Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gerald Beckett was born in Beaumont, Texas on May 2nd and started playing alto saxophone at the age of 11. As a freshman at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas he switched to playing the flute and during his years at UNT, he played with various local bands.
It wasn’t until a move in 1985 to San Francisco that he began immersing himself in the jazz scene. He started listening to various flutists such as Eric Dolphy, Frank Wess, Herbie Mann, Hubert Laws, Dave Valentin and Paul Horn, among others. For the next 8 years Gerald studied flute at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and privately under Esther Landau.
He has performed in several venues in San Francisco and New York, either as a leader and sideman, showcasing the many facets of the instrument and its uniqueness to the jazz genre. He has self-produced three CD’s to national recognition and airplay, and has been a Grammy Ballot nominee.
As an educator Beckett has conducted Jazz Flute master classes in San Francisco and Paris. Flautist Gerald Beckett continues to perform, tour and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Steve Khan was born April 28, 1947 in Los Angeles, California to lyricist Sammy Cahn. As a teenager he was a terrible drummer but grew a love for guitar and switched at around age 19. He would go on to matriculate through U.C.L.A. and move to New York, performing one of his first guitar duos with Larry Coryell in 1974.
During the 80s he was a member of the group Elements. Khan has worked with Jack DeJohnette, Maynard Ferguson, Billy Cobham, Hubert Laws, Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Michael Franks and Weather Report on his short list.
He toured with the CBS Jazz All Stars in Japan, led a band called Eyewitness, authored five jazz books, was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Latin Jazz Album category for his album “Borrowed Time” and recorded over thirty albums as a leader and sideman for such labels as Concord, Arista, Columbia, Flying Dutchman and Novus to name a few. He continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tommy Smith was born April 27, 1967 in Edinburgh, Scotland and grew up in Wester Hailes. Encouraged to lean the tenor saxophone from age 12, by sixteen he had a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. While at Berklee he formed his first group ”Forward Motion” with Laszlo Gardony, Ian Froman and Tene Gewelt and joined Gary Burton’s group.
During his tenure with Burton at age eighteen he toured and recorded “Whiz Kids”, worked in jazz groups and big bands, and has recorded and toured with world-renowned jazz musicians including Joe Lovano, David Liebman, Benny Golson, Joe Locke, Chick Corea, Tommy Flanagan, John Scofield, Joanne Brackeen, Jack DeJohnette and Kenny Wheeler to name a few.
He has recorded twenty-three albums as a leader Hep, GFM, Linn, Blue Note and his own record label Spartacus and since the late-1980s and the musical director and driving force behind the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and his own Youth Jazz Orchestra.
He has composed for and performed with classical orchestras and ensembles including the Orchestra of St. John’s Square, the Scottish Ensemble, the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. His work in jazz education has him presenting master classes all over the world, teaching at Broughton High School, Napier University and created the curriculum for the National Jazz institute and is Artistic Director of a new conservatoire-level course in jazz at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Herman Foster was born on April 26, 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began his musical career before age ten playing the violin, clarinet, saxophone, and piano. A self-taught pianist, Foster created a distinguished earthy sound. When his family moved to New York City in 1947, Herman began to attend jam sessions and then played with Eric Dixon, Dick Carter and the big band of Herb Jones.
His success came when he met Lou Donaldson and the two played together for thirteen years from 1953 to 1966. During the 1950s he worked with King Curtis, Bill English and Seldon Powell, in the 1960s with Al Casey, in addition to playing with his own trio over the next decade. He returned to work in Donaldson’s quartet in the 1980s.
He released four records as a leader for Epic, Argo and Timeless Records and as a sideman recorded nineteen albums with Lou Donaldson, Gloria Lynne, Johnny Hartman, Hisayo Tominaga, George V. Johnson Jr., Joan Shaw, Al Casey and King Curtis.
On April 3, 1999, bebop pianist Herman Foster passed away in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Candido was born Candido de Guerra Camero on April 22, 1921 in Havana, Cuba and learned to play percussion as a child listening to the music of his native land. Early in his career, Camero focused on conga and bongo, recording in his native Cuba with fellow jazz musician Machito. Although he has been credited as the first person to use the congas in jazz music, both Diego Iborra and Luciano “Chano” Pozo Gonzales preceded him in the 1940s.
Moving to New York in 1952 he started recording with Dizzy Gillespie and from 1953-54 he was in the Billy Taylor Quartet. The next year saw him performing and recording with Stan Kenton. During the Seventies Candido enjoyed success during the disco era, most notably with the Babatunde Olatunji-penned track “Jingo” from his Dancin’ and Prancin’ album on the Salsoul Record label, that has been acknowledged as a precursor five years prior to the birth of the house music genre.
He has performed and recorded Errol Garner, Gene Ammons, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, Elvin Jones and Lionel Hampton on the short list of jazz luminaries. Percussionist Candido was honored with the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2008. In 2014, Camero recorded his last album, The Master, also for Chesky.
He continued to perform in jazz clubs in New York until the late 2010s. AWhen he was 96 years of age he was residing in his home in Cuba. Candido, who played conga, bongo, tres and bass died on November 7, 2020, at his home in New York. He was 99.
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