Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ofer Assaf was born on March 10, 1976 in Israel and went to the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts dividing his time between his two passions: music and dance, and started training as a professional ballet dancer at the age of eight before switching to a full-time jazz career. He won the Israeli National Competition in Jazz and Contemporary Music for young musicians in 1991. He went on to become a member of the Air Force and IDF Orchestras of the Israeli Army, played with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and a diverse array of national TV and radio shows. He has performed with leading Israeli musicians and was a member of the Tel Aviv Big Band in the mid-1990’s.
Moving to New York City in 1997 he entered The New School University’s jazz program and also studied with tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, bassist Reggie Workman, pianist Richie Beirach, trumpeter Jimmy Owens and percussionists Bobby Sanabria. Upon graduation in 2002, Ofer performed with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock at Carnegie Hall as part of the JVC Jazz Festival.
A recipient of scholarships and awards from the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, he was pre-nominated for the Grammy Awards in the “Best Jazz Instrumental Album” category in 2009 for his debut album Tangible Reality for Summit Records. With the Bernie Worrell Orchestra he was awarded “Best Funk/Fusion/Jam Song of the Year” at the 12th annual Independent Music Awards in 2013.
Tenor saxophonist, composer and educator Ofer Assaf continues to perform and conduct workshops around the world.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mayuto Correa was born March 9, 1943 in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and began playing in local bands from the age of twelve when he became a member of the big band Rapazes da Alvorada. At age 16 he formed the ensemble Samba Show with musicians from Niterói and made several recordings for the CBS label with them.
In the 1960s Correa was the artistic director of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro where he wrote and directed several plays. During this time, he also made several recordings in Brazil and worked as the musical director for the shows of Maria Bethânia, Elza Soares, and Eliana Pittman as well as playing in Roberto Carlos’s ensemble RC-7 and performing in Chacrinha’s television shows.
Leaving Brazil for Mexico in 1969 he worked with the Brazilian bossa nova group Tamba 4 before moving to the United States. Establishing himself as a musician in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s, Mayuto became a vital session player in hundreds of major and minor albums taped in the city by 1977.
Some of the artists he recorded with are Howard Roberts, Charles Lloyd, Nat Adderley, Cannonball Adderley, Cal Tjader, Miriam Makeba, Gábor Szabó, Gato Barbieri, Kenny Burrell, Moacir Santos, Donald Byrd, Henry Mancini, Jon Lucien, Freddie Hubbard, and Richard “Groove” Holmes, among numerous others.
During that period he toured with many of the artists and became the record producer for the Argentine group Arco Iris. He returned to Brazil in 1972 when he toured with Carlos Santana and again in 1979 when he appeared on the Rede Globo television show Sexta Super.
Among his compositions is the soundtrack for the 1979 documentary Homeboys depicting Chicano youth gang culture in East Los Angeles, California. In the later years of his career, Correa performed with his bands Mayuto & Genuises 2000, Mayuto & The Dream Team Big Band, and Mayuto & Samba Pack.
Mayuto Correa continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John “Bugs” Hamilton was born on March 8, 1911 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Leaving home for New York City in 1930 he was a member of trombonist Billy Kato band and played with Chick Webb around the same time for about a year.. Toward the middle of the decade he played with Kaiser Marshall, then joined Fats Waller’s ensemble in 1938. Bugs remained with Waller until 1942, touring, recording and often appearing in several films as a member of Waller’s group.
During World War II he played with Eddie South and Roy Eldridge. Shortly after the end of the war, trumpeter John Hamilton contracted tuberculosis, resulting in his death at age 36 on August 15, 1947 in St. Louis.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Zue (C. Alvin) Robertson was born on March 7, 1891 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His first instrument was the piano, and switched to playing the trombone at the age of 13. He performed in circus bands and traveling revues, including Kit Carson’s Wild West Show. He was part of the Olympia Band around 1914 and was a trombonist for Manuel Perez, Richard M. Jones, and John Robichaux.
Robertson was an early influence on Kid Ory, giving him lessons, and the two practised together. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1917 he played at the De Luxe Café, and by the mid-1920s he was playing with leaders of the stature of Jelly Roll Morton, with whom he recorded Some Day Sweetheart/London Blues in 1923, and King Oliver in 1924.
He recorded two sides with the Levee Serenaders in 1928 and plus the two from 1923, are his only recordings. After moving to New York City in 1929, Robertson concentrated on playing the organ and the piano, and stopped playing the trombone the following year. A few years later he moved to California, where he played piano and added the bass during the years he spent in the 1930s.
Trombonist Zue Robertson, who also played piano, organ, and bass, died in 1943 in Los Angeles, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dom Minasi was born on March 6, 1943 in New York City, New York and was primarily self-taught, a natural musician. In his youth he backed singers and played his share of rock and roll, church dances and small jazz combo gigs beginning when he was fifteen.
While launching his professional career at a young age with Blue Note Records he took on numerous private students. In the mid-1970s, however, Blue Note was being sold and Minasi dropped out of the recording scene and over the next fifteen years he began freelancing, going back to school and occasionally performing with Dennis Moorman.
1993 saw Dom doing off-Broadway shows, writing hundreds of compositions and working with youth in the New York public school system. While doing all this he wrote several books on music disciplines, improvisation, theory and chord substitutions.
By the turn of the century he returned to producing compact discs for his independent label. He would go on to collaborate with a host of musicians and his improvisational excursions opened up a new audience.
Guitarist, composer, and music producer Dom Minasi, who recorded thirteen albums as a leader, died on August 1, 2023, at the age of 80.
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