Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jane Jarvis, née Louella Jane Nossette on October 31, 1915 in Vincennes, Indiana, to Charles and Luella Nossette. She was recognized as a piano prodigy at the age of five and she studied under a Vincennes University professor as a young girl.
A family move to Gary, Indiana in 1927 soon put her in place to be hired to play the piano at radio station WJKS in Gary. Orphaned at 13 when her parents perished in a train-auto wreck, she returned to Vincennes, graduating from high school in 1932. She continued her studies at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, the Bush Conservatory of Music, Loyola University Chicago and DePaul University.
By 1954, Jane was on television in Milwaukee, hosting a show called Jivin’ with Jarvis while serving as staff pianist and organist. At the time, the Milwaukee Braves had just relocated from Boston and sought her out to be the organist at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jarvis stayed with the Braves for eight seasons and then went to New York City, where she took a position with Muzak Corporation as a staff composer and arranger. She would rise to become a corporate vice-president and its director of recording and programming.
In 1964, she was hired by the New York Mets to play the organ at Shea Stadium, where she is remembered for playing their theme song, Meet The Mets, which debuted in the 1963 season before every home game, followed by the Jarvis composed Let’s Go Mets, as the team took the field.
Leaving Muzak in 1978, the next year she left the Mets to concentrate on her first musical love, jazz piano. She became a fixture at New York City nightclubs, frequently playing alongside bassist Milt Hinton. She became a founding member of the Statesmen of Jazz, a group of jazz musicians aged 65 and older sponsored by the American Federation of Jazz Societies, and was featured on their 1994 album. She performed with this group across the US as well as in Japan and elsewhere.
Jarvis released several albums of her jazz piano work, including Jane Jarvis Jams, and Atlantic/Pacific. In addition to Hinton, she often collaborated with trombonist Benny Powell and bassist Earl May. As a member of ASCAP, she also had over three hundred compositions to her credit.
Living in Cocoa Beach, Florida, where she was honored in 2003 by the Space Coast Jazz Society for her lifetime achievement. Back in New York City in 2008, she was displaced when a construction crane collapsed, damaging her building on East 50th Street. Pianist, composer, baseball stadium organist and music industry executive Jane Jarvis spent her final years of her life at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey until she passed away on January 25, 2010.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bobby Jones, born October 30, 1928 in Louisville, Kentucky and played drums as a child, started on clarinet at age 8, and his father encouraged him to explore jazz. He studied with Simeon Bellison, Joe Allard, Charlie Parker, and George Russell.
He played with Ray McKinley from 1949 into the mid-1950s, and then with Hal McIntyre before rejoining McKinley later in the decade. During a stint in the Army he met Nat and Cannonball Adderley as well as Junior Mance. After his discharge he played country music and rock & roll as a studio musician, and did time with Boots Randolph. He worked with Glenn Miller in 1950 before returning to McKinley from 1959 to 1963.
He spent a brief time with Woody Herman and Jack Teagarden in 1963, and after the latter’s death he retired to Louisville and started a local jazz council there in addition to teaching at Kentucky State College. In 1969 he moved to New York City and played with Charles Mingus from 1970 to 1972, touring Europe and Japan with him. He also recorded sessions under his own name in 1972 and 1974.
Late in his life he moved to Germany, where he ceased performing due to emphysema. Saxophonist Bobby Jones passed away on March 6, 1980 in Munich, Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Geoff Simkins was born on October 13, 1948 in London Borough of Ealing, England. He started playing jazz in his early teens and his first instrument was drums, but he quickly changed to the alto saxophone.
In 1977 Geoff turned professional and his early work included time with the Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra and the Temperance Seven. His principal stylistic influences have been the altoist Lee Konitz and tenor saxman Warne Marsh.
Simkins has played at concerts, clubs and festivals in all parts of the UK, in Europe and beyond. Often working with visiting American musicians his list has included Art Farmer, Bobby Shew, Al Cohn, Tal Farlow, Slide Hampton, Warren Vache, Al Grey, Howard Alden, Ruby Braff, Bill Coleman and Conte Candoli, among others. He has recorded with UK tenor saxophonist Danny Moss and US trumpeters Billy Butterfield and Yank Lawson. Since the 1980s he has worked regularly with UK guitarist Dave Cliff.
As an educator Geoff is a respected teacher, and runs improvisation courses in Brighton, UK. He has been a regular tutor at the famous Glamorgan Jazz Summer School in Wales before moving it to Trinity College of Music in London. Since 2012 he has taught at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
Alto saxophonist Geoff Simkins, who has recorded as a leader also eight albums as a sideman with Nikki Iies, Dave Cliff, Allan Ganley and Howard Alden, continues to perform, record and teach.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tony Kinsey was born Cyril Anthony Kinsey on October 11, 1927 in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. Holding down jobs on trans-Atlantic ships during his youth, he studied while at port with Bill West in New York City and Birmingham with Tommy Webster. He had a close association with Ronnie Ball early in his life.
Kinsey led his own ensemble at the Flamingo Club in London, England through the 1950s, and recorded on more than 80 sessions between 1950 and 1977, including with Tubby Hayes, Bill Le Sage, Ronnie Scott, Johnny Dankworth, Tommy Whittle, Joe Harriott, Lena Horne, Frank Holder, Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster, Clark Terry, Harry Edison, Buddy DeFranco, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, and Sarah Vaughan.
He performed at European jazz festivals both as a drummer and as a poet. He did some work as a session musician in the 1950s and 1960s, playing on records by Eddie Calvert, Cliff Richard, and Ronnie Aldrich. Kinsey was also a founder member of the group, The John Dankworth Seven in 1950.
He was a resident at the Florida Club, Leicester Square, in the 1950s and had his own trio in the mid~Sixties. By the mid 1980s Tony performed regularly with vibraphone player Lennie Best at venues in the London area including the South Hill Park Cellar Bar in Bracknell.
Kinsey also branched into composition; a string quartet composition of his is used in the short film On the Bridge, and he wrote arrangements for big bands in addition to music for over 100 commercials. Later in his life he wrote music for a musical based on the life of George Eliot.
In 2012, he appeared in the documentary film, No One But Me, discussing jazz vocalist Annie Ross. Drummer and composer Tony Kinsey continues to remain active as drummer.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
For those of us who are still practicing our social distancing and wearing our masks, this week’s selection of the shelves is A Bluish Bag. It is an album by saxophonist Stanley Turrentine consisting of two sessions recorded for the Blue Note label in 1967. and arranged by Duke Pearson, the first featuring Donald Byrd and the second McCoy Tyner, among others.
The album recording consisting of two sessions, the first February 17th, (#1-7) and June 9th, (#8-12). It was produced by Alfred Lion, arranged by Duke Pearson and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Though recorded in 1967, it was not released until June 5, 2007, forty years later.
Tracks | 62:41
- Blues For Del (Stanley Turrentine) ~ 4:14
- She’s A Carioca ( Vinicius de Moraes, Ray Gilbert, Antônio Carlos Jobim) ~ 6:31
- Manhã de Carnaval (Luiz Bonfá, Antônio Maria) ~ 5:53
- Here’s That Rainy Day (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) ~ 5:32
- What Now My Love (Gilbert Bécaud, Pierre Delanoë, Carl Sigman) ~ 4:38
- Samba do Avião (Antônio Carlos Jobim) ~ 5:12
- Night Song (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse) ~ 6:33
- Days of Wine and Roses (Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer) ~ 6:05
- Come Back to Me (Burton Lane, Alan Jay Lerner) ~ 5:55
- Silver Tears (Henry Mancini) ~ 5:07
- A Bluish Bag (Henry Mancini) ~ 7:17
- With This Ring (Luther Dixon, Anthony Hester, Richard “Popcorn” Wylie) ~ 5:49
Players
Tracks 1-7
- Stanley Turrentine ~ tenor saxophone
- Donald Byrd ~ trumpet
- Julian Priester ~ trombone
- Jerry Dodgion – alto saxophone, flute, alto flute
- Joe Farrell – tenor saxophone, flute
- Pepper Adams – baritone saxophone, clarinet
- Kenny Barron – piano
- Bucky Pizzarelli – guitar
- Ron Carter – bass
- Mickey Roker – drums
Tracks 8-12
- Stanley Turrentine ~ tenor saxophone
- Blue Mitchell, Tommy Turrentine ~ trumpet
- Julian Priester ~ trombone
- Jerry Dodgion ~ alto saxophone, flute
- Al Gibbons ~ bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
- Pepper Adams ~ baritone saxophone, clarinet
- McCoy Tyner ~ piano
- Walter Booker ~ bass
- Mickey Roker ~ drums
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