Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Curtis Sylvester Lowe, Sr. was born on November 15, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Oakland, California. He first learned to play soprano saxophone as a youth and studied briefly in Alabama before deciding to take up music full-time. Best known professionally as a tenor and baritone saxophonist, he played in traveling bands before the outbreak of World War II. Enlisting in the United States Navy in 1942, his unit band was full of noteworthy jazz musicians, including Vernon Alley, Wilbert Baranco, Buddy Collette, Jerome Richardson, Ernie Royal, and Marshall Royal.

In the 1950s Curtis worked extensively with Lionel Hampton and also played with Dave Brubeck, Little Esther, Johnny Otis, and Gerald Wilson. He led his own five-piece ensemble in 1952-1953. In 1958 he began a decade-long association with Earl Hines.

He was active locally in San Francisco, California and the Bay Area into the 1980s. Saxophonist Curtis Lowe Sr., who never recorded as a leader, transitioned at the age of 73 on October 29, 1993.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Masao Yagi was born on November 14, 1932 in Tokyo, Japan.  He became devoted to American jazz very early in the wave of Japanese jazz enthusiasm, becoming a member of the Cozy Quartet in 1956 after Toshiko Akiyoshi’s departure. During his tenure in the quartet he played alongside Sadao Watanabe.

In 1959, at twenty-six, the pianist formed his own group featuring several Thelonious Monk tunes in their repertoire, culminating in his debut album, Masao Yagi Plays Thelonious Monk, recorded in the summer of 1960. Later in the decade he played with Charlie Mariano, Hidehiko Matsumoto, and Helen Merrill.

The 1970s saw Yagi leading his own ensembles. He was well-known as a composer and arranger, and wrote copiously for film soundtracks.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Warren Bernhardt was born on November 13, 1938 in Wausau, Wisconsin. His early childhood exposure to piano was due to his pianist father and he learned some rudiments of keyboarding from his friends. At five his parents moved to New York City, where he began studying seriously under varied instructors. After his father’s death he suffered a period of depression and quit music opting to study chemistry and physics at the University of Chicago. However, exposure to blues and jazz influenced the rest of his career.

From 1961 to 1964 he worked in Paul Winter’s sextet, which led to his return to New York. He would go on to work with George Benson, Gerry Mulligan, Jeremy Steig among others. He developed a close relationship with the pianist Bill Evans, who served as his mentor. Bernhardt released several solo albums in the Seventies, and eventually became a member of the jazz fusion group Steps Ahead. In 1971, he provided the piano accompaniment on the Don McLean song Crossroads.

Warren has toured as the musical director with Steely Dan and can be heard on their Alive in America album. He has performed on Simon and Garfunkel’s Old Friends tour, on Art Garfunkel’s solo tours, and on the latter’s presentation Across America.

In 2009 he reunited with his 1973 band L’Image, featuring Mike Mainieri, David Spinozza, Tony Levin and Steve Gadd. They released the album L ‘Image 2.0. Pianist Warren Bernhardt transitioned on August 19, 2022 of natural causes.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

James Edward Pugh, born November 12, 1950 in Butler, Pennsylvania began playing the trombone around the age of ten. He attended the Eastman School of Music from 1968 to 1972, where he played in an ensemble under Chuck Mangione.

Pugh toured and recorded with the Woody Herman Band for four years from 1972 and briefly performed with Chick Corea in 1977. He then concentrated on studio session work for jazz and popular musicians. In 1984, he was co-leader for the album The Pugh–Taylor Project. He also composed for and played on the album X Over Trombone.

Trombonist and composer James Pugh continues to perform and record sessions for jazz, pop and Broadway soundtracks.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Irvin Stokes was born November 11, 1926 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He moved to New York City in 1947 and recorded with a Charlie Singleton sextet in 1949. Throughout the 1950s he worked in the big bands of Tiny Bradshaw, Duke Ellington, Mercer Ellington, Erskine Hawkins, Buddy Johnson, Andy Kirk, and Jimmie Lunceford. 

By the end of the decade Stokes was playing in Austin Powell’s ensemble, then went on to record with Bobby Donaldson and Lou Donaldson in the early 1960s. Principally with Broadway musical bands in the 1970s such as Hair, in 1978 he played on the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra’s tour of Europe, and with Panama Francis at the end of the decade. 

His credits in the 1980s included George Kelly, Illinois Jacquet, Oliver Jackson, and the Count Basie Orchestra. He was a regular performer alongside Spanky Davis at Doc Cheatham’s Sunday brunch gig at the Sweet Basil Jazz Club, continuing in this role after Cheatham’s death in 1997, when Chuck Folds took over. He also played with the Statesmen of Jazz late in the 1990s. 

Trumpeter Irvin Stokes, who recorded two albums as a leader, Just Friends and Broadway w/Oliver Jackson, retired from music.

Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Greensboro trumpeter to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…

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