Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Olivia Meyer was born on July 15, 1990 in Rochester, New York and first encountered her father’s tenor saxophone when looking under his bedroom dresser. There she discovered a large black case covered with dust containing a Mark VI. Her fathe rnot only gifted her the saxophone but once she played it was smitten and the decision to pursue the saxophone was cemented. They would go to the public library, check out the maximum number of cds and listen to them together.
At the age of nine, Olivia played and studied in the programs provided by the inner city schools she attended. She began private lessons in classical and jazz piano and ultimately jazz and classical saxophone. By fifteen, she was splitting her time between the School of the Arts and the Eastman School of Music, studying music history, theory, jazz composition, and classical and jazz saxophone.
As a member of the Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra, she also worked and studied regularly with visiting artists Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Paquito D’Rivera, Victor Goines, Wycliffe Gordon, Vincent Herring, Pat Labarbera, Ralph Lalama, Joe Locke, Gerry Niewood, and Grant Stewart.
After graduating from the School of the Arts, she received a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She has played gigs in and around Rochester, and while in Boston she headlined a quartet as a part of the new “Birth of La Femme” series at Wally’s Jazz Café in Boston. Tenor saxophonist Olivia Meyer, has yet to record her debut album, is currently a Brand, Sales and Marketing Associate at Jazz At Lincoln Center.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph A. Venuto, Jr. was born on June 20, 1929 in Bronx, New York into an Italian immigrant family where he received his first drum kit from his grandfather. Having had lessons with Henry Adler, he moved on to Phil Kraus to learn mallet percussion. After earning a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, he became a member of the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, with whom he made his first recordings Doodletown Races on the RCA label in 1953. He was a featured soloist with the orchestra on Solo for Joe and Swingcussion. The DownBeat Reader’s Poll voted him the best vibraphonist that year.
From the mid-1950s, Venuto worked with Billy Byers in the Westchester Workshop, the Kent Harian Orchestra, Bobby Dukoff, and the Johnny Richards Orchestra before joining Radio City Music Hall as a session musician in the recording and television studios. By 1959 he recorded his debut album for Everest Records under his own name.
Between 1953 and 1975 Joe was involved in 104 recording sessions with Jack Teagarden, Kenyon Hopkins, Rex Stewart, The Creed Taylor Orchestra, Irene Kral/Al Cohn Orchestra, Mary Ann McCall, Don Costa, Hal Mooney, Ruth Brown, Gene Krupa and His Orchestra, LaVern Baker, Budd Johnson, Marion Montgomery, Benny Goodman, Shirley Scott, Solomon Burke, Gary McFarland, Johnny Hodges, Hank Jones/Oliver Nelson, and numerous more.
the early 1970s when he was in his Forties, he left New York City and moved to Reno, Nevada. He met, married, performed and recorded with his wife, harpist Bev Colgan, in a harp/vibes duo. Percussionist Joe Venuto, who also played the vibraphone, marimba, bongos and drums, transitioned on Feb. 14, 2019 at age 89.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Alan Beirach was born on May 23, 1947 in New York City, New York and initially studied both classical music and jazz. While still attending high school, he took lessons from pianist Lennie Tristano. He later studied at the Berklee College of Music, however, after one year he left and began attending the Manhattan School of Music. While there, he studied with Ludmilla Ulehla.
In 1972, graduating from the Manhattan School of Music he took with him a Master’s Degree in Music Theory and Composition. Beirach’s style is influenced by Art Tatum, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, and Chick Corea along with his earlier classical training and many touches of his individualism all its own.
He recorded 57 albums as a leader and as a sideman with George Adams, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, Chet Baker, Dave Liebman, Jeremy Steig, Steve Davis, Laurie Antonioli, and the Ron McClure Trio he recorded 17. Pianist and composer Richie Beirach continues to perform, compose and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Allen Nicholas Farnham was born May 19, 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts and first played piano when he was 12. In 1983 he graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio.
Moving to New York City in the following year Allen freelanced before signing with Concord Records in 1986. Between 1986 and 1990 he led his own quartet, with either Joe Lovano or Dick Oatts on saxophone and Drew Gress and Jamey Haddad filling out the rhythm section and from 1990 he was pianist and music director for Susannah McCorkle.
He has produced more than fifty albums, is on the faculty of New Jersey City University and has recorded several albums under his own name. Pianist, record producer, educator, composer and arranger Allen Farnham continues to pursue all his musical endeavors.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pete Paul George Jacobsen was born on May 16, 1950 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Having lost his sight as a baby, due to a growth behind the optic nerve, he studied at the Worcester School for the Blind before forming his own trio, which was good enough to attract local television coverage. In 1969, he moved to London, England to study at the Royal Academy of Music. With a keen memory and perfect pitch, hi’s lack of sight was no obstacle.
In London, Jacobsen played with saxophonists Barbara Thompson, Isotope’s Gary Boyle, and Don Weller. He became a member of the jazz-fusion band Morrissey–Mullen, but it was not until 1985 that he recorded with them on This Must Be The Place and Happy Hour in 1988. Recommended by trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, he landed the piano chair in the Bobby Wellins Quartet and recorded four albums with the group from 1978 to 1989, Live… Jubilation, Dreams Are Free, ERCO Makes Light Work, and Birds of Brazil.
Pete regularly collaborated with Chris Biscoe and recorded tw albums with him and often performed as a duo, recording several BBC Jazz Club performances. He played and recorded with trombonist Jimmy Knepper, and contributed Song For Keith for the recording of the 1980 album Primrose Path. He would also write the song “Black Book” for the album Highly Committed Media Players.
During this time, Jacobsen was part of the resident rhythm section at the Cambridge Modern Jazz Club. He would go on to play with Robin Kenyatta, Alan Skidmore, Peter King, Eberhard Weber, Paul Carmichael, and Chris Fletcher. He gave memorable solo recitals, toured and played on three of their albums with the Celtic-jazz band Cármina.
In 1994, Jacobsen released his only solo album Ever Onward. Through the rest of the decade he performed with his own trio and with the Tim Whitehead quartet or trio. He spent much of his time in the East End of London playing obscure clubs with unknown or struggling musicians. Pianist Pete Jacobsen fell ill after a series of rural art center gigs and transitioned on April 29, 2002 at age 51.
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