Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gato Barbieri was born Leandro Barbieri on November 28, 1932 in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina into a family of musicians. He began playing music after hearing Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time”, first playing the clarinet and later the alto saxophone while performing with his fellow countryman pianist Lalo Schifrin in the late 1950s.
By the early 1960s in Europe he worked with Don Cherry, became influenced by John Coltrane’s later recordings as well as free jazz saxophonists Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders. He developed a warm and gritty sound that became Gato’s trademark and by the late Sixties began fusing music from South America and contributed to Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra and Carla Bley’s Escalator Over The Hill.
Barbieri earned a Grammy for the score of Last Tango In Paris, which led to a recording deal with Impulse Records. By the mid-70s, he was recording for A&M Records and moved his music towards soul-jazz and jazz-pop with albums like “Caliente!” and “Ruby Ruby”. As a leader he has recorded some thirty albums and as a sideman has played and recorded another nine with Dollar Brand, Gary Burton, the Jazz Composers Orchestra among others. The saxophonist has received the UNICEF Award and continued to compose, perform and record until his passing on April 2, 2016 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jacky Terrasson was born Jacques-Laurent Terrasson on November 27, 1966 in Berlin, Germany to French and American parents, but grew up in Paris, France. He started learning piano at 5 years old and after studying classical piano in school, he studied jazz, in particular with Jeff Gardner. His encounter with Francis Paudras played an important role his initiation into jazz.
He studied at Berklee College of Music before playing in Chicago and New York clubs. He gained increased attention on winning the 1993 Thelonious Monk Piano Competition and began touring with Betty Carter. A year later he was named by the New York Times Magazine one of the 30 under 30 to change American culture in the next 30 years.
He has recorded for Blue Note, Venus, EMI, Concord and Universal France amassing a total of 15 records. He has worked with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Michael Brecker, Dianne Reeves, Jimmy Scott, Charles Aznavor, Cassandra Wilson, Ry Cooder, and his trios with Leon Parker and Ugonna Okegwo or Eric Harland, Ben Williams, Jamire Williams and Justin Faulkner.
Pianist Jacky Terrasson plays festivals all over the world and works regularly in Japan, South Korea and in China, as well as in Europe and the United States. He mingles and melts the colors and the inventions of the great pianists of yesterday and today creating his own style.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Terell Stafford was born in Miami, Florida on November 25, 1966 and raised in Chicago, Illinois and Silver Spring, Maryland. He went on to get a degree in music education from University of Maryland in 1988 branching out from classical trumpet to jazz with their jazz band. He went on to obtain a degree in classical trumpet performance from Rutgers University.
His career in jazz soon picked up and has played with McCoy Tyner, Shirley Scott, Christian McBride, John Clayton, Steve Turre, Stephen Scott, Bobby Watson, Dave Valentin, Lafayette Harris, Cecil Brooks III, Cornell Dupree, Ed Wiley, Victor Lewis, Melissa Walker, Herbie Mann and Russell Malone among others. He has graced the stages such as Carnegie Hall and The Tonight Show.
Stafford’s educator hat has him as the Director of Jazz Studies at Temple University and has also worked with the Juilliard School’s jazz program, at the Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington program, and with the 2006 All-Alaska Jazz Band. He has recorded eight albums to date and continues to perform and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Braden was born November 20, 1963 in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He began playing tenor sax at age 13 and started playing professionally at 15. As a high school student he played in the McDonald’s All-American High School Jazz Band. He went on to attend Harvard University, studying engineering but played in the school’s jazz ensemble.
Braden moved to New York City in 1984, where he played with The Harper Brothers, Lonnie Smith and Betty Carter. In 1986 he toured with Wynton Marsalis and followed this with Out of the Blue, Roy Haynes, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, J. J. Johnson, Tom Harrell, Art Farmer and the Mingus Big Band.
Don has developed an extensive knowledge of every aspect of jazz performance and is an imaginative and soulful saxophonist. He has released 16 albums as a leader or co-leader, with his recording debut in 1991 with “The Time is Now”. His list of sidemen is extensive and includes Christian McBride, Joris Teepe, Benny Green, Julian Joseph, Kenny Werner, Darrell Grant, Carl Allen, Cecil Brooks III & Billy Hart, David “Fathead” Newman, Vincent Herring, Dave Liebman, Terell Stafford, Tom Harrell, Randy Brecker, Steve Turre, Conrad Herwig, Jack McDuff, Larry Goldings and Russell Malone among many others.
He spent four years as co-music supervisor/composer for Bill Cosby’s CBS sitcom, “Cosby”, co-wrote the theme song for Cosby’s CBS cartoon series, “Little Bill” and composed music for Nickelodeon’s “Fatherhood”. Braden is a passionate and highly experienced educator, having held the position of Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Montclair State University, served as Music Director of the Litchfield Jazz Camp, has been the Music Director of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Well’s Fargo Jazz for Teens program and a visiting professor in the “New York Comes to Groningen” program at the Prins Claus Conservatoire, in Groningen, Netherlands. He continues to educate, perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Kennedy, Jr. on November 17, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was introduced to the violin by his grandfather. During his induction in the Army he performed with the Camp Lee Symphony Orchestra in Petersburg, Virginia. Returning home he cut his jazz teeth as a member of the Four Strings along with Ahmad Jamal, with Mary Lou Williams supervising their debut recording session.
Kennedy would go on to study and earn degrees at Carnegie Mellon, Virginia State College, Duquesne University. As an educator with the Richmond Public Schools he was the Instrumental Music Supervisor, Supervisor of Music and Supervisor of Secondary Arts and Humanities, Director of Jazz Studies at Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University developing “An Introduction to African American Music” at the latter.
Joe would be one of the first Blacks to become the Resident Violinist with the Richmond Symphony from 1963 – 1981, traveled abroad with the Benny Carter All-Stars and performed at numerous concerts and festivals throughout the United States, and Europe.
Kennedy performed and recorded several albums as a leader as well as with pianist Ahmad Jamal. He performed with Benny Carter, Toots Thielemans, Billy Taylor and the Modern Jazz Quartet among others. Violinist, composer, arranger and educator Joe Kennedy, Jr., recipient of the 2001 Legacy Award, passed away on April 17, 2004.
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