pauer. He would go on to collaborate in the coming decades with Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, and Chick Corea.
When the Vienna Music Academy awarded him its Beethoven Ring in recognition of his performances, he accepted it but then later reconsidered and returned it. To promote a concert in 1999, he announced his own death in a press release so that the concert at the Vienna Konzerthaus could serve as a resurrection party.
Pianist and composer Friedrich Gulda, who worked in both the classical and jazz fields, transitioned from heart failure at the age of 69 on January 27, 2000 at his home in Weissenbach, Austria.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Martin was born on May 15, 1903. He played trumpet as a child with June Clark and Sonny Greer. By 1925 at the age of 22 he was in New York City playing and recording with Sam Wooding, as well as touring Europe through 1931.
From 1932 to 1936 he played abroad with Willie Lewis, and formed his own band after returning home in 1937. His quartet held an extended gig at the Palace in Greenwich VillageYork with pianist Richard Edwards, drummer Ural Dean, and guitarist Samuel Steede. This era of Martin’s life, as is much of his life, is poorly documented, however, because during a tour of The Netherlands at the Mephisto Club in Rotterdam, his entire book of arrangements was burned in a club fire.
Bobby continued to tour Europe into the early Forties, then held residencies in New York City and New Jersey. He opened his own club briefly in the decade as well.
He married vocalist Thelma Minor, but then left the music industry in 1944. Not much is known of him after this time, however, he never recorded as a leader and transitioned in March 1983.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Calvin Edwards was born in Kings Mountain, North Carolina on May 14, 1957. At 17, he joined the famous Gospel group Five Blind Boys of Alabama for many years. Then, he moved to Los Angeles, California to play in his brother’s band, The Jett Edwards Band. During this time, he and his brother recorded two albums together, including one song which was recorded by George Benson.
He has released four CD’s as a band leader, and performed with and/or booked various artist through Chasity Music including Tom Brown, Tuck & Patti, Michael White, Kei Akagi, Lonnie Plaxico, Benny Maupin, Hidefumi Toke, Javon Jackson, Michael O’Neil, Ron Brown, Ali Jackson, Michael Paluo, Michael Wolf, Roy Ayers, Everette Harp, Dan Siegel, and Phil Perry.
A well-known international artist, Calvin has performed for President Clinton at the G8 Summit, as well as in Asia and across the United States. He continues to record and play both jazz and blues as he explores the genres.
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