Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Earl Klugh was born September 16, 1953 in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of six he started training on the piano but switched to the guitar at ten. By 13, he was captivated by the guitar of Chet Atkins when he made an appearance on the Perry Como Show.
His first recording was at age 15 on Yusef Lateef’s Suite 16. He played on George Benson’s White Rabbit album and two years later, in 1973, joined his touring band. He has performed as a guest on several of Atkins’ albums, who has reciprocated as well, joining Klugh on his Magic In Your Eyes album.
He and Bob James received a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1981 for their album One on One. Klugh has recorded over 30 albums, including twenty-three top ten charting records, with five hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Jazz Album chart.
Each spring, Klugh hosts an event called Weekend of Jazz, featuring jazz musicians at the Broadmoor Hotel & Resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The weekend attracts a host of famous musicians and vocalists.
Guitarist and composer Earl Klugh, who was influenced by Bob James, Ray Parker Jr, Wes Montgomery and Laurindo Almeida, has received 13 Grammy nominations, continues to compose, perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,guitar,history,instrumental,jazz,music
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Bryan Benoit was born in Bakersfield, California on August 18, 1953. He studied piano at age 13 with Marya Cressy Wright and continued his training with Abraham Fraser, who was the pianist for Arturo Toscanini. He attended Mira Costa High School and went on to focus on theory and composition at El Camino College, studying orchestration and later took film scoring classes at UCLA. He went on to study music conducting and worked with Jeffrey Schindler, Music Director for the UC Santa Barbara symphony orchestra.
He began his career as a musical director and conductor for Lainie Kazan in 1976, before moving on to similar roles with singer/actresses Ann-Margret and Connie Stevens. His GRP Records debut album, Freedom at Midnight in 1987, led his roster of top ten albums he has released. He has recorded tribute albums to pianist Bill Evans, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. Collaborators included the chorus group Take 6, guitarist Marc Antoine and trumpeter Chris Botti.
Benoit has arranged, conducted, and performed music for Russ Freeman and the Rippingtons, Kenny Loggins, Michael Franks, Patti Austin, Dave Koz, Kenny Rankin, Faith Hill, David Lanz, Cece Winans, David Pack, David Sanborn, The Walt Disney Company and Brian McKnight.
Pianist David Benoit, who has three Grammy nominations, has performed three times at the White House, and has a morning program on jazz radio station KKJZ in Long Beach, California, continues to perform and record..
More Posts: arranger,bandleader,composer,conductor,history,instrumental,jazz,music,piano
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Everette Harp was born August 17, 1961 in Houston, Texas and was the youngest of eight children. His mother played the organ and gospel music was one of his earliest influences. He started playing jazz in middle school at Marshall Junior High under the tutelage of drummer Buddy Smith. He attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, then North Texas State University as a music major in the early 1980s.
He worked as an accountant for a short time, and played in local bands, most notably a jazz/funk group called The Franchise which released a 1987 album locally with the first recording of Harp’s There’s Still Hope. 1988 saw him moving to Los Angeles, California and touring briefly with Teena Marie, then Anita Baker.
Two years later George Duke signed him to a contract with Capitol Records to record with his group 101 North. Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note Records signed Harp to a solo contract before the group album was released. Harp’s album was produced by Duke and released by Blue Note in 1992.
Harp appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, would go on to appear on The Arsenio Hall Show, on Sax by the Fire, and perform on the theme songs for Entertainment Tonight and Soul Train and shared the stage with President Bill Clinton at the Arkansas Ball in 1992.
Harp has worked with Stanley Clarke, Natalie Cole, Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, Wayne Henderson, Al Jarreau, The Jazz Crusaders, Billy Joel, Chaka Khan, Kenny Loggins, Bobby Lyle, Peter Maffay, Marcus Miller, Chante Moore, Dianne Reeves, Eros Ramazzotti, Brenda Russell, Joe Sample, and Luther Vandross.
Saxophonist Everette Harp, who received his first nomination in 2015 for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, continues to perform, compose and record.
More Posts: bandleader,composer,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David William Sanborn was born July 30, 1945 in Tampa, Florida where his father was stationed in the US Air Force, and grew up in Kirkwood, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Contracting polio at the age of three and confined to an iron lung for a year, the polio left him with impaired respiration and his left arm shorter than the right.
While confined to bed he was inspired by the saxophone breaks in songs he heard on the radio by Fats Domino’s Ain’t That a Shame and Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti. At the age of eleven David changed to saxophone from piano lessons when doctors recommended that he take up a wind instrument to improve his breathing and strengthen his chest muscles. By 14 he was good enough to play with blues Albert King and Little Milton in local clubs. Alto saxophonist Hank Crawford was an early and lasting influence.
Sanborn studied free jazz in his youth with saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Julius Hemphill. He continued his education at Northwestern University and transferred to the University of Iowa, where he played and studied with saxophonist J.R. Monterose. In 1967 he took a Greyhound bus to San Francisco, California to join the Summer of Love, and was invited to sit in on a session with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and stayed with the band for five years. He went on to play with the Brecker Brothers, Al Jarreau, and Tim Berne.
Finding life on the road increasingly difficult he continued to tour, was active as a session musician, and played on numerous albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Sting, the Eagles, Rickie Lee Jones, James Brown, George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John, Bryan Ferry and the Rolling Stones.
As a leader he recorded twenty-five albums and his discography as composer and sideman is extensive and includes videos, television and film. Sanborn won six Grammy Awards and had eight gold albums and one platinum album and was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Alto saxophonist David Sanborn, who was known primarily as a smooth jazz musician, died of complications from prostate cancer in Tarrytown, New York on May 12, 2024.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kirk Whalum was born July 11, 1958 in Memphis, Tennessee into a musical family, singing in his father’s church choir. He got his love of music from his piano teacher grandmother and two uncles who performed with jazz bands around the country. After graduating from Melrose High School he attended Texas Southern University where he was a member of the renowned Ocean of Soul Marching Band.
By 1986 he performed at Jean-Michel Jarre’s giant concerts Rendez-Vous Houston and Rendez-Vous Lyon. Whalum would go on to record with Jevetta Steele, Luther Vandross and tour with Whitney Houston, soloing on her single I Will Always Love You.
Kirk has worked on a number of film scores, including for The Prince of Tides, Boyz n the Hood, The Bodyguard, Grand Canyon, Cousins and contributed to the 2008 documentary film Miss HIV. As a leader he has recorded a series of well received albums and has twelve Grammy nominations and his first Grammy award in 2011 for Best Gospel Song.
He is the inaugural Jazz Legend honoree of the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee, joined the faculty of Visible Music College and received a Brass Note on Historic Beale Street, both in Memphis.
More Posts: bandleader,flute,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone,songwriter