Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gene DiNovi was born Eugene Salvatore DiNovi on May 26, 1928 in New York City. While in his teens he worked with Joe Marsala and Chuck Wayne and by the late Forties was very active live and on record. During this period he worked with Buddy DeFranco, Benny Goodman, Chubby Jackson, Brew Moore, Boyd Raeburn, Buddy Rich, Artie Shaw, Lester Young.
At the end of the decade and into the 1950s Gene worked extensively as an accompanist for vocalists, starting with Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett and Anita O’Day. He recorded with Lena Horne multiple times in the late 1950s and early 1960s and accompanied her on European tours. He also led his own small combos with sidemen including Danny Bank, Johnny Carisi, Bill Crow, Tony Fruscella, and Dave Schildkraut.
He began working more as a studio musician and film score composer in the 1960s. Toward the end of the decade he played with Carmen McRae, then moved to Canada to take a position as a house pianist with the CBC in Toronto. In the 1980s he worked with Ruby Braff and toured and recorded in Japan, and continued to be active as a performer into the 1990s, working with James Campbell, Don Thompson, Memo Acevedo, Dave Young, and Terry Clarke.
Pianist and composer Gene DiNovi, now 95, lives a quiet life.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gianni Basso was born May 24, 1931 in Asti, Italy. He started his career shortly after World War II, at first as a clarinetist, then switched to the tenor saxophone playing in Germany and Belgium with Raoul Faisant’s Big Band.
By the Fifties he became established as a commercial GB or general business player in Milan, Italy and had a steady presence at jazz events. The middle of the decade saw Gianni studying music in Turin, Italy and collaborating with trumpeter and composer Oscar Valdambrini. They created a small group combo which soon became one of the most popular jazz groups in Italy during the Fifties.
Due to their popularity Basso went on to work with a number of touring American jazz musicians, including Chet Baker, Buddy Collette, Slide Hampton, Maynard Ferguson, Phil Woods and Gerry Mulligan.
During the Seventies he founded the Saxes Machine and fronted the Gianni Basso Big Band. His senior years had him settling into the Rome, Italy studio scene while playing clubs and enjoying his historical stature.
Tenor saxophonist Gianni Basso, who was influenced by Stan Getz, transitioned on August 17, 2009.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Friedrich Gulda was born on May 16, 1930 in Vienna, Austria and as the son of a teacher began learning to play the piano at age 7 with Felix Pazofsky at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium. In 1942, he entered the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied piano and musical theory under Bruno Seidlhofer and Joseph Marx.
During World War II as teenagers, Gulda and his friend Joe Zawinul were rebellious and would perform forbidden music, including jazz, in violation of the government’s prohibition of playing such music. Winning first prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1946, he began to play concerts worldwide, making his Carnegie Hall debut in 1950, and with Jörg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda, formed what became known as the “Viennese troika”. Friedrich enjoyed a renowned classical career for years before his 1956 engagement at Birdland in New York City and at the Newport Jazz Festival.
In 1966 he organized the International Competition for Modern Jazz in 1966, and established the International Musikforum, a school in Ossiach, Austria two years later, for students who wanted to learn improvisation. From the 1950s on Gulda cultivated a professional interest in jazz, writing songs and free improvisation or open music improvisations. He also recorded as a vocalist under the pseudonym “Albert Golowin”, fooling music critics for years until it was realized that Gulda and Golowin were the same person.
In jazz, he found “the rhythmic drive, the risk, the absolute contrast to the pale, academic approach I had been taught. He also took up playing the baritone saxophone. His 1970 album, As You Like It, includes the standards Round Midnight and What Is This Thing Called Love?, as well as his own classic Blues For H.G. that is dedicated to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer.
From the late 1960s through the 1980s he continued his straight-ahead swing and bop-based jazz often in European Jazz big bands, which he often organized yearly performances and recordings. He performed and recorded playing clavichord, percussion instruments, and a bass recorder wooden flute with musicians involved in free improvisation, including Cecil Taylor, Barre Phillips, Ursula Anders, John Surman, Albert Mangelsdorff, Stu Martin, and Fritz Pauer. He would go on to collaborate in the coming decades with Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, and Chick Corea.
When the Vienna Music Academy awarded him its Beethoven Ring in recognition of his performances, he accepted it but then later reconsidered and returned it. To promote a concert in 1999, he announced his own death in a press release so that the concert at the Vienna Konzerthaus could serve as a resurrection party.
Pianist and composer Friedrich Gulda, who worked in both the classical and jazz fields, transitioned from heart failure at the age of 69 on January 27, 2000 at his home in Weissenbach, Austria.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Calvin Edwards was born in Kings Mountain, North Carolina on May 14, 1957. At 17, he joined the famous Gospel group Five Blind Boys of Alabama for many years. Then, he moved to Los Angeles, California to play in his brother’s band, The Jett Edwards Band. During this time, he and his brother recorded two albums together, including one song which was recorded by George Benson.
He has released four CD’s as a band leader, and performed with and/or booked various artist through Chasity Music including Tom Brown, Tuck & Patti, Michael White, Kei Akagi, Lonnie Plaxico, Benny Maupin, Hidefumi Toke, Javon Jackson, Michael O’Neil, Ron Brown, Ali Jackson, Michael Paluo, Michael Wolf, Roy Ayers, Everette Harp, Dan Siegel, and Phil Perry.
A well-known international artist, Calvin has performed for President Clinton at the G8 Summit, as well as in Asia and across the United States. He continues to record and play both jazz and blues as he explores the genres.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Von Ohlen was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 13, 1941. He began playing trombone in middle school, and continued playing through high school. Graduating from North Central High School in 1960, he briefly studied at North Texas State, but returned to Indianapolis shortly after.
From 1967 to 1968, Von Ohlen toured with Billy Maxted’s Manhattan Jazz Band. He also worked for Woody Herman in 1967 and 1969, then with Stan Kenton from 1970 to 1972.
John went on to lead the Blue Wisp Big Band in Cincinnati from 1980 to 2018 and his own groups under his name ranging from quartets to big bands. During this period of the 1980s and 1990s, he was a member of a big band led by pianist Steve Allee.
Drummer John Von Ohlen transitioned in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 3, 2018 at the age of 77.
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