Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Henry Robert Hall was born on May 2, 1898 in Peckham, South London, England. He won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music where he studied trumpet, piano, harmony and counterpoint. His first job was as copyist at the head office of the Salvation Army for which he wrote several marches. During World War I he served with the Royal Field Artillery, and played trumpet and piano in the regimental band.
His musical career had a slow start but eventually he was engaged by the London Midland and Scottish Railway to take charge of music throughout their chain of hotels. 1932 had him succeeding Jack Payne as the band leader of the BBC Dance Orchestra. That year he recorded the songs Here Comes the Bogeyman and Teddy Bears’ Picnic with his BBC Orchestra.
He was featured in the documentary BBC The Voice of Britain in 1935 and the following year made his first feature film and was guest orchestra conductor on the Queen Mary’s maiden voyage. During World War II, Hall played for the troops, and gave concerts and shows in factories all over Britain. After the war he developed his show business interests, becoming something of an agent and producer. He hosted Henry Hall’s Guest Night on the radio and later on television and helped launch the television programme Face the Music.
Ceasing regular broadcasting in 1964, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE, in 1970. Bsndleader Henry Hall transitioned in Eastbourne, Sussex, on October 28, 1989.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jesse Price was born on May 1, 1909 in Memphis, Tennessee and began on drums at age 14, and played locally with blues singers, including Ida Cox, and in the Palace Theater pit orchestra, early in his career.
A move to Kansas City, Missouri in 1934 saw him playing with George E. Lee, Thamon Hayes, Count Basie, and Harlan Leonard into the early Forties. He then moved to Los Angeles, California where Jesse worked with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Stan Kenton, Basie again, Benny Carter, and Slim Gaillard through the decade.
He recorded with Jay McShann when he was back in Kansas City in the 1950s. He led a band at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1971, which included Harry Edison, Jimmy Forrest and Big Joe Turner.
Price recorded twenty-three tracks as a leader between 1946 and 1948, most of them for Capitol Records. All are published on a Blue Moon CD, The Singing Drummer Man; Jesse Price. The Complete Recordings 1946–1957.
Drummer Jesse Price transitioned on April 19, 1974 in Los Angeles.
More Posts: bandleader,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ronaldo Folegatti was born on April 30, 1958 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and started playing the guitar at age 10. He studied mathematics and received a master’s degree in science.
When he was twenty-two, he moved to Germany and started a career in music. He released his debut album, Sound of Watercolors, in Germany in 1990. He recorded his sophomore album, Lust, Comics & Some Other Dreams, with Till Brönner and Ronnie Stevenson. The album crossed several genres including jazz, big band, free jazz, and Brazilian.
In 1995 he returned to Brazil and five years later recorded two more albums, Mazy Tales and Anjos & Estrellas. In 2005 he released Jamming! with guest appearances by Randy Brecker, Will Lee, Joel Rosenblatt, Zé Canuto, Teo Lima, Marcelo Martins, and Ada Rovatti. Composer, guitarist, and record producer Ronaldo Folegatti, who had been treated for cancer for two years, transitioned on August 1, 2007, Teresópolis, Brazil.
More Posts: bandleader,composer,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music,record producer
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Russell Morgan was born on April 29, 1904 in Scranton, Pennsylvania into a Welsh family. He was encouraged to express himself musically from the age of seven. His father was a former drummer, his mother a pianist in a vaudeville act. He began studying piano and worked in the mines with his father to earn money to help support the family and pay for his lessons.
By 14, he was earning money as a pianist in a Scranton theater. Purchasing a trombone he learned to play and in 1921 he played trombone with the Scranton Sirens, a popular band in Pennsylvania. Russ moved to New York in 1921 at 18 and three years later he was writing arrangements for John Philip Sousa and Victor Herber. He then joined Paul Specht’s orchestra and toured throughout Europe with the likes of Paul Whiteman, Charlie Spivak, and Artie Shaw. After returning from Europe, Jean Goldkette invited him to Detroit, Michigan to lead his band with former associates Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Chauncey Morehouse, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Bix Beiderbecke, and Fuzzy Farrar.
His first records were made for OKeh in mid 1930 and for Parlophone and Odeon, usually under the name Russell Brown and his Orchestra. During the early 1930s, Morgan joined the group of anonymous studio groups recording pop tunes for the dime store labels, which included Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, Conqueror, and Vocalion.
For a short time in the Thirties he arranged for Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra. In 1935, he played trombone with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band when they recorded four sides for Vocalio and two sides for Brunswick. He was offered the position of musical director for Detroit radio station WXYZ and his show, Music In The Morgan Manner, became one of the most popular radio shows.
An automobile accident in the early 1930s nearly sidelined his career but after several months in the hospital, Russ started again in New York City as an arranger for the George White Scandals, the Cotton Club Revue, and the Capitol Theatre. When not arranging for the Broadway shows, he worked as a pianist or trombonist with orchestras led by Phil Spitalny, Eddie Gilligan, Ted Fio Rito, and Freddy Martin.
He would go on to join the Freddy Martin Orchestra, become music director at Brunswick, hosted The Russ Morgan Show on the Mutual Broadcasting System and formed an orchestra at Rudy Vallee’s insistence. He landed his first engagement at the Biltmore along with Vallee’s band. He was music director for the Rinso-Lifebuoy Show on NBC and the Philip Morris radio series on NBC and CBS for two years.
Through his career he had four songs that charted, was music director for NBC and CBS and hosted television shows, On August 7, 1969 trombonist, arranger, composer, conductor and bandleader Russ Morgan, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, transitioned at the age of 65 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
More Posts: arranger,bandleader,composer,conductor,history,instrumental,jazz,music,trombone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Oliver Jackson was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 28, 1933. He played in the 1940s with Thad Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Wardell Gray, and had a variety show with Eddie Locke called Bop & Locke. After working with Yusef Lateef from 1954 until 1956, he moved to New York City, where he played regularly at the Metropole in 1957 and 1958.
Following his stint at the club he worked with Teddy Wilson, Charlie Shavers, Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Earl Hines and the JPJ Quartet with Budd Johnson through the Sixties.
Later in life he played with Sy Oliver from 1975 to 1980, Oscar Peterson, and then George Wein’s Newport All-Stars. As a bandleader, Jackson led a 1961 date in Switzerland, and recorded at least five albums for Black & Blue Records between 1977 and 1984.
His brother and bassist Ali Jackson performed with him both at the beginning and towards the end of their careers. Drummer Oliver Jackson, who was also known as Bops Junior, transitioned from a heart failure on May 29, 1994 in New York City at the age of 61.
More Posts: bandleader,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music