Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kobi Yakob Arad was born on October 2, 1981 and raised in Haifa, Israel. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Tel Aviv University and became the first musician to earn a doctorate in contemporary improvisation and third stream from the New England Conservatory of Music.
While living in Israel, Kobi participated as a keyboardist in a trio with Asaf Sirkis and Gabriel Mayer in the 1990s. He collaborated with Stevie Wonder and his manager Stephanie Andrews at the Berklee Performance Center in 2005.
Between 2009 and 2015 Arad released Sparks of Understanding, The Experience Project, Webern Re-Visioned, and Superflow which is a collaboration with Roy Ayers, featuring bassist Jonathan Levy.
He went on to record a tribute album Ellington Upside Down with the Kobi Arad Band. The album’s mashup of “Take The ‘A’ Train” and “It Ain’t Mean a Thing” was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental at the 17th Independent Music Awards in 2019. His album Segments went on to win Best Jazz Instrumental in the album category at the same event.
In 2021 he won the Independent Music Artist award in Best Jazz for his performance of Thelonious Monk’s Bemsha Swing at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Pianist, vocalist, composer, and music producer Kobi Arad, who has collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Cindy and Carlos Santana, and Jack DeJohnette, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Chris Abelen was born in Tilburg, Netherlands on September 29, 1959 and started out on trumpet at 11, switching to the bigger horn at 18. He studied classical trombone with Charles Toet and Henri Aarts, and then jazz and improvised music with Willem van Manen a member of Willem Breuker Kollektief, the band that first called global attention to Dutch improvised music.
Taking over van Manen’s chair in the Kollektief in 1984, they would tour and record extensively with that band until 1988. Abelen led his own groups and in 1992 led a pan-generational, pan-stylistic international tentet showcasing the players with mini-concertos that demonstrate Abelen’s preoccupations with color, texture, mood, and his wry indirect sense of humor.
His desire to lead his own band had him forming first a sextet that evolved into a quartet. He then put together a tentet, in which a quartet and quintet was produced. All the configurations went on to record several albums. Over the years Chris has toured and recorded with numerous Dutch jazz and new music ensembles, including Willem van Manen’s Contraband, I Compani, Paradise Regained Orchestra, Eric van der Westen Octet, and numerous others.
Taking his music in a new direction by 2016 he had released his sixth album, A Day At The Office, with a septet. Other new projects are still in the pipeline and trombonist Chris Abelen continues to perform and compose.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael Evans Osborne was born in Hereford, England on September 28, 1941 and attended Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire and the Guildhall School of Music.
From 1962 to 1972, Osborne was a bandmate in the Mike Westbrook band. During this period he also worked with Michael Gibbs, Mike Cooper, Stan Tracey, Kenny Wheeler, Humphrey Lyttelton, Alan Skidmore, John Surman, Harry Miller, Alan Jackson, John Mumford and Lionel Grigson.
During 1974–75, Osborne was part of the saxophone trio S.O.S. with John Surman and Alan Skidmore. They recorded an album, BBC radio and television sessions, and toured extensively in Europe.
Health issues hastened the end of his career in 1982, and returning to Hereford, alto saxophonist, pianist, and clarinetist Mike Osborne, who was a member of Brotherhood of Breath, transitioned while living under care at the time on September 19, 2007, aged 65.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nelson Symonds was born on September 24, 1933 in Upper Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, Canada. After pursuing the banjo at a young age he switched to the guitar. He gained his first performance experience touring on a travelling carnival from 1955 to 1958 throughout the United States. Upon returning to Canada he settled in Montreal in 1958 and played in the group The Stablemates led by Alfie Wade Jr.
During the Sixties and 1970s Nelson played mainly with bassist Charlie Biddle and drummer Norman Marshall Villeneuve at The Black Bottom, Rockhead’s Paradise and other similar venues. The 1970s saw him and Biddle performing as a duo in numerous Laurentian resorts. Throughout his 30-plus year career, he played at all of the major jazz venues in Montreal including Upstairs, Biddles and Cafe La Bohème among others.
Symonds reportedly resisted recording until the 1990s, cutting three collaborative albums, and one as leader. Unfortunately for the jazz world, in 1996 he underwent a quadruple bypass that put an end to his musical career.
Guitarist Nelson Symonds transitioned on October 11, 2008 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada due to a heart attack at the age of 75.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth was born on September 20, 1927 in Woodford, Essex, England. He grew up within a family of musicians and attended Selwyn Boys’ Junior School and later Sir George Monoux Grammar School. Prompted by hearing a Benny Goodman Quartet album at 16, before settling on the clarinet he took violin and piano lessons. Soon afterwards he was inspired by Charlie Parker and learned to play the alto saxophone.
Beginning his career on the British jazz scene after studying at London’s Royal Academy of Music and then national service in the Royal Air Force, during which he played alto sax and clarinet for RAF Music Services. By 1947 he was working on the Queen Mary in Bobby Kevin’s band, and in London with Les Ayling. Through the rest of the decade he performed with Tito Burns, with Charlie Parker at the Paris Jazz Festival, and a tour of Sweden with Sidney Bechet. In 1949, Johnny was voted Musician of the Year.
The Fifties saw him forming a small group, the Dankworth Seven, as a vehicle to showcase his writing as well as several young players, Jimmy Deuchar, Eddie Harvey, Don Rendell, Bill Le Sage, Eric Dawson, Tony Kinsey and Frank Holder. also sang and recorded with this ensemble. Forming his big band in ‘53 and Cleo Laine was now a regular voice on appearances and recordings.
The band came to the States and performed at Newport, Birdland had Louis Armstrong sit in for a set and shared several stages with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. In 1959, John became chair of the Stars Campaign for Inter-Racial Friendship, set up to combat the fascist White Defence League.
The following decades saw him working and recording with numerous American and British jazz musicians, began composing for film and television, and received commissions all while performing live and on the radio.
As an educator his enthusiasm for jazz education led him to run for many years the Allmusic summer schools at the Stables in Wavendon and from 1984 to ‘86 he was a professor of music at Gresham College in London, where he gave free public lectures.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music, was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List, and was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). In 2009 he fell ill and while he had to cancel several concerts he made one last appearance in December.
Saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, educator John Dankworth, who along with his wife Dame Cleo were one of a few couples to hold British titles, transitioned on February 6, 2010 at the age of 82, on the afternoon before a show celebrating the 40th anniversary of the foundation of The Stables.
Confer a dose of a Woodford saxophonist to those seeking a greater insight about the musicians around the world who are members of the pantheon of jazz…
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