Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Clarence Lacquese Penn born on March 2, 1968 in Detroit, Michigan and started playing the drums at around eigh years old. In 1986, while still at high school, he attended the Interlochen Arts Academy. He started studying at the University of Miami in Florida that same year, but transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University.
At Virginia Commonwealth he studied with Ellis Marsalis, and played in the pianist’s trio from 1987 to 1991, including for a tour of Japan in 1990. Penn graduated in classical percussion in 1991 and was part of vocalist Betty Carter’s trio from until 1993.
Penn later went on to work with David Sanchez, Jimmy Smith, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Scott, Greg Hatza, Stanley Clarke, Tim Warfield, Bob Berg, Diana Krall, Cyrus Chestnut, and Stephen Scott.
He recorded his debut album, Penn’s Landing, for Criss Cross Jazz in 1997 with some of the tracks he composed. His sophomore album as leader, Play-Penn, was recorded four years later, followed by a third the following year. He took a nine year hiatus from recording then recorded three more albums.
Drummer Clarence Penn, who also plays organ and rhodes, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pekka Eerik Juhani Sarmanto was born February 15, 1945 in Helsinki, finland. He first studied classical violin at the Sibelius Academy from 1958 to 1964 before switching to upright bass. He initially played dance music but was soon invited to perform in jazz clubs by bandleaders like Eero Koivistoinen and Esa Pethman.
1967 saw him joining the house band of Down Beat Club where he played with musicians like Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon. In 1975 Sarmanto founded UMO, abbreviation of Uuden Musiikin Orkesteri, (New Music Orchestra) and the group accompanied many international jazz musicians visiting Finland. As a result Pekka was able to meet and play with Charles Mingus in Belgrade, Serbia; Gil Evans, Edward Vesala and Sonny Rollins.
Sarmanto received the Georgie Award of the Finnish Jazz Federation in 1978. In 1982 he worked on the album To a Finland Station with Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval, released on the Pablo label in 1983. He considers this to be his most successful recording.
In 1996 the bassist founded the Pekka Sarmanto Trio and in 2007 he retired from UMO but he still keeps performing actively with different groups, including with his own trio..
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Niels Hartvig Foss was born on January 28, 1916 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He began playing guitar and from 1933 to 1934 began performing with the Svend Asmussen Group. He went on to play bass with Asmussen and others.
From 1940 to 1948 Niels led and played trombone in orxhestras and bands he formed. In 1949 for the next two years he performed with Peter Rasmussen and in 1957 moved to Switzerland where he continued to play part-time.
Over the course of his career Foss was a member of All Danish Starband, Etly Lizette And Her Orchestra, Kai Ewans Og Hans Orkester, Kaj Timmermann’s Septet, The Kordt Sisters Med Swingtet, and The Swingin’ Birds. He recorded for Odeon, His Master’s Voice, Imperial record labels.
Bassist, trombonist and guitarist Niels Foss died on May 16, 2018.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Werner Dies was born on January 15, 1928 in Frankfurt, Germany. An autodidact on guitar and saxophone, he studied clarinet and composition starting in 1947. From 1947 to 1955 he played guitar in the dance band of Willy Berking, and was a member of the bands Hotclub Combo and Two Beat Stompers.
He led his own ensemble, went on a tour of Yugoslavia in 1955 and from 1955 to 1965 he was a member of Hazy Osterwald’s sextet, and also worked as a session musician and arranger. He toured with Joe Turner and, in 1968, Charly Antolini.
He had a hit in Germany in 1954 with Schuster bleib bei deinen Leisten (The Little Shoemaker) that spent eight weeks at #1 on the German hit parade starting in October 1954. He later worked for Howard Carpendale, Adam & Eve, Graham Bonney, and other singers, and produced easy listening music with his own ensemble, the Werner Dies Sax Band.
He wrote a treatise on clarinet improvisation that was published in 1967. He produced the group Bläck Fööss from 1973 to 2003. Tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, guitarist, composer, and arranger Werner Dies died on February 5, 2003.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Greg Hyslop was born in Montgomery, West Virginia on December 27, 1951 but grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina since 1957, He graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in 1977 and returned to his hometown to settle down and raise a family.
With his hollow-bodied electric guitar, Hyslop performs straight ahead jazz with a bebop flavor. To date he has released two recordings, his debut with Kenny Werner on piano and John Riley on drums is titled Manhattan Date in 1987. His sophmore recording, The Greg Hyslop Trio features pianist David Fox and bassist Charles Gambetta.
Guitarist Greg Hyslop, who has been a member of the groups Peace Chant and The Third Floor Orchestra, continues to be a long standing member of the piedmont North Carolina jazz community.
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