Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ernesto Caceres was born on November 22, 1911 in Rockport, Texas and learned to play the clarinet, guitar, alto and baritone saxophone. He first played professionally in 1928 in local Texas ensembles. He and his brother Emilio moved to Detroit, Michigan before moving to New York City, taking work as session musicians. In 1937 they made live nationwide appearances on Benny Goodman’s popular radio series Camel Caravan which created a sensation and made them jazz stars.
In 1938 Ernesto became a member of Bobby Hackett’s band, then worked as a sideman with Jack Teagarden and Glenn Miller’s orchestra from 1940 to 1942. While with Miller, he made an appearance in the films Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives. Time with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, and Tommy Dorsey followed later in the 1940s. In 1949 he put together his own quartet, playing at the Hickory Log in New York. He was a frequent performer with the Garry Moore Orchestra on television.
At the beginning of the 1960s he played with the Billy Butterfield Band. In 1964 he moved back to Texas and played in a band with brother Emilio from 1968 until his death. He spent some time in 1965 and 1966 at Mint Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Holiday Hotel in Reno, Nevada with the Johnny Long Band. Saxophonist, clarinetist and guitarist Ernesto Caceres passed away from cancer on January 10, 1971.
More Posts: bandleader,clarinet,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Claire Austin was born Augusta Marie on November 21, 1918 to Swedish-American parents in Yakima, Washington. She played in nightclubs throughout the northwest in the 1930s and toured with the Chuck Austin Band in the 1940s.
Retiring from professional singing by the early 1950s, Claire began working as an accountant in Sacramento, California. After singing with Turk Murphy, she frequently performed in San Francisco, California for two years. She remained active through the 1970s.
Vocalist and pianist Claire Austin, whose singing style has been compared to Peggy Lee, passed away on June 19, 1994.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano,vocal
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Clifton “Skeeter” Best was born on November 20, 1914 in Kinston, North Carolina. Playing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1940, he recorded with Slim Marshall and Erskine Hawkins. By 1940, he was a member of Earl Hines’s orchestra, playing with him until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942.
After the war, he played with Bill Johnson, toured East Asia with Oscar Pettiford, and formed his own trio in the 1950s. He did a critically acclaimed session with Ray Charles and Milt Jackson in 1957 called Soul Brothers.
In 1958, he recorded with Mercer Ellington and taught in New York City. He also recorded with Harry Belafonte, Etta Jones, Nellie Lutcher, Milt Hinton, Osie Johnson, Paul Quinichette, Jimmy Rushing, Sonny Stitt, Charles Thompson, and Lucky Thompson.
Guitarist Skeeter Best passed away on May 27, 1985 in New York City.
More Posts: bandleader,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tommy Stewart was born November 19, 1939 in Gadsden, Alabama. He attended Industrial High in Birmingham, Alabama where John T. “Fess” Whatley trained him along with Erskine Hawkins, Dud Bascomb, Paul Bascomb, and Sun Ra. Alvin “Stumpy” Robinson, the band director at Washington Jr High School, was also influential in his development.
Enrolling at Alabama State College and having no way to pay tuition, the problem solved itself when he joined the Bama State Collegians, a dance band that made enough money to fund Stewart’s way through four years of college. He attended Alabama State University, where he directed the Bama State Collegians. Later, he studied jazz arranging at the Eastman School of Music and studied arranging under John Duncan, a classical composer and teacher at Alabama State University.
As an educator he began his teaching career at Fayette High School in St. Clair County Alabama, 1961 to 1963. Moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 1969 he taught in Fayetteville, Georgia, worked for Morris Brown College doing band arrangements and taught jazz and arranged for the Morehouse College band. He also taught band classes at West End High School in Birmingham, Alabama from, and taught A Survey of Popular Music at Georgia State University.
During the 1970s, he worked with Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Tams, Johnnie Taylor, Jackie Moore, King Floyd, Z. Z. Hill, and The Stylistics. He toured as musical director for Johnnie Taylor and for Ted Taylor and went on to record disco in the Seventies with Final Approach, Cream De CoCo, Tamiko Jones, Moses Davis, and his own album.
In 1990, he co-founded the African American Philharmonic Orchestra with founder and conductor John Peek. He moved from Atlanta to Birmingham in 1992. He was a member of the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Eaton, the Alabama All-Stars, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars, and Ray Reach and Friends, continues to be involved in music. In 1988, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. At 81, trumpeter, arranger, composer, and record producer Tommy Stewart remains involved in the music industry.
More Posts: arranger,bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,record producer,trumpet
The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
As a nation of thinkers trepidly venture out to events, not out of fear but in caution, we continue to perform the safe practices of mask wearing and social distancing, this quarantined jazz voyager remains steadfast in protecting himself. Today I am playing one of my favorite genres, the big band, and this one is being led by a most wonderful woman. In 2020 Lenora Zenzalai Helm produced a fabulous record For The Love Of Big Band bringing to the fore the Tribe Jazz Orchestra and new arrangements to some of jazz’s classic compositions. There is something wonderful about listening to music that was created with love.
Track Listing | 1:16:00
- Blues For Mama (Nina Simone) ~ 4:42
- Bebop (Dizzy Gillespie, Deborah Brown) ~ 6:22
- Chega De Saudade (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jessie Cavanuagh, Vinicius de Moraes, Jon Hendricks) ~ 6:39
- It Could Happen To You (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) ~ 5:26
- Soul Eyes (Mal Waldron) ~ 5:24
- Everything But You (Duke Ellington, Harry James) ~ 4:30
- I Didn’t Know About You (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell) ~ 5:50
- Sandu (Clifford Brown, Dupresha L. Townsend) ~ 9:00
- But Not For Me (George & Ira Gershwin) ~ 5:26
- A Conversation With God (Dear Lord) (John Coltrane, Lenora Zenzalai Helm) ~ 7:25
- Mississippi Goddam (Nina Simone) ~ 6:06
- Stella By Starlight (Victor Young,Ned Washington) ~ 8:23
More Posts: adventure,album,club,genius,jazz,museum,music,preserving,restaurant,travel,vocal