Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Don Elliott was born on October 21, 1926 in Somerville, New Jersey. He played mellophone in his high school band and played trumpet for an army band. After study at the University of Miami he added vibraphone to his arsenal of instruments. He recorded with Terry Gibbs and Buddy Rich before forming his own band.
From 1953 to 1960 he won the Down Beat readers poll several times for “miscellaneous instrument-mellophone.” Known as the “Human Instrument”, Elliott additionally performed jazz as a vocalist, trombonist, flugelhornist and percussionist. He pioneered the art of multi-track recording, composed over 5000 jingles with a countless number being prize-winning advertising jingles, prepared film scores, recorded over 60 albums and built a thriving production company.
Don scored several Broadway productions, such as The Beast In Me and A Thunder Carnival, the latter of which he performed with the Don Elliott Quartet, provided one of the voices for the novelty jazz duo the Nutty Squirrels, and lent his vocal talents to such motion picture soundtracks as The Getaway, $ (Dollars), The Hot Rock and The Happy Hooker.
His album Calypso Jazz is considered by some jazz enthusiasts to be one of the definitive calypso jazz albums. He worked with Paul Desmond, Bill Taylor, Billy Eckstine, Bill Evans, Urbie Green, Michel Legrand, George Shearing and Mundell Lowe among others over his career. Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, publisher and producer Don Elliott, who was a longtime associate of Quincy Jones, passed away of cancer in Weston, Connecticut on July 5, 1984.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Red Richards was born Charles Coleridge Richards on October 19, 1912 in New York City and began playing classical piano at age ten. After hearing Fats Waller at age 26 he concentrated on jazz. His first major professional gig was with Tab Smith at the Savoy Ballroom in New York from 1945 to 1949. He went on to play and record with Pee Wee Russell, Bob Wilber, Sidney Bechet, Buck Clayton, Big Chief Moore, Muggsy Spanier, Fletcher Henderson through the Fifties.
Richards toured Italy and France with Mezz Mezzrow, accompanied Frank Sinatra while in Italy, became a solo performer for a year in Columbus, Ohio, and played with Wild Bill Davison in the late 50s and again in 1962.
In 1960 Red formed Saints & Sinners with Vic Dickerson, playing with this ensemble until 1970. He joined jazz drummer Chuck Slate’s band in 1971, recorded an album with him called “Bix ‘N All That Jazz”. Through the mid-Seventies he worked with Eddie Condon, put together his own trio for two years, played with Panama Francis’s Savoy Sultans touring with them from1979 through the Eighties.
Pianist Red Richards recorded nine albums as a leader, recorded with Bill Coleman in 1980 and continued to tour nearly till the time of his death on March 12, 1998 in Scarsdale, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Esperanza Spalding was born October 18, 1984 in Portland, Oregon. Raised in a single parent household she was greatly influenced by her mother who was a singer, though she attributes cellist Yo-Yo Ma as her inspiration to make music her life. By the time Spalding was five, she had taught herself to play the violin and was playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon, staying with them until fifteen and left as concertmaster.
While homeschooled through elementary years Esperanza gleaned lessons from her mother’s guitar instructor when she was eight and would return home and play what she learned. She played oboe and clarinet before discovering the bass at 14 while attending The Northwest Academy. Bored with the ease of high school when she was 15 or 16 years old, Spalding dropped out and started writing lyrics for music for the local indie rock/pop group Noise for Pretend, touching on any topic that came to mind.
Spalding had begun performing live in Portland with her first gig at 15 in a blues club, when she could play only one line on bass and was soon learning from seasoned professionals during the band’s rehearsals. She went on to get her GED, enroll in Portland State University, then left with full scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music.
Almost immediately after graduation Esperanza was hired by her alma mater at age 20, becoming one of the youngest instructors in the institution’s history. In 2006 she released her debut album “Junjo” followed by her sophomore project “Esperanza” in which she sings in English, Spanish and Portuguese. These two projects were followed up with “Chamber Music Society” and her fourth album “Radio Music Society”.
She was personally chosen by President Obama to perform at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies and concert, she has won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011, Jazz Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards, has collaborated with Tineke Postma, Nicholas Payton and Teri Lyne Carrington among others, performed at the 84th Academy Awards and has donated a portion of her 2012 tour proceeds from merchandise sales to the non-profit organization “Free The Slaves” that combats worldwide human trafficking.
She has gone on to record an album in 77 hours while streaming the process live on Facebook, compose and record her 7th album 12 Little Spells, due out this October 2018 and has received an honorary Doctorate of music from Berklee. Bassists and vocalist Esperanza Spalding continues to compose, record, perform and tour.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bill Charlap was born William Morrison Charlap on October 15, 1966 in New York City. Coming from a musical background and a distant cousin to famed jazz pianist Dick Hyman. His mother, singer Sandy Stewart had the hit “My Coloring Book”, his father, Broadway composer Moose Charlap.
Charlap began playing piano at age three. He later studied classical music but remained most interested in jazz. Over his career he has worked with Gerry Mulligan, Benny Carter, Tony Bennett and others. In the mid-90s, he was the musical director of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, A Celebration of Johnny Mercer, part of New York’s JVC Jazz Festival. In 1995 he joined the Phil Woods Quintet.
Charlap has recorded seven albums as a leader or co-leader for Blue Note, has had two Grammy nominated CDs: “Somewhere” and “The Bill Charlap Trio, Live At The Village Vanguard”. He has recorded two albums as a leader for Venus Records, as well as eight albums as a member of the New York Trio.
Bill appears at least twice a year for lengthy runs at some of the world’s major jazz clubs with his rhythm section, consisting of Peter Washington and Kenny Washington. He became the Artistic Director of New York’s 92nd Street Y “Jazz in July” six program series in 2004. In 2008, the pianist became part of The Blue Note 7, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the label, recording Mosaic with promotion tour around the world. He continues to compose, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Matthew Parrish was born on October 14, 1969 in Fresno, California. Traveling with his parents most of his formative years, the bassist developed a wide appreciation for culture and arts and his family finally settled in New Jersey for his high school years. This led to his tenure at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts. From there he moved to Philadelphia where his music studies really began at Ortliebs Jazz Haus.
At Ortliebs, Parrish played with Mickey Roker and Shirley Scott, backing everyone from Cecil Payne, Johnny Coles and Danny Turner to Sylvia Simms. He was soon partnered with Al Grey and while touring hit with Clark Terry, Marian McPartland, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Lou Donaldson, Joe Cohn, Savion Glover, Bill Charlap and many others.
Considering himself an East Coast player his list of accolades is more than sufficient to fall in the lineage of great Philly players. He has toured all over the world and his beautiful, warm and complex sound has earned him an impressive reputation in the music community. He has toured with Greg Osby, Stefon Harris and Regina Carter among others and continues to tour with the Dave Leonhardt group, Houston Person as well as the Vana Gierig Trio with Paquito D’Rivera. Bassist Matthew Parrish also continues to perfect his arrangements and compositions – a true passion for the music.
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