The Jazz Voyager

This Jazz Voyager is on his way to NOLA to investigate for you a new spot for jazz that I’ve never been to called Chickie Wah Wah. This intimate club is a revered local place for live jazz, roots and funk music while serving up creative sandwiches.

This week I’ll be listening to native trumpeter, pianist and composer Terence Blanchard featuring the E~Collective and the Turtle Island Quartet. They will be performing two shows at 8:00 and 10:00pm.  He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed on more than fifty. So we’ll be celebrating Cinco de Mayo and Jazz Fest on the same night.

Located in Mid~City, it’s just a short ride from the French Quarter to 2828 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70119. One can always get more information at https://chickiewahwah.com/.

CALIFORNIA JAZZ FOUNDATION

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Lars Gunnar Victor Gullin was born May 4, 1928 in Visby, Sweden. A child prodigy on the accordion, by age thirteen, he played clarinet in a military band and later learned the alto saxophone. After moving to Stockholm, Sweden in 1947 he became a professional musician as a pianist. Planning on a classical career he studied privately with classical pianist Sven Brandel.

He filled the baritone chair in Seymour Österwall’s band in 1949 by chance, it was enough for him to decide that it was an instrument with possibilities. He was influenced by baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan for the first time on the Birth of the Cool recordings. He worked as a member of Arne Domnérus’s septet for two years from 1951.

Gullin began working with visiting American musicians, recording with James Moody, Zoot Sims and Clifford Brown. Most importantly, he first performed with Lee Konitz in 1951, an association which was to be repeated several times in future years.

In 1953 formed his own group, probably the only regular group he was to lead. It was short-lived, breaking up later that year after Lars was responsible for causing the group to be involved in an automobile accident, although no one was seriously hurt. The next year, 1954, he won the best newcomer award in the American DownBeat magazine. Later his albums were leased to Atlantic Records in the United States and toured several European countries with Chet Baker in 1955.

The remainder of his career was blighted by his own narcotics problems and sometimes he survived on artists’ grants from the Swedish government. During most of 1959 he was active in Italy, he played with Chet Baker again and with the jazz alto saxophonist Flavio Ambrosetti, making radio broadcasts with him in Lausanne, Switzerland.

He recorded with Archie Shepp in 1963. One of his last major statements was his Aeros aromatic atomica suite recorded in 1973. A recording jointly led by Lee Konitz and pianist Lars Sjösten, Dedicated to Lee … Play the Music of Lars Gullin was recorded in 1983 and issued by Dragon Records. Baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin transitioned from a heart attack on May 17, 1976, brought on by his long-term addiction to methadone.

BRONZE LENS

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Magnus Öström was born in Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden on May 3, 1965. The son of an artist couple, he was influenced by the musical tastes of his older brother who was into Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. By the age of eight years he had built his first drum set and soon played music with a friend, Esbjörn Svensson.

He attended the musical grammar school in Västerås in 1981 and played with the Svensson trio. Between 1983 and 1985, he studied at the adult education center in Sjövik, Sweden before he continued his studies at the Music Academy Stockholm, Sweden. During this time, he played with various bands on the Stockholm scene and between 1987 and 1992 he was a member of singer Monica Borrfors band.

In 1989 Magnus was back with Svensson, initially in the group Stock Street B , then again in a trio with the bassist Dan Berglund with an album released in 1993. e.s.t. released twelve albums, toured internationally with great success, and played until the accidental death of Svensson.

Öström has worked with Bobo Stenson, Lennart Åberg, Palle Danielsson, Nils Landgren, Stina Nordenstam, Peter Gullin and Steve Dobrogosz as well as numerous American musicians such as Michele Hendricks, Benny Golson, Mulgrew Miller, Stefon Harris, Pat Metheny or Alan Pasqua. In 2010, he founded his own quartet and released their first album Thread of Life, which received an Echo Jazz.

In 2019, the ACT label released Live in Gothenburg for the first time. Drummer Magnus Öström, known for being part of the first Esbjörn Svensson Trio (e.s.t.), continues to perform and record.

BRONZE LENS

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Oliver Jackson was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 28, 1933. He played in the 1940s with Thad Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Wardell Gray, and had a variety show with Eddie Locke called Bop & Locke. After working with Yusef Lateef from 1954 until 1956, he moved to New York City, where he played regularly at the Metropole in 1957 and 1958.

Following his stint at the club he worked with Teddy Wilson, Charlie Shavers, Buck Clayton, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Earl Hines and the JPJ Quartet with Budd Johnson through the Sixties.

Later in life he played with Sy Oliver from 1975 to 1980, Oscar Peterson, and then George Wein’s Newport All-Stars. As a bandleader, Jackson led a 1961 date in Switzerland, and recorded at least five albums for Black & Blue Records between 1977 and 1984.

His brother and bassist Ali Jackson performed with him both at the beginning and towards the end of their careers. Drummer Oliver Jackson, who was also known as Bops Junior, transitioned from a heart failure on May 29, 1994 in New York City at the age of 61.

ROBYN B. NASH

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Harold Land Jr. was born April 25, 1950 in San Diego, California to Harold and Lydia Land. Five years later the family moved to Los Angeles, California where he was raised in a world of jazz through his father’s acclaimed career. His earliest influences were drummer Frank Butler, bassist Curtis Counce, pianist Elmo Hope, trumpeters Carmell Jones and Jack Sheldon. But what really turned him onto jazz piano was a pair of albums by Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’ and Leapin’ and Lopin‘.

He began piano lessons at the age of seven and began performing in jazz clubs by the age of 16. Crusaders pianist Joe Sample introduced Harold to Wayne Henderson which led to his first professional gig, and to his first two album appearances, including the cult favorite People Get Ready. He credits bandleader Gerald Wilson with giving him his first traditional Jazz gig, which came shortly after his time with Henderson. He accumulated important credits touring with guitarist Kenny Burrell and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.

Over a career, spanning jazz, funk, and jazz fusion, Land has worked with Marvin Gaye, Roy Ayers, Gerald Wilson, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Lee Morgan, Eric Gale, and Roland Kirk.

He has recorded with Dwight Trible, Fela Kuti, Justo Almario, Gerald Wilson, Roy Ayers, Gene Ammons, Anna Fisher, Spiders Webb, The Freedom Sounds, Paul Humphrey. He performed often with his father and has recorded on three of his albums, Choma (Burn), Damisi, and Xocia’s Dance.

As an educator Land has taught and given workshops at several Los Angeles based music schools and high schools, such as Washington Prepatory High School, Alain LeRoy Locke College Preparatory Academy, Alta Loma Music, and The World Stage.

Pianist Harold Land Jr., who also played with his father, currently performs with his trio.

ROBYN B. NASH

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