Daily Dose Of Jazz…
McCoy Tyner was born Alfred McCoy Tyner on December 11, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the oldest of three children. He was encouraged to study piano by his mother. He began studying the piano at age 13 and within two years, music had become the focal point in his life. His early influences included Bud Powell, a Philadelphia neighbor.
Tyner’s first main exposure came with Benny Golson in 1960, being the first pianist in the Golson/Art Farmer legendary Jazztet. After departing the Jazztet, Tyner replaced Steve Kuhn in John Coltrane’s group the same year during its extended run at the Jazz Gallery. Coltrane had featured one of the McCoy’s compositions, “The Believer”, as early as 1958. He appeared on the saxophonist’s popular recording of “My Favorite Things” for Atlantic Records followed by Live at the Village Vanguard, Ballads, Live at Birdland, Crescent, A Love Supreme and The John Coltrane Quartet Plays on Impulse.
As a leader, Tyner recorded a number of highly influential albums in his own right during and post Coltrane tenure and as a sideman for many of the projects of Impulse and Blue Note. But by 1966, Tyner was rehearsing with a new trio and would now fully embark on his career as a leader. At Blue Note a string of albums were released such as The Real McCoy, Tender Moments, Sahara, Fly With The Wind and Time For Tyner, incorporating different configurations and instruments were utilized like flute, koto, string orchestra, percussion, and harpsichord along with African and Asian elements.
He currently records and has enlisted the talents of Avery Sharpe, Charnett Moffett, Eric Harland, Gerald Cannon, Gary Bartz, Eric Kamau Gravatt. Tyner still records and tours regularly though his schedule has been pared down due to his age.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Murray was born on February 19, 1955 in Oakland, California to musical parents, his mother played piano and his father, guitar. He was introduced to jazz while in the Berkeley school system playing alto in the school band. By thirteen he was in a local group called the Notations of Soul, but it was hearing Sonny Rollins that gave him the inspiration to switch from alto to tenor.
Influenced by Stanly Crouch while attending Pomona College, he moved to New York at 20 during the jazz loft era in lower Manhattan. Joining up with Crouch they opened their own loft space called Studio Infinity and Crouch occasionally played drums in Murray’s trio with Mark Dressler.
Murray’s early work was raw filed with multiphonics, extreme volume and upper register forays. By 1976 he recorded his first album “Flowers For Albert” and along with Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett became a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet. Around the same time Joseph Papp commissioned David for a big band assemblage that enjoyed a modicum of critical success.
Through the 80’s he continued to play with the WSQ, his octet and various small bands, recording mostly for Italy’s Black Saint label, showcasing his rough and unformed talent as a composer. His recording dates became a flurry for the next two decades, leading more sessions than any other contemporary jazz musician. His playing matured and he began relying on the standard jazz repertoire when playing in small combo configurations. Yet by the time he was 40, his relative predictability was offset by his attention to the craft of playing and his inimitable style while his increased skill as a composer. In addition to winning a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Group Performance for Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane, over the course of his career he has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, received a Bird Award, the Jazzpar Prize and has been named Musician of the Year by Newsday and Musician of the Decade by the Village Voice.
Murray mainly plays tenor saxophone and bass clarinet influenced in the free jazz genre of Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp. He has played with a host of world-renowned musicians, of which he is a member and continues to perform, record and tour.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Buddy DeFranco was born Boniface Ferdinand Leonard DeFranco in Camden, New Jersey on February 17, 1923. By the age 14 he had won an amateur swing contest sponsored by Tommy Dorsey. Just four short years later he was working with the big bands of Gene Krupa in 1941 and Charlie Barnet in 1943. Those stints were followed with him playing off and on with Tommy Dorsey over the next few years.
Outside of a short-lived association with the Count Basie Septet in 1950, Buddy mainly lead his own bands from then on, playing and recording with Tal Farlow, Art Blakey, Kenny Drew and Sonny Clark, Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson as his sidemen, among others too numerous to name. He also played in some of Norman Granz’s Verve jam sessions and during the late 60’s DeFranco became the bandleader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, an association that lasted until 1974. He has found more artistic success co-leading a quintet with Terry Gibbs off and on since the early 80’s and has recorded numerous albums.
Buddy DeFranco is considered one of the great clarinetists of all time and, until the rise of Eddie Daniels, he was indisputably the top clarinetist to emerge since 1940. It was DeFranco’s misfortune to be the best on an instrument that after the swing era dropped drastically in popularity and, unlike Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, he has never been a household name for the general public and while most jazz clarinet players were unable to adapt to fading popularity, Buddy Defranco was one of the few bebop musicians who successfully continued to play clarinet exclusively until he passed away on December 24, 2014 in Panama City, Florida at age 91.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kirkland “Kirk” Lightsey was born on February 15, 1937 in Detroit, Michigan and started his piano instruction at the age of five, adding clarinet through high school. After his Army service he worked accompanying singers around Detroit and in California, gaining some attention when he recorded with Sonny Stitt in 1965 and on five Prestige dates with Chet Baker. He would work with Yusef Lateef, Betty Carter, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Pharaoh Sanders and many others.
From 1979 to 1983 he toured with Dexter Gordon and was a member of the Leaders. Through out the 80’s he led sessions including duets with Harold Danko, performed with Jim Raney, Clifford Jordan, Woody Shaw, David Murray and Harold Land.
Rooted in the hard-bop genre, Kirk has developed his own style and sound that is marked by a certain openness and playfulness. An accomplished flautist, he occasionally doubles in live performances.
In 2004 he released a duo album with Rufus Reid titled Nights At Bradley’s and recorded a quintet project Lightsey To Gladden in 2008, dedicated to the late great drummer, Eddie Gladden. Over the course of his career he has amassed some three-dozen albums as a leader and sideman and pianist Kirk Lightsey continues to create music and perform worldwide.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tubby Hayes was born Edward Brian Hayes on January 30, 1935 in London and started playing the violin at the age of 8, changed to the tenor at twelve and started playing professionally at fifteen. His early influences were Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz. In 1951 he joined Kenny Baker and playing in the big bands of Ambrose, Vic Lewis and Jack Parnell.
Tubby led his own octet in 1956 and encourage by Victor Feldman he started playing the vibes in December of that year. Following his octet, Tubby co-led the Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott from ’57 to ’59 and toured Germany with Kurt Edelhagen. His international reputation grew rapidly and he was the first British contemporary to appear regularly in the U.S. at the Blue Note, the Boston Jazz Workshop and Shelly Manne’s Manne-Hole.
In 60’s London he led his own big bands, hosted his own TV show, sat in with Duke Ellington’s orchestra, and with Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck and others. Tubby appeared in All Night Long, and with his own quintet in The Beauty Jungle and House of Horrors.
Hayes was a virtuoso musician on tenor and flute, an excellent vibist, and a composer/arranger of rare talent. He toured extensively through Europe playing the major festivals, such as Antibes, Lugano, Vienna and Berlin. He was one of the few Brits that recorded as a leader of all-American groups with Clark Terry, Roland Kirk and James Moody.
Plagued with heart trouble he underwent open-heart surgery in the late Sixties, putting him out of action until 1971. Working again was brief and while undergoing a second heart operation, Tubby Hayes died on June 8, 1973 in Hammersmith, London, England. He was just 38 years old.
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