Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Conny Bauer was born Konrad Bauer on July 4, 1943 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. While in senior high school in 1957 he became interested in modern music and dance genres such as swing, boogie-woogie, blues and rock and roll. He taught himself to play guitar and piano and after graduation while trying to play in several bands was nicknamed “Conny” by his friends.
Recognizing his lack of musical knowledge to become a professional Bauer studied modern dance music from 1964 to 1968 taking up the trombone. In 1968 he left for Berlin to improve his skills with private lessons. From 1969 until 1971 he started his career as guitarist and singer in the band of Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, while doubling as a trombone soloist.
During the second half of the 1970s Bauer became a prominent jazz player in European free jazz, helping to found numerous groups that influenced the development of jazz in East Germany. By 1986 he was touring Japan, went on to direct the National Jazz Orchestra of the former East Germany, worked with artists such as Tadashi Endo, Sheryl Banks, Tony Oxley, Barry Altschul and George Lewis to name a few.
He has recorded two-dozen albums, received the German SWR jazz prize for his solo recordings Hummelsummen, and continues to perform, tour and record.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dr. Lonnie Smith was born July 3, 1942 in Lackawanna, New York into a family with a vocal group and radio program and a mother who introduced him to gospel, classical and jazz music. He learned to play piano as a child and was part of several vocal ensembles in the 1950s, including the Teen Kings. Local music storeowner Art Kubera gave Smith his first Hammond B3 organ.
Smith’s affinity for R&B melded with his own personal style as he became active in the local music scene. Moving to New York City he met and connected with George Benson, and the two formed the George Benson Quartet, featuring Lonnie Smith, in 1966.
Lonnie recorded his first solo album ”Finger Lickin’ Good” in 1967, with Benson, Melvin Sparks and Ronnie Cuber and Marion Booker. After recording several albums with Benson, Smith became a solo recording artist. In 1967, Smith meeting Lou Donaldson led to a Blue Note introduction, a record date for Alligator Boogaloo and subsequent signing to a four-album deal.
He has since recorded over 30 albums under his own name. He has performed and recorded with among others Lee Morgan, David “Fathead” Newman, Blue Mitchell, King Curtis, Esther Phillips, Bennie Maupin, Idris Muhammad, Joey DeFrancesco and Joe Lovano, however the list inside and out of jazz is too long to enumerate.
He has been named “Organ Keyboardist of the Year” in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009 by the Jazz Journalist Association and continued to tour, perform and record. Hammond B3 organist Dr. Lonnie Smith died on Septer 28, 2021 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Teodross Avery was born on July 2, 1973 and grew up in Oakland and Vacaville, California. Exposed to a wide range of music by his parents, at ten he began his training with classical guitar. However after hearing Coltrane’s Giant Steps he switched to saxophone and it was Wynton Marsalis who bought him a saxophone as a testament to his young promise. At 17 he won a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music.
Two years into Berklee the young saxophonist was heard by Carl Griffin of GRP/Impulse who signed him at age 19, launching his first album In Other Words to critical acclaim. This brought to national attention and demand by the likes of Aretha Franklin and Ramsey Lewis among others. Graduating in 1995 he moved to New York, landed a performance spot in the film Love Jones, released his sophomore project My Generation and worked with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove, Leela James, Roy Ayers, Mos Def, and Betty Carter. By the end of the decade he was touring with Lauryn Hill and Matchbox Twenty
As a composer and producer, Teo has collaborated on such feature films as Beauty Shop and Brown Sugar, the documentary The N Word, has written music for Amy Winehouse, and appeared on numerous television shows like American Idol, Ellen Degeneres, Saturday Night Live and others. He has been a part of Grammy winning recordings, and recipient of the Advancement In The Arts Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship and the Sony Innovator Award. With five albums as a leader and several more as a sideman, saxophonist Teodross Avery continues to perform, compose, tour and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alvino Rey was born Alvin McBurney on July 1, 1908 in Oakland, California but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Showing very early signs of his mechanical and musical aptitude, he built his first radio at the age of 8, becoming one of the youngest licensed ham operators in the country. Received a banjo at 10, he began studying guitar at age 12 and by 15 he invented an electrical amplifier for the guitar.
In 1927, Rey played banjo with Cleveland bandleader Ev Jones while still in high school. After graduation Rey went to New York and signed with Phil Spitalny Orchestra, playing electric guitar. He changed his name to Alvino Rey to coincide with the Latin music craze in the late Twenties.
Two years later he was in California playing with Horace Heidt in San Francisco. From 1932 to 1939, Alvino played steel and Spanish guitar and in Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights, pioneering the instrument, as well as becoming known for his unique sound and one of the best-known and best-paid sidemen in the country,
Rey formed his own group with the King Sisters and Frank DeVol, that became the Mutual Broadcasting house band that had Johnny Mandel, Neal Hefti, Mel Lewis, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims playing and Nelson Riddle, Billy May and Ray Conniff arranging among others.
Alvino performed well into his eighties after moving to Salt Lake City, Utah and retired from music in 1994 but retained his interests in music and electronics into his mid-nineties. Alvino Rey, swing era musician, pioneer and father of the pedal steel guitar, passed away on February 2, 2004.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wallace Foster Davenport was born on June 30, 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He started on trumpet at age 13 with The Young Tuxedo Brass Band. In 1941 he played with Papa Celestin before leaving New Orleans to serve in the Navy. Returning home after WWII, Wallace easily transitioned to bop and swing with various bands, recording with Roy Brown and touring Europe and the U.S. with Lionel Hampton and recording with Mezz Mezzrow in 1950s Paris.
Davenport played and recorded with Count Basie in the mid 60s, toured with Ray Charles and Lloyd Price but by the end of the decade returned to traditional jazz, releasing albums on his own label My Jazz from 1971-76. He recorded again in Europe with George Wein in ’74, with Panama Francis and Arnett Cobb in 1976, reunited with Hampton and recorded with Earl Hines this same year.
In the eighties, Davenport worked with both traditional units as The Alliance Hall Dixieland Band and gospel groups like The Zion Harmonizers and Aline White; and backed vocalists Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. He routinely went on impromptu tours in Asia and Europe, once played expressly for the Norway King Olav V, played regularly at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and received numerous awards and accolades for his musical contributions. Trumpeter Wallace Davenport died in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 78 years of age on March 18, 2004. He was one of the few 1930s traditional trumpeters able to branch out into bop and swing.
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