Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lou Bennett was born May 18, 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and first learned to play the piano before switching to the organ. It wasn’t until hearing Jimmy Smith play, that Bennett chose to stop playing bebop piano and make this instrument his professional calling.
Lou toured the U.S. with an organ trio between 1957 and 1959, and then moved to Paris in 1960. There he recorded and performed at the Blue Note with Jimmy Gourley, Kenny Clarke, Philip Catherine, Franco Manzecchi and Rene Thomas. He returned to America only once, for the 1964 Newport Jazz Festival.
By the 1980s he played in his own quintet and during this period toured extensively throughout Spain. As a leader he recorded twelve albums for RCA, Impulse, BelAir, Fonatana, Vogue and other labels into the Nineties. Jazz organist Lou Bennett passed away on February 10, 1997 in Paris, France.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Roland was born May 17, 1920 in New York City and began as a clarinetist, attending the Institute of Musical Art (The Juilliard School) from 1937 to 1939. He started playing the xylophone in 1940 and then the vibraphone in the middle of the decade, playing in the New York jazz clubs. Influenced by the nascent bebop movement, Roland put together his own ensembles late in the decade.
By the 1950s he was playing with Oscar Pettiford, George Shearing, Howard McGhee, Mat Mathews, Aaron Sachs, and with Artie Shaw and his Gramercy Five alongside Hank Jones, Tal Farlow, and Tommy Potter. Mat Mathews and Aaron Sachs. Roland recorded occasionally as a leader releasing albums for Rainbow, Savoy, Seeco and Bethlehem records.
In the early sixties Joe moved to Miami Florida and became an influential part of a thriving South Florida jazz scene. While working the Coconut Grove he was credited for having trained many young musicians from the University of Miami. Vibraphonist Joe Roland would work steadfastly throughout his life until his death of natural causes at the age of 89 in Jupiter, Florida on October 12, 2009.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Virginia Mayhew was born on May 14, 1959 in San Francisco, California and took up the saxophone as a child. Early in her career she worked with trombonist Al Grey and contributing arrangements for several recordings. In 1987 she became active on the New York jazz scene, playing with the likes of Earl “Fatha” Hines, Junior Mance, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Doc Cheatham, Joe Williams, Kenny Barron, Ingrid Jensen, Chico O’Farrill and the list continues.
She has performed all over the world in concert and festivals, and has twice been a U.S. Jazz Ambassador. Mayhew would go on to work with Brazilian trumpeter Claudio Roditi, become a member of the Howard Williams Big Band, Carl Thompson and Friends, and the Lou Caputo “Not So Big Band” in conjunction with freelancing around New York.
Virginia is currently the Musical Director and saxophonist of the 9-piece Duke Ellington Legacy group, leads her own quartet and septet, recorded and released a Mary Lou Williams project featuring Wycliffe Gordon, and is working on a project that replaces drums with tap dancing.
As an educator she teaches privately, is on the faculty of the summer jazz camps at Stanford Jazz Workshop, Monterey Jazz Festival, Litchfield Jazz Camp along with conducting clinics at U-Mass, University of Louisville, Bloomington University, Williams College among others. She has worked with Don Braden’s “Jazz For Teens” and Melissa Walker’s “Jazz House Kids”. Tenor saxophonist Virginia Mayhew continues to perform, compose, arrange, adjudicate and teach and establish the “Jazz Workshop” at the Greenwich House Music School in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Grégoire Maret was born May 13, 1975 in Geneva, Switzerland. He began playing the harmonica at the age of 17. Upon graduating from the prestigious Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Genève he moved to New York City and studied jazz at the New School University.
Maret has performed with Youssn’Dour, Me’ Shell Ndegeocello, Pete Seeger, David Sanborn, George Benson, Cassandra Wilson, Toots Thielemans, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Gretchen Parlato and the Polish orchestra Sinfonia Viva to name a few. In 2005 he toured with the Pat Metheny Group, received a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for their album The Way Up, and won the Jazz Journalists Association “Player of the Year Award”.
He embarked on a two-year tour with bassist Marcus Miller, and then joined Herbie Hancock’s band. He would co-lead the jazz trio Gaïa with pianist Federico Gonzales Peña and drummer Gene Lake, record the album Scenarios with Andy Milne and play The Concert for the Rainforest with Elton John and Sting.
The harmonica player who has recorded on over six-dozen albums as a sideman, and who has been compared to Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder. Grégoire Maret released his self-titled debut album as a leader in 2012 and continues to perform, tour and
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Klaus Doldinger was born on May 12, 1936 in Berlin, Germany. By age eleven he entered a Dusseldorf conservatory originally studying piano and then clarinet, graduating in 1957. During his student years, he gained professional performing experience in 1953 with the German Dixieland band The Feetwarmers, recording with them in 1955. Later that same year he founded Oscar’s Trio, modeled on Oscar Peterson’s work.
During the 1960s Klaus worked as a tenor saxophonist, working with visiting American jazz musicians and recording in his own right. Doldinger is perhaps best known for his film scores to the acclaimed German U-boat film Das Boot and The Never Ending Story. He was an honored recipient of the Bavarian Film Awards in 1997.
Doldinger created a recurring jazz project Passport in 1971 that mirrors Weather Report and still enjoys huge success in Germany. He has worked with Johnny Griffin, Brian Auger, Ernst Stroer, Pete York and Michael Hornek among others. He continues to perform, compose and tour.
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