Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Eumir Deodato was born Eumir Deodato de Almeida on June 22, 1943 in Rio de Janiero of Italian and Portuguese parents. He began his musical training at twelve on the accordion but rapidly learned instrumental and orchestral skills that gave him his first recording session at 17.

Originally working as pianist and arranger in the Rio bossa nova scene, he rapidly outgrew this and, along with many other Brazilian musicians during the military dictatorshipin their country, moved to New York and began working with composer Luis Bonfa and later with producer Creed Taylor as an arranger. Additionally, he became keyboardist in Taylor’s expanding group of CTI backing artists.

His first U.S. album “Prelude” released in 1973 for CTI was a big band Latin jazz project that immediately attracted a wide audience. His funky version of Also Sprach Zarathustra won him the 1974 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and hitting #2 on the charts.

Deodato has been in demand as a producer and arranger since the 1960s. In all, he has worked on more than 500 albums, fifteen of which have reached platinum. His skills as an arranger provided entree to the American recording industry, writing charts for Wes Montgomery, Astrud Gilberto, Frank Sinatra, Bjork, k.d. lang and Kool and the Gang among others.

He has scored several films over his career and recorded a live album in Rio in 2007. He continues to produce and arrange.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Eric Reed was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 21, 1970 and began playing piano at age two, transitioning into his minister father’s church at five and at seven began formal study at the Philadelphia Settlement Music School. By the time he was 11 his family was moving to Los Angeles where he studied at the Colburn School of Arts.

In 1986 his encounter with Wynton Marsalis would greatly aid his career beginning with him joining his septet in 1990 and over the next five years he would work with Wynton along with Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard. In 1996 he joined the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and towards the end of the decade he was venturing out to lead his own group, Black Note, that released several albums during the 1990s.

Eric has worked with jazz luminaries such as Irvin Mayfield, Cassandra Wilson, Mary Stallings, Clark Terry, Dianne Reeves, Elvin Jones, Ron Carter, Paula West and Benny Carter.

Eric has also worked as a composer, scoring music for independent and mainstream films, including the comedy ‘Life’, featuring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. With nearly two dozen albums under his belt, he most recently recorded his Monk project, having already released The Dancing Monk in 2011 and The Baddest Monk in 2012 with an audience anticipation of the final recording as he continues to perform, tour and record.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jazz drummer Billy Drummond was born Willis Robert Drummond, Jr. on June 19, 1959 in Newport News, Virginia. From an early age he learned jazz from his father, who was also a drummer and a jazz enthusiast and whose record collection included many recordings of Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Buddy Rich and Elvin Jones, among others.

Billy played in bands from age eight and studied at Shenandoah Conservatory. At the behest of Al Foster he moved to New York in 1986 and shortly thereafter joined the Blue Note band, Out of the Blue (OTB) with whom he recorded their last CD. He subsequently joined the Horace Silver sextet and toured extensively.

Drummond has played and recorded with Nat Adderley, Ralph Moore, Buster Williams, Charles Tolliver, Lew Tabackin and Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, James Moody, Sonny Rollins, Andy LaVerne, Lee Konitz, Larry Willis, Toots Thielemans and Freddie Hubbard among others greats.

Billy’s influences include a long list besides Tony Williams, Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, Al Foster, Jack DeJohnette and Billy Hart. His discography includes three albums as a leader, another five as a co-leader, fifteen as a band member with Carla Bley and Steve Kuhn, and sixty-six as a sideman.

He is currently a long-time member of Carla Bley’s Lost Chords Quartet, leads the New York-based band “Freedom of Ideas” in addition to touring, and is Professor of Jazz Drums at the Juilliard School of Music and New York University in New York.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Chuck Rainey was born Charles Walter Rainey III on June 17, 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio. His youthful pursuits included violin, piano and trumpet but switched to baritone horn in order to join the Lane College traveling ensemble while matriculating. But it was while on active military duty that he learned the rhythm guitar, however, his lack of improvisational skills led him to pick up the bass. He soon found steady work as a studio bassist in New York, recording and touring with many of the greats of the time.

Through the 1970s he played with Jerome Richardson, Grady Tate, Mose Allison, Gato Barbieri, Gene Ammons and Eddie Vinson. He was a member of the King Curtis All Stars, toured with the Beatles second U.S. run and had firmly established himself as New York City’s “first call” session bass guitarist.

In 1972, he released his first solo album “The Chuck Rainey Coalition” consisting of notable session musicians Richard Tee, Warren Smith, Specs Powell, Eric Gale, Bernard Purdie, Herb Lovelle, Cornell Dupree and Billy Butler. He moved to Los Angeles that same year working with Quincy Jones and his big band but continued as a studio musician playing for Betty Davis, Steely Dan and Aretha Franklin.

Rainey’s style has always been to provide a rhythmic and melodic bottom that works with the drummer for the benefit of the song. His books on bass study refer to ”sensitivity to music” and a dedication to studying the fundamentals of music theory. While his “sideman” philosophy of bass has not brought him the level of recognition of star players such as Jaco Pastorious, Rainey is by far more recorded than his more famous contemporaries.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Kenny Drew, Jr. was born on June 14, 1958 in New York City is the son of jazz pianist Kenny Drew. His initial study was in classical music with his mother and grandmother. In his teens he gigged in clubs became interested in jazz and pop, but initially worked in funk bands. Kenny attended Iona College in New Rochelle, NY for a spell from 1977 to 1978. There, he became pianist for the Iona College Singers, an entertainment troop promoting the College’s name and goodwill among local high schools, retirement homes and the like in the Northeast region of the USA.

Later he went into jazz piano and in 1990 Kenny won the Great American Jazz Piano competition at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival in Florida.  He has continued to perform jazz, but has also performed some chamber music. He made his recording debut with Charnett Moffet, worked with Stanley Jordan and OTB, and recorded with Eddie Gomez, Sadao Watanabe and the Mingus Big Band.

Although his style has some similarities to his father’s, but is different enough to generally avoid comparison. Drew is considered the more eclectic of the two and his music is known for its hard-swinging bluesy sound and large, two-handed rooty chords contrasting with fast runs. His style is said to be similar to that of his father and Oscar Peterson, though he cites Thelonious Monk as his major influence and like Monk often recorded and performed solo. He has 20 albums under his name as a leader and continued to perform until his death at home in St. Petersburg, Florida on August 3, 2014.

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