Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Beegie Adair was born Bobbe Gorin Long on December 11, 1937 in Cave City, Kentucky. She began playing the piano at the age of five and graduated from Caverna High School in 1954. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in music education at Western Kentucky University in 1958.
Relocating to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1961 she worked as a children’s music teacher for three years. There she played in Printer’s Alley and became a member of a jazz band led by Hank Garland. Beegie would go on to accompany Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee, Ray Stevens, Steve Allen, Chet Atkins, Cass Elliot, Vince Gill and Dolly Parton. At various times she played for the Noon Show on WSM-TV, The Johnny Cash Show and other programs.
Partnering with Denis Solee in 1982 they established the Adair–Solee Quartet, which evolved into the sextet Be-Bop Co-Op. She released her debut solo album as a leader in 1988 with Escape to New York, then formed the Beegie Adair Trio, which sold more than 1.5 million albums.
Throughout her 60-year career Beegie appeared on more than 100 recordings. Of these, 35 were recorded by her trio which included bassist Roger Spencer and percussionist Chris Brown. She released a six-CD centennial collection, The Great American Songbook Collection.
Adair was an adjunct professor of jazz studies at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. She was a faculty and board member of the Nashville Jazz Workshop, where she often performed. She was named a Steinway Artist and was inducted into Western Kentucky University’s Hall of Fame, Cave City’s Hall of Fame and was the inaugural recipient of Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Heritage Award.
Pianist and bandleader Beegie Adair, whose career spanned more than 60 years, died at her home in Franklin, Tennessee on January 23, 2022, at the age of 84.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ove Johansson was born on December 3, 1936 and didn’t start playing the tenor saxophone until the age of 13. However, he gave the clarinet a chance for a couple of years. Very early in his career he got into a professional jazz group playing before starting his own groups where he spent most of the time as a band leader.
For a short period Ove was a sideman with Swedish saxophonist Lars Gullin. From 1972 to 1994 he was a teacher of saxophone, improvisation, ensemble and harmony at the School of Music, Gothenburg University. He went on to start his own small record label LJ Records in 1989 and recorded his own and new Scandinavian jazz music internationally.
The end of the Fifties saw Johansson leading his own groups and a driving force of the Swedish jazz scene. He was musical director of Mwendo Dawa. His musical work stretched from straight ahead, free form and electronic jazz to the acoustic and electro acoustical mix of today.
He toured Europe, North and South America, and China, with Mwendo Dawa. He toured with the trio Natural Artefacts with performances both in the world of improvisation music as well as the world of electro acoustic music.
Tenor saxophonist and composer Ove Johansson, who produced 35 albums with his own material and with the group, died on December 25, 2015.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Raymond Court was born on December 2, 1932 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He began playing trumpet in his late teens, but by age 20 was playing in Raymond Droz’s band from 1952 to 1956.
Later in the 1950s he played with Flavio Ambrosetti and Kurt Weil, and the early 1960s saw him with Daniel Humair, Martial Solal, and Rene Urtreger.
Starting in the mid-Sixties, he began concentrating on a new career in woodworking and cabinetry, but returned to music after about a decade. He recorded as a leader in the 1980s and with Weil again and Charly Antolini in the 1990s.
Trumpeter Raymond Court died March 03, 2012.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Adam Nussbaum was born in New York City on November 29, 1955 and grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut. He first played the drums at the age of four, however, it wasn’t until after five years of piano study that he got his first drum set when he was around twelve. He went on to study music at the City College of New York, during which time he also played in local clubs.
1978 saw Adam joining Dave Liebman’s quintet and did his first European tour with John Scofield. He played with saxophonist Stan Getz for a year in 1982. The following year he became a member of the Gil Evans Orchestra, and toured Europe and Japan two years later.
Joining the Eliane Elias/Randy Brecker Quartet, Gary Burton, and Toots Thielemans, by 1987 he began touring with Michael Brecker’s band. He was a member of Brecker’s Grammy award-winning album. Don’t Try This At Home. In 1991 John Abercrombie hired Nussbaum to complete his organ trio and during 1992 Nussbaum was part of the Carla Bley Big Band.
He has kept active in a wide variety of groups and as a freelancer. His quartet recording debut as leader in 2018 was The Lead Belly Project, released on Sunnyside Records.
Drummer Adam Nussbaum continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jon De Lucia was born on November 26, 1980 in Quincy, Massachusetts. He is predominantly a student of jazz, but also has a deep interest in the folkloric music and instruments of Cuba, Japan, Ireland and Italy. He has performed on a variety of ethnic flutes, drums and stringed instruments.
Having led his groups and played as a sideman in Boston, Massachusetts, New York City and all over Japan, he has worked with Tommy Crane, David Tronzo, Bob Moses, Bob Gullotti, John Lockwood and Thomas Morgan among others.
He leads the Jon De Lucia Group, and the baroque improvising Luce Trio. Saxophonist and composer Jon De Lucia, now based in Brooklyn, New York, continues to compose, perform and teach full time at BMCC in Tribeca, New York.
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