Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Haider was born January 3, 1936 in Darmstadt, Germany and performed as an amateur musician in the region Stuttgart, Germany between 1954 and 1959. He studied at Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich, Germany from 1960 to 1965. During this period he also played in the Fritz Münzer Quintet and recorded Live in HR 1962 and Jazz For Young People.
From 1965 to 1968, he worked as a pianist and led a trio in jazz club Domicile in Munich. During his residency Joe performed with many European and American jazz musician such as Benny Bailey, Duško Gojković, Nathan Davis, Booker Ervin, Klaus Doldinger, Hans Koller, Leo Wright, Attila Zoller, George Mraz, Peter Trunk, Philly Joe Jones, Joe Nay, Kurt Bong, Klaus Weiss and Pierre Favre.
After leading the Radio Jazz Ensemble of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, he worked from 1970 with the quartet Four for Jazz with alto saxophonist Heinz Bigler, bassist Isla Eckinger and Peter Giger on percussion. He founded his own trio with Eckinger and Favre and put together a combo with Duško Gojković and led a big band together with Slide Hampton, in which Dexter Gordon also performed.
1979 saw Haider establishing his own label EGO in order to release his own records and those of his German colleagues. He recorded with his orchestra and Mel Lewis, toured with Woody Shaw, and various soloists such as Andy Scherrer, Roman Schwaller, Sandy Patton or Don Menza. From 1984 to 1995, he was the director of the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, Switzerland. In 1994, the Canton of Bern’s government awarded him the Great Cultural Prize for his contribution in the field of music.
The turn of the century had him working for the next eleven years with Brigitte Dietrich and a double quartet with bowed string instruments. In 2016, he published the album Keep It Dark. Pianist Joe Haider, at 87, is not very active in music.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Andrés Thor was born on December 27, 1974 in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, a little harbour town near Reykjavík, Iceland. He began his musical studies at age 12 and his initial influences were glitter and hippie rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Bon Jovi.
During his teens was when he first heard the music of John Coltrane and Pat Metheny which led him to become more fascinated with jazz. He soon started studying with some of Iceland’s finest jazz educators at the FIH music school and after graduating his musical quest brought him to study at the Koninklijk Conservatorium (The Royal Conservatory) in The Hague, The Netherlands in 2000.
Finishing his Bachelors and Masters degrees by 2006 he went on to study under the guidance of Wim Bronnenberg, Peter Nieuwerf, Eef Albers, John Ruocco and Hein v/d Geyn as his main teachers. He also attended workshops and masterclasses lead by Michael Brecker, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Abercrombie and Avishai Cohen, as well as performing with the late Michael Brecker and the Royal Conservatory Big Band in concert.
Living and studying in the Netherlands lead to the first recording featuring Andrés as a co-leader of the organ trio Wijnen, Winter & Thor. The band featured songs by all members of the trio. Since then he has been based and working in and out of Iceland and has released five albums under his own name and a handful of albums in collaboration. He has been active in various collective projects and as a sideman with bands like ASA trio, Icewegian, The Viking Giant Show, BonSom, Andreas Dreier quartet and Music with Z to name a few.
Thor has been an active performer in Scandinavia, Europe and America, as well as a session musician in studios and educator in Iceland. He doubles on the mandolin, banjo and steel guitars. Guitarist Andrés Thor continues to record and perform blending his positively ambrosial tonal palette with the elegant harmonic substance and incisive, ornamented cross-rhythms.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marshall Richard Brown was born on December 21, 1920 in Framingham, Massachusetts and graduated from New York University with a degree in music. He was a band teacher in New York City schools, and one of his school bands performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in the 1950s.
With George Wein, he went to Europe to look for musicians for the International Youth Band. In the late 1950s he started the Newport Youth Band and his students included Eddie Gomez, Duško Gojković, George Gruntz, Albert Mangelsdorff, Jimmy Owens, and Gabor Szabo.
He worked with Ruby Braff, Bobby Hackett, Lee Konitz, and Pee Wee Russell. Valve trombonist and teacher Marshall Brown transitioned on December 13, 1983 in New York City. He was 67.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Donald Arthur Albert Weller was born on December 19, 1940 in Thornton Heath, Croydon, England. He began learning clarinet at the age of 14, and was classically educated for four or five years. He played the solo part in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto at Croydon Town Hall aged 15, and began performing in Dixieland bands around the Croydon area, before switching to tenor saxophone and playing in Kathy Stobart’s rehearsal band.
During the 1970s he formed a jazz-rock group called Major Surgery that played a regular weekly gig at a local pub, the Dog & Bull. They played Weller’s compositions on the album released as The First Cut. This was followed by a quartet with drummer Bryan Spring and at the same time Don worked regularly with pianist Stan Tracey, and also with Harry Beckett and in a quintet with Art Themen. Renowned for his versatility, he has played with artists such as Alan Price, Tina May and Charlie Hearnshaw.
Weller played saxophone for rock records, working with the likes of David Bowie. He was the lead saxophonist with Tower of Power on the instrumental track Nascimento on Cat Stevens’ Back To Earth and also played on the Alex Harvey album The Mafia Stole My Guitar.
In the Eighties he stood in for Michael Brecker when the Gil Evans Orchestra played at the Bracknell Jazz Festival. This gig subsequently led to him touring the UK and recording with one of the band’s trumpeters, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, added on to the Weller–Spring Quartet. He went on to play and record with Evans’ British Orchestra, becoming a regular member of Rocket 88, as well as a first choice for TV and film soundtracks.
He contributed to several films composed for jazz big bands and was commissioned for his Electric Jazz Octet. Tenor saxophonist, and composer Don Weller had a triple bypass in 2012 and eight years later transitioned on May 30, 2020 in Croydon at the age of 79.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
J. D. Allen III was born John Daniel Allen III on December 11, 1972 in Detroit, Michigan. His apprenticeship was anchored by his lengthy tenure with jazz vocalist Betty Carter.
After moving to New York City, Allen played with George Cables, Betty Carter, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Frank Foster, Butch Morris, David Murray, and Wallace Roney. Closer to his generation, he has played with Lucian Ban, Cindy Blackman, Gerald Cleaver, Dave Douglas, Orrin Evans, Duane Eubanks, Marcus Gilmore, Russell Gunn, Winard Harper, Elisabeth Kontomanou, Meshell Ndegeocello, Jeremy Pelt, and Eric Revis.
His debut solo album, In Search Of, released in 1999, garnered his selection as Best New Artist in Italy. In 2002, his second album was chosen a top ten album of the year by Jazziz magazine. Ten years later he was named best composer and best tenor saxophonist in the DownBeat Critics’ Poll.
He also works under the pseudonyms Bigger Thomas and Cross Damon. Tenor saxophonist and composer J.D. Allen continues to perform and record.
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