Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bruce David Gertz was born on December 15, 1952 in Providence, Rhode Island. He first learned to play guitar, then switched to bass guitar as a teenager, playing with local blues and rock groups.
He studied music formally at New England College and Berklee College of Music in the 1970s. After graduating from Berklee in 1976 he taught music there; he is now a professor of music. He worked with George Garzone in the Overtones in the late Seventies and was a co-leader of ensembles with Jerry Bergonzi from 1978 to 1989.
He has worked with Mike Stern both in the Bergonzi ensembles and with Stern’s own quartet. From 1982 to 1985 he was house bassist for the Willow Jazz Cafe in Somerville, Massachusetts. In the 1990s he worked with John Abercrombie, Joey Calderazzo, Ken Cervenka, Adam Nussbaum, Danilo Perez, Dan Reiser, Kurt Rosenwinkel, George Schuller, and others.
Double and electric bassist Bruce Gertz continues to perform.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chuck Gentry was born Charles T. Gentry on December 14, 1911 in Belgrade, Nebraska. He learned to play clarinet while growing up in Sterling, Colorado and attended Colorado State Teachers College before moving to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in music.
He played with Vido Musso in 1939, then with Harry James in the first years of the Forties. During World War II he worked with Benny Goodman, the Army band of Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw. Gentry then worked with Jan Savitt before returning to Goodman’s employ in 1946.
After 1947 Chuck worked as a session musician with June Christy, Louis Armstrong, Georgie Auld, Charlie Barnet, Ralph Burns, Benny Carter, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Pete Fountain, The Four Freshmen, Erroll Garner, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Spud Murphy, Anita O’Day, Patti Page, Mel Powell, Della Reese, Shorty Rogers, Pete Rugolo, Mel Torme, and Nancy Wilson.
Saxophonist Chuck Gentry died on January 1, 1988 in California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Karen Street was born on December 13, 1959 in the United Kingdom (UK) and started playing the accordion at the age of 7. She went on to study at Bath University, RWMCD and in London, England with the late Ivor Beynon, a pioneer of the classical accordion. She studied music at Welsh College of Music and Drama and Guildhall School of Music. She became the British Virtuoso Champion in 1981/2 and competed in the Coupe Mondiale World Championship in Hamburg, Germany and Folkstone, UK.
Karen has created a niche for herself in the UK jazz scene and is a regular member of Mike Westbrook’s groups, works with Tim Garland as well as part of Lammas playing alongside Geoff Keezer, Joe Locke and Avishai Cohen.
As a saxophonist Street was a member of the all girl saxophone quartet The Fairer Sax and is now a member and co-leader of Saxtet with her husband Andy Tweed.
Karen’s composing is specialized by writing music for the saxophone, from solos to large ensembles. Her composition for solo accordion, In The Ballroom With The Rope, took first prize at the London Accordion Festival, Composition Competition in 2001. The same year she released her debut recording, Finally A Beginning.
Besides jazz, Karen has played across genres with the likes of Bryan Ferry, Grace Jones, Andrea Bocelli, Kate Westbrook, BBC Philharmonic, Icebreaker, and the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour band for three seasons.
Accordionist, saxophonist and flutist Karen Street is currently a freelance musician playing across a wide variety of genres.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Juhani Aaltonen was born December 12, 1935 in Kouvola, Finland. He began playing professionally at the end of the Fifties. He played in a sextet led by Heikki Rosendahl during that time, and then studied flute performance at the Sibelius Academy and in the U.S. at the Berklee College of Music.
Moving back to Finland, he settled in Helsinki and began working both as a session musician and with fusion groups. Late in the 1960s he formed a duo with Edward Vesala, played in the group Eero Koivistoinen and with Tasavallan Presidentti. He recorded with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis and with Heikki Sarmanto late in the decade and early 1970s. His debut album as a soloist, Etiquette, was released in 1974.
The following year Juhani became a member of the New Music Orchestra, and worked with the Nordic All Stars, Arild Andersen, and Peter Brötzmann before the end of the decade. The Eighties saw him working with the UFO Big Band, Jan Garbarek, Charlie Mariano, and others. He led a touring quartet from 1990 to 1992.
In 2001 he released a duo recording, Rise, and his trio album Mother Tongue won a Jazz-Emma in Finland. Saxophonist and flautist Juhani Aaltonen continues to perform as well as teach at the annual Nilsiä Music Camp.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill McGuffie was born on December 11, 1927 in Carmyle near Glasgow, Scotland. After three years studying the piano he had an accident as a child which caused the loss of his second finger of his right hand, but despite the accident he started playing again and modified his technique. By the time he turned eleven he was awarded the Victoria Medal for his piano proficiency by the Victoria College, Glasgow.
Finding it difficult he decided to stop playing until friends and colleagues suggested playing dance music. Towards the end of World War II when he was 17, he moved to London and began a career in 1946 playing in the Teddy Foster Orchestra at the Lyceum.
Working with other top bands followed until 1952 when he got his big break when the BBC formed their own show band run by Cyril Stapleton. McGuffie was a featured artist with a big public following, which led to a recording contract and he was voted in top place in the Melody Maker readers’ poll from 1953 to 1955. This led to him appearing in the early Esquire jazz poll winners records and recorded with trumpeter Kenny Baker’s Dozen.
He made a limited number of records which were jazz tinged and a big band record. Bigger success came with his light music and his albums with strings. Noted for his great musicianship and his impeccable good taste, his jazz records with the Kenny Baker Dozen and one track from the Melody Maker’s All-Stars are available. He also recorded albums with no jazz content, and worked extensively with bandleader Joe Loss, where he was featured.
He won an Ivor Novello Award in 1960 for his composition Sweet September, a Song Writers’ Guild Badge of Merit, and the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Gold Badge of Merit.
Pianist Bill McGuffie, who went on to be a film composer and conductor, and with the onset of cancer, died on March 22, 1987 at the age of 59.
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