Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Virgil Gonsalves was born in Monterey, California on September 5, 1931. In 1950 he took the baritone saxophone chair in the Alvino Rey Orchestra and then with Tex Beneke in 1952. In 1954 he formed an ensemble with Bob Enevoldsen, the tenor saxophonist Buddy Wise, Lou Levy, Harry Babasin, and Larry Bunker. They recorded the album Virgil Gonsalves Sextet that same year on Nocturne Records 8. Later members were Leo Wright, Junior Mance, Ron Crotty, and Eddie Khan.
Working mainly in the San Francisco, California area as a freelance musician, he ventured into rock during the Sixties and Seventies, and became a member of the Pacific Gas & Electric rock band from 1971 to 1972. Baritone saxophonist Virgil Gonsalves passed away in Salinas, California on October 20, 2008.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Thomas Mossie McQuater was born on September 4, 1914 in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland. Showing early signs of musical talent and largely self-taught, he began on the cornet but by the age of 11 was a regular member of the Maybole Burgh Band. The brass band won several competitions in the late 1920s and they played at local events and dances.
Turning professional in his teens, Tommy got a regular position with Louis Freeman’s Band, which played at Greens Playhouse in Glasgow. In 1934, at 20, he was offered a job with one of London, England’s most renowned bands, the Jack Payne Orchestra, playin in London and Paris, France. His next stint was with the Lew Stone Band and made the classic recording of Pardon Me, Pretty Baby.
In the 1940s, after joining The Squadronaires, he worked with the BBC Showband in 1945. He often performed with John McLevy in the 1970s and 1980s. In his later years, he concentrated his energy playing around the Ealing Jazz Festival. Trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist Tommy McQuater passed away on January 20, 2008 in London, England at the age of 93.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herman “Trigger” Alpert was born on September 3, 1916 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Attending Indiana University, he studied the bass and soon after was playing with guitarist Alvino Rey in New York City. In the early 1940s he toured with the Glenn Miller band and his enthusiastic playing style can be witnessed during a 1941 performance of In The Mood in Sun Valley Serenade.
During the rest of the decade, he worked with Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Bud Freeman, Woody Herman, Jerry Jerome, Bernie Leighton, Ray McKinley, Frank Sinatra, and Muggsy Spanier. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he recorded as a sideman with Don Elliott, Coleman Hawkins, Gene Krupa, Mundell Lowe, Buddy Rich, Artie Shaw, and the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra.
Until the late 1960s, Trigger was a member of the CBS Orchestra and the CBS band for the television series the Garry Moore Show with Carol Burnett and the Barbra Streisand television specials My Name Is Barbra and Color Me Barbra.
Alpert wrote two instructional books: Walking the Bass in 1958 and the Electric Bass in 1968. He recorded a single album as a leader titled Trigger Happy on the Riverside label in 1956.
Retiring from music in 1970, he made his longtime interest in portrait photography a full-time profession. Bassist Trigger Alpert passed away on December 21, 2013 at an assisted living facility in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Phil Napoleon was born Filippo Napoli on September 2, 1901 in Boston, Massachusetts. He began with classical training and was performing publicly by age 5. In the 1910s, he was one of the first musicians in the northeastern United States to embrace the new jass style brought to that part of the country by musicians from New Orleans, Louisiana.
At 16 with pianist Frank Signorelli he formed the group The Original Memphis Five in 1917. He became one of the most sought after trumpeters of the 1920s and the group became one of the most prolific in New York City at the time. In 1922-1923 they made over a hundred recordings. Napoleon’s 1927 version of Clarinet Marmalade was a particular success. The group split up in 1928.
During the 1930s, Phil mainly worked as a session trumpeter, working in the RCA Radio Orchestra in the early 1930s, and in 1937 unsuccessfully tried to form his own orchestra. He recorded with the Cotton Pickers and the Charleston Chasers and also worked with blues singers Leona Williams and Alberta Hunter.
Napoleon joined Jimmy Dorsey’s then Los Angeles, California based group in the mid 1940s, and he appeared with the band in the film Four Jills in a Jeep. Parting with Dorsey in 1947, he moved back to New York City and worked as a studio musician at NBC until 1949-1950 when he reformed The Original Memphis Five. During the early 1950s the group became noted for their performances at Nick’s in New York City. He worked frequently with his nephew Marty Napoleon, a jazz pianist. In 1959, Napoleon and The Five performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, later released as an album.
In 1966 Phil opened up his own club named Napoleon’s Retreat in Miami, Florida and continued to perform Dixieland jazz in the club up until the 1980s. Trumpeter and bandleader Phil Napoleon passed away on October 1, 1990 in Miami.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Bates was born on September 1, 1923 in Pocatello, Idaho. His mother was an organist and his brothers Norman and Jim were also bassists. As a youth he played tuba, trumpet, and trombone. From 1944 to 1948 he studied classical bass and played with Sonny Dunham around 1946–47 and with Jack Fina in the late Forties.
The 1950s saw Bob playing in the Two Beaux & a Peep Trio before becoming the bassist in the Dave Brubeck Quartet between 1953 and 1955. In addition, he recorded with Paul Desmond in 1954, and Dave Pell in 1956. It was during this time that he stopped playing and performing. Bassist Bob Bates passed away on September 13, 1981 in San Francisco, California at the age of 58.
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