Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Andy LaVerne was born on December 4, 1947 in New York City, and studied at Juilliard School of Music, Berklee College, and the New England Conservatory. He also took private lessons from jazz pianist Bill Evans.

LaVerne has worked with Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz, Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea, Lionel Hampton, Michael Brecker and Elvin Jones. As a leader he has recorded more than 50 albums including a duo with saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi.

An educator, Andy has released a series of instructional videos, Guide to Modern Jazz Piano, Vols. 1 &, 2, and Jazz Piano Standards, and In Concert with guitarist John Abercrombie.

He has authored several books that has included his own compositions as well as the Handbook of Chord Substitutions, Tons of Runs, Bill Evans Compositions 19 Solo Piano Arrangements, and is the pianist on The Chick Corea Play-Along Collection. He is a frequent contributor to several jazz, music and piano publications.

Besides receiving being a recipient of several fellowships and awards, holding numerous clinics, masterclasses and performances worldwide, pianist Andy LaVerne currently is Professor of Jazz Piano at The Hartt School on the campus of the University of Hartford in Connecticut and on the faculty of the Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Connee Boswell was born Constance Foore Boswell on December 3, 1907 in Kansas City, Missouri but raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. With sisters Martha and Helvetia “Vet”, she performed in the 1920s and 1930s as the trio The Boswell Sisters. They came to be well known locally while still in their early teens, making appearances in New Orleans theaters and on radio. The girls started their career as instrumentalists but became a highly influential singing group via their recordings and film and television appearances.

They made their first recordings for Victor Records in 1925, which featured Connee singing in the style of her early influence, Mamie Smith. The sisters became stage professionals that year when they were tapped to fill in for an act at New Orleans’ Orpheum Theatre. This led to a gig in Chicago, Illinois and then on to San Francisco, California. The desk clerk at the recommended hotel was Harry Leedy was part owner of Decca Records, became their manager on a handshake and later Connee’s husband.

The next stop was Los Angeles, California where they performed on local radio and “side-miked” for the soundies. National attention came with a move to New York City in 1930 and the making of national radio broadcasts. After a few recordings with Okeh Records, they recorded for Brunswick Records from 1931 to 1935.

Connee recorded as a solo artist and had several successful singles. In 1935, the sisters had a No. 1 hit with The Object of My Affection, and the group signed to Decca Records, but after just three releases two sisters called it quits in 1936. Connee, however, continued to have a successful solo career as a singer for Decca but also later recorded for the new Apollo label, RCA Victor, and Decca subsidiary, Design.

During the Forties she was a co-star on NBC Radio’s Kraft Music Hall, starred in her own radio show on the NBC Blue Network, The Connee Boswell Show, and featured on CBS Radio’s Tonight On Broadway, among numerous other radio appearances and films. She was a favorite duet partner of Bing Crosby, and they frequently sang together on radio, as well as recording several hit records as a duo in the 1930s and 1940s.

Vocalist Connee Boswell, who recorded ten albums as a leader and had fifteen hits reach the top 12 on the Billboard list, died on October 11, 1976 from stomach cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City at age 68.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz

George Robert Swope was born December 2, 1926 in Washington, D.C. By 1947 he was playing with Buddy Rich, recording with Jerry Wald, and followed with a two year stint with Chubby Jackson in 1948. He closed out the decade working with Gene Krupa in 1949-50, then with Elliot Lawrence in 1950-51.

He led his own trio in the D.C. area in the early Fifties, and also was a member of The Orchestra, the band which accompanied Charlie Parker in 1953 and Dizzy Gillespie in 1955. Spending time in New York City in the latter half of the decade, he played alongside Larry Sonn, Boyd Raeburn, Claude Thornhill, Jimmy Dorsey, and Louie Bellson.

In the 1960s he worked in Washington, D.C. often as a leader. On January 9, 1967 trombonist Rob Swope, the younger brother to trombonist Earl, died in his hometown.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Theodore G. Brown was born into a musical family on December 1, 1927 in Rochester, New York. He learned banjo and violin from his father who also taught him to read music at six, and clarinet and tenor sax from his uncle. After playing in army bands from 1945 to 1947 and then in Hollywood, California for the following year, he moved to New York City.

He worked with Lennie Tristano and fellow pupils and associates Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh for two years beginning in  1955. During that time Ted recorded a session for Vanguard, worked with Ronnie Ball, and played a date in Hollywood with Warne Marsh.

>Returning to New York City he worked extensively in clubs. Brown recorded with Konitz in 1959, and again in 1976, while leading his own group in the late Seventies. He also worked and recorded with Art Pepper and Hod O’Brien.

Cool jazz tenor saxophonist Ted Brown, who recorded as a leader or co-leader thirteen albums and as a sideman was a part of five albums with Tristano, Marsh and Konitz, is 97 years old.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Nathan Gershman was born Nathan Gerschman on November 29, 1917 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received classical training at the Curtis Institute of Music, graduating in 1940 and from that point in his life he played with the Cleveland Orchestra.

In 1947 Nathan moved to New York City to work as a studio musician, then worked in the same capacity in Los Angeles, California after 1954. Three years later he replaced Fred Katz as cellist in Chico Hamilton’s band, playing and recording in his band until 1961. As a jazz musician, he worked with Nat Adderley, Gábor Szabó, and Ronnie Laws during the 1970s.

Gershman was frequently active as a session player and studio musician for television, theater, and recordings in and around Los Angeles from the Sixties into the 1990s. He recorded on albums by David Axelrod, The Beach Boys, Geronimo Black, David Bromberg, Neil Diamond, Lee Hazlewood, Wayne Henderson, Van Dyke Parks, Esther Phillips, and Pleasure.

Cellist and session musician Nathan Gershman, who played in popular music, jazz, and classical idioms, died on September 13, 2008 in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

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