Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Shirley Scott was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 14, 1934. She began her musical journey with piano and trumpet in high school but her admiration for Jimmy Smith moved her to the Hammond organ as her primary instrument, though she continued to play piano.
In the Fifties she came to prominence working with saxophonist Eddie Davis, but by the ‘60s Scott married Stanley Turrentine and the subsequent musical collaboration was fruitful with releases.
A very melodic player, Shirley graduated to an aggressive, highly rhythmic approach of organ player blending intricate bebop harmonies with blues and gospel with soul jazz. Her visibility waned in the seventies as labels interest in organ combos was replaced by fusion and pop jazz.
By the 1980s she would become a jazz educator and recording for Muse with the new found interest in organ late in the decade. Scott, a superb pianist, exclusively played piano during the Nineties in Philly jazz clubs and recorded trio projects for Candid.
By the turn of the new century with her health declining, she was diagnosed with heart damage due to adverse effects from the diet pill “fen-phen”. She was awarded $8 million in a lawsuit against the drug manufacturers. Shirley Scott died of heart failure on March 10, 2002.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Blue Mitchell was born Richard Allen Mitchell on March 13, 1930 and was raised in Miami, Florida. He didn’t begin playing trumpet until high school, where he received his nickname “Blue”. In the years following he played in the rhythm and blues bands of Paul Williams, Earl Bostic and Chuck Willis but upon returning to Miami caught the ear of Cannonball Adderley, with whom he recorded in 1958 for Riverside.
He joined the Horace Silver Quintet playing alongside Junior Cook, Gene Taylor and Roy Brooks until 1964 and then formed his own band replacing Silver with Chick Corea an ailing Brooks with Al Foster. By 1969 Mitchell disbanded the group and joined Ray Charles, touring till ’71.
This stint was followed by Jazz Blues Fusion with John Mayall and throughout the seventies he recorded and worked as a session player, performed with Louis Bellson, Bill Holman, Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Philly Joe Jones, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Hank Mobley and a host of other major players.
On May 21, 1979 the multi-faceted trumpeter Blue Mitchell, who delivered a light and swinging tone and known for his jazz, rhythm and blues, passed away from complications of cancer at age 49 in Los Angeles, California.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hugh Lawson was born on March 12, 1935 in Detroit, Michigan. Inspired by Bud Powell, Hampton Hawes and Bill Evans he gained recognition for his more than ten year association with Yusef Lateef during the late ‘50s. During the Sixties he would record with Harry “Sweets” Edison, Roy Brooks and again with Lateef on several sessions.
During the Lawson performed with “The Piano Choir”, a group of several pianists including Stanley Cowell, and Harold Mabern. He went on to tour with Charles Mingus, record with Charlie Rouse, George Adams and as a leader, recording Prime Time, Colour, Jazzcraft Studio recording 1977-78, Beat-EP and Constellations.
Pianist Hugh Lawson was diagnosed with colon cancer and succumbed one day before his 62nd birthday on March 11, 1997 in White Plains, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Edward Coleman, born March 8, 1935 in Memphis, Tennessee, taught himself to play alto saxophone during his teen years inspired by Charlie Parker. Growing up his classmates were Harold Mabern, Booker Little, Frank Strozier, Hank Crawford and Charles Lloyd.
He began his career working with Ray Charles and by 1953 joined B. B. King where he switched to tenor. Moving to Chicago with Booker Little in 1956 he started working with Gene Ammons and Johnny Griffin before joining Max Roach in ’58. Coleman recorded with Jimmy Smith, Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Eddie McFadden, Kenny Burrell and Donald Bailey before moving to New York with Max Roach.
Subsequent gigs with Ron Carter, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Cobb and Wild Bill Davis led him to become a part of the Miles Davis Quintet, recording among others Seven Steps to Heaven, My Funny Valentine and Four and More. This was followed up with his joining Herbie Hancock on his seminal work Maiden Voyage.
A foray into Hollywood placed Coleman on the sets of Freejack with Estevez, Jagger and Hopkins and on the Preacher’s Wife set with Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston.
The hard bop tenor, bandleader, composer and educator George Coleman has an impressive list of performances and recordings too numerous to name but suffice it to say he has worked with everyone from Mingus to Jamal to Hampton from the 60’s to the present day. He continues to lead his own groups, performing and recording regularly both as a leader and sideman.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Leslie “Wes” Montgomery was born on March 6, 1923 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Although he started learning guitar relatively late at the age of 19 and not skilled at reading music, Wes had an incredible ear, learning by listening to the recordings of his idol Charlie Christian. He began his self-taught education in 1943 using his thumb instead of a pick and by the end of the decade he was touring with Lionel Hampton.
Montgomery’s recording can be divided into three periods. His Riverside recordings from 1959-1963 were spontaneous small group sessions; the orchestral dates with arranger Don Sebesky and producer Cecil Taylor at Verve were from ’64 to ’66; and the Creed Taylor years of simple pop melodies underscored with strings and woodwinds. The later sessions produced three best-selling albums that introduced AM radio listeners to jazz and his performances were as freewheeling as his earlier Riverside records.
Considered one of the seminal figures of jazz guitar in the company of innovators like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt; Wes alongside Tal Farlow, Johnny Smith, Jim Raney and Barney Kessell put guitar on the map as a bebop/post-bop instrument. He is credited with influencing future guitar lions Pat Martino, George Benson, Emily Remler, Kenny Burrell, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Pat Metheny.
During his career he would team up with his brother Monk who played string and electric bass and Buddy, who played vibes and piano, releasing a number of albums as the Montgomery Brothers. His career garnered him two Grammy nominations, a Grammy award, Down Beat’s New Star award, and Down Beat Critic’s Poll award for best jazz guitarist from ‘60 to ‘63 and from ‘66 to ‘67. At the height of his career and his success, Wes Montgomery succumbed to a heart attack on June 15, 1968 in his hometown of Indianapolis.
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