Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dave Schildkraut was born on January 7, 1925 in New York, New York and started playing professionally in 1941, first with Louis Prima. He followed this five year residency with Buddy Rich and Anita O’Day through the end of the decade and into the Fifties.
He moved on to hone his craft further by working with Stan Kenton, Pete Rugolo, Oscar Pettiford, Miles Davis, George Handy, Tony Aless, Ralph Burns, Tito Puente, Johnny Richards, and Kenton again in 1959. During the 1960s, Dave freelanced around New York City, appearing regularly with Eddie Bert at the West End Cafe. Later in his life he went into semi-retirement.
His playing was fluid and brilliant in pure bebop style but Schildkraut only recorded one album as a leader, in 1979. However, the album wasn’t released until 2000 by Endgame Records as Last Date. As a sideman he recorded sixteen albums.
Alto saxophonist Dave Schildkraut, whose style mimicked Charlie Parker but later showed influences of John Coltrane, Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz, transitioned on January 1, 1998 in Darien, Connecticut.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chuck Flores was born Charles Walter Flores on January 5, 1935 in Orange, California, and grew up in Santa Ana, California. Best known for his work with saxophonist Bud Shank in the 1950s, he also had a two-year stint with Woody Herman from 1954 to 1955.
Throughout his career Chuck performed and recorded with, among others, Carmen McRae, Art Pepper, Maynard Ferguson, Al Cohn, and Shelly Manne. His drum teacher Manne and others considered him an underrated drummer.
In his later years, Flores became a highly sought after and renowned educator who was a longtime faculty member at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, California.
A few of his students were Danny Seraphine, Chad Wackerman, John Wackerman, Brooks Wackerman, Ray Mehlbaum, Pete Parada, Jamie Wollam, Jose Ruiz and Zack Stewart.
Drummer Chuck Flores, who was one of the relatively small number of musicians associated with West Coast jazz who were actually from the West Coast, transitioned on November 24, 2016.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Lee, Jr. born January 4, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana played professionally from his early teens. While serving in the U. S. Army, he was a member in several bands. In 1969, he co-founded the New Orleans Jazz Workshop.
In 1969 Dizzy Gillespie brought Lee into his band and soon after he was working with Roy Ayers in 1971 and Sonny Rollins for three years beginning in 1972. The Rollins recordings were hard swinging but included the plethora of tempos of the Seventies.
Forming a quartet but never recording as a leader, he continued to work as a sideman. On August 4, 2021, drummer and composer David Lee, who recorded Yoshiaki Masuo, Charlie Rouse, Lonnie Liston Smith and Richard Wyands among others, transitioned at 80 years of age.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Brian Smith was born on January 3, 1939 in Wellington, New Zealand and studied piano in his youth but was primarily an autodidact on reeds. He played locally in pop and jazz groups before moving to England in 1964, where he played with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated.
Following this stint he played at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club from 1966 to ‘67 and in the big bands of Tubby Hayes and Maynard Ferguson from 1969 to 1974. Smith went on to work with the group Nucleus from 1969 to 1982. During the next two decades he also performed with Mike Westbrook, Neil Ardley, Mike Gibbs, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Keith Tippett, Pacific Eardrum and Paz.
1982 saw the return to New Zealand, where Brian began playing with his own quartet. His 1984 album Southern Excursions was named Australian Jazz Record of the Year. Based out of Auckland, working with Frank Gibson, Jr. later in the Eighties, his Moonlight Sax albums were chart successes in New Zealand. Saxophonist and flautist Brian Smith continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John McLevy was born on January 2, 1927 in Dundee, Scotland. He played in Europe with the Benny Goodman Orchestra in the 1970s, alongside George Masso, Hank Jones and Slam Stewart.
He performed with artists such as Max Bygraves, Roy Williams, accordionist Jack Emblow and later in a duo with veteran trumpeter Tommy McQuater.
Trumpeter John McLevy transitioned on November 27, 2002.
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