Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Francy Boland was born François Boland on November 6, 1929 in Namur, Belgium. He first gained notice in 1949 and worked with Belgian jazz greats like Bobby Jaspar. In 1955 he joined Chet Baker’s quintet before moving to the US where he began arranging for Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman and Dizzy Gillespie.

Boland set up an octet with drummer Kenny Clarke before returning to Europe and becoming Kurt Edelhagen’s chief arranger. In 1961, based around a rhythm section featuring Clarke, Jimmy Woode and himself, he founded The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, which rapidly became one of the most noted Big Bands assembled outside the United States. A decade later in 1972 the band broke up and he mainly concentrated on composing.

Francy primarily lived in Switzerland, from 1976 wrote musical arrangements for Sarah Vaughan among others, and played as a sideman with Johnny Griffin. He was also part of One World One Peace, an effort involving Pope John Paul II. He recorded some three-dozen albums and Carola covered his song “Just Give Me Time” in 1966,

Belgian composer and pianist Francy Boland passed away on August 12, 2005 in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Diego Urcola was born on November 5, 1965 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and began his musical studies at age 9 in the Music Department of the Colegio Ward where his father Ruben served as director. He continued his studies and in 1988 he received the title of Profesor Nacional de Música from the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica.

Subsequently, having received a scholarship to study abroad, the trumpeter and flugelhorn player moved to Boston where he attended Berklee College of Music. In 1990 Diego graduated with an emphasis in Jazz Performance, and less than a year later moved to New York and established himself on the jazz scene.

Urcola toured with Slide Hampton, has been a member of the Paquito D’Rivera Quintet since 1991, toured with the United Nations Orchestra, has worked with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, plays steadily with the Caribbean Jazz Project since 2004, and performs regularly with the legendary saxophonist Jimmy Heath and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Star Big Band.

Urcola has played with Joe Henderson, Steve Turre, Milt Jackson, Avishai Cohen, Edward Simon, Antonio Sanchez, Dave Samuels, Jimmy Heath, Conrad Herwig and the Calle 54 Band among others. He leads and records with his own group, has captured second place honors at the 1997 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition, received a Latin Grammy as part of D’ Rivera’s band, and since has been nominated three times for a Grammy Award. The jazz trumpeter continues to perform, compose and record integrating the flavor of tango with jazz.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Ralph Earl Sutton was born on November 4, 1922 in Hamburg, Missouri. A stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, he had a stint as a session musician with Jack Teagarden’s band before joining the Army during World War II.

After the war, he played at various venues in Missouri, eventually ending up in New York City at Eddie Condon’s club in Greenwich Village. Relocating to San Francisco in 1956, Sutton recorded several albums with Bob Scobey’s Dixieland band.

Ralph recorded for Riverside and Arbors Record labels as a leader and played and recorded with Johnny Varro, Ruby Braff and Dick Cary as a sideman. From the 1960s onward, he worked mostly on his own up until the time of his death on December 30, 2001 in Evergreen, Colorado. The following year pianist Ralph Sutton was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

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From Broadway To 52nd Street

Two days after Christmas in 1927 Showboat opened at the Ziegfeld and ran for five hundred and seventy-two performances. The music was composed by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein and rendered just jazz classics as Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man and Ol’ Man River. The show starred Jules Bledsoe, Aunt Jemima, Helen Morgan, Charles Winninger, Howard Marsh, Sammy White, and Norma Terris.

The Story: Showboat is a tale set on a Mississippi River gambling boat run by Cap’n Andy Hawks and his irritable wife Parthy and their ingenuous daughter Magnolia. The prominent roles of black servants are in the characters Queenie and Joe and the leading actress in the show, Julie, is discovered to be of mixed heritage. Intrigue enters through marriage, gambling, abandonment, alcoholism sets the characters on a spiral downward but one triumphs in the end.

Broadway History: Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck Trail, carved into the brush destination of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the trail soon became the main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642 – “the Wickquasgeck Road over which the Indians passed daily”.

The Dutch named the road “Heerestraat“. In the mid-eighteenth century, part of Broadway in what is now lower Manhattan was known as Great George Street. In the 18th century, Broadway ended at the town commons north of Wall Street, where traffic continued up the East Side of the island via Eastern Post Road and the West Side via Bloomingdale Road. The western Bloomingdale Road would be widened and paved during the 19th century, and called “The Boulevard” north of Columbus Circle. On February 14, 1899 the name “Broadway” was extended to the entire Broadway/Bloomingdale/Boulevard Roads.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jane Monheit was born November 3, 1977 in Oakdale, New York on Long Island. As a child, Jane spent her summers as a student at the Usdan Center For the Creative and Performing Arts, and is a recipient of their distinguished alumna award.

She began singing professionally while attending Connetquot High School in Bohemia, N.Y. from which she graduated in 1995. As a student at the Manhattan School of Music she studied voice under Peter Eldridge, graduated with honors. Monheit was the first runner up to Teri Thornton in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Jazz Institute’s vocal competition.

An international artist, Jane has performed at most of the major concert halls, cabarets and jazz venues around the globe. She has released seven albums and two DVDs, and has appeared as a guest artist on many others, as well as soundtracks for the movie “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” singing Over The Rainbow.

Monheit has appeared on numerous television shows and also been a featured performer in the nationally televised Christmas at the White House, the Capitol Fourth of July Celebration, and The National Memorial Day Celebration.

Vocalist Jane Monheit has collaborated with artists such as Michael Bublé, Ivan Lins, Terence Blanchard and Tom Harrell and has been nominated twice for her recordings. She spends most of the year on tour with her band but also performs with the major symphonic orchestras throughout the country.

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