Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Russ Gershon was born on August 11, 1959 and grew up in Westport, Connecticut. He attended Harvard University where he received a degree in philosophy and was a disc jockey, jazz director and station manager at Harvard’s WHRB radio station. He attended Berklee College of Music for a year in 1984 and the following year the Either/Orchestra played its first live show at the Cambridge Public Library.
Founding Accurate Records he has released albums by Morphine, Medeski Martin & Wood, the Alloy Orchestra, Ghost Train Orchestra, the Either/Orchestra, Dominique Eade, and Garrison Fewell. He has been a member of rock bands and has worked as a studio musician as well as performing in Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1997 Russ played arrangements of Ethiopian popular music with the Either/Orchestra. This drew the attention of Francis Falceto, who produced the “Éthiopiques” series of albums to document 20th century Ethiopian music. Through Falceto’s connections his band were invited to Addis Ababa in 2004 and became the first American big band to perform in Ethiopia since Duke Ellington’s in 1973.Their principal concert was released as the album Ethiopiques 20: Live in Addis and led to working with Ethiopian musicians such as Mahmoud Ahmed, and appeared with Ahmed’s band at Carnegie Hall in 2016.
Saxophonist, flutist, composer, and arranger Russ Gershon continues to perform with the Either/Orchestra.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
D C DowDell was born on August 9, 1951 in Southern California and studied Music Education at UCLA and earned a Masters of Music Composition at University of North Texas. He has been influenced by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Kenny Baron and Herbie Hancock. His style and piano technique blends the fine inner voicings of modal with the highly energetic impressions of the avante garde.
He has appeared with Bobby Vinton, Marilyn McCoo and Rosemary Clooney just to name a few. His passion for jazz led him to composing and arranging charts for top vocalists, solo instrumental artists and orchestra. His influences are Gil Evans, Bob Florence and George Russell.
Pianist D C DowDell moved to Ocean Beach, California where he continually plays locally with jazz ensembles and teaches jazz theory and composition at A Passion for Jazz! Music Studios. He first published his Basic Musicianship in 1993, a primary music reference and theory text.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Victor Louis Goines, born August 6, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans and has been a member of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993.
Goines has collaborated with Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Green, Lionel Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, James Moody, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross, Eric Clapton, Wycliffe Gordon, and Stevie Wonder.
He has performed on more than 20 recordings, including the soundtracks for three Ken Burns documentaries and the 1990s films Undercover Blues, Night Falls on Manhattan, and Rosewood. He has composed more than 200 original works, including Jazz at Lincoln Center and ASCAP commissions.
He has also served on the faculties of Florida A&M University, University of New Orleans, Loyola University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana. Goines is an artist for Buffet Crampon and Vandoren.
Saxophonist and clarinetist Victor Goines, who was director of the jazz program at Juilliard from 2000 to 2007, has served as president and chief executive officer of Jazz St. Louis since September 2022.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edward Simon was born July 27, 1969 in Punta Cardón, Venezuela and when he was ten years old came to the United States to study at the Performing Arts School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating, he attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied classical piano, then the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied jazz piano.
In 1988, he recorded as a sideman with Greg Osby, then worked as a member of the band Horizon led by Bobby Watson. For the next eight years he was a member of Terence Blanchard’s band. He has also worked with Herbie Mann, Paquito D’Rivera, Bobby Hutcherson, Jerry Gonzalez, John Patitucci, Arturo Sandoval, Manny Oquendo, and Don Byron.
Simon recorded Beauty Within in 1994), his debut album as a bandleader, with Horacio Hernández and bass guitarist Anthony Jackson. That same year, he was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Then the following year he composed Rumba Neurotica for the Relache Ensemble.
In 2003 Simon formed Ensemble Venezuela to combine jazz with the music of Venezuela. Given a commission by Chamber Music America to write Venezuelan Suite and recorded the album in 2012 with musicians from Venezuela, Colombia, and the U.S. He has played on several Grammy-nominated jazz albums. Besides his trio he leads the Sexteto Venezuela, the Afinidad Quartet, and the group Simon, Simon, & Simon with his brothers.
Wearing his educator hat he has taught at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City and has been artist in residence at Western Michigan University.
Pianist and composer Edward Simon continues to perform, compose and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nicole Glover was born on July 18, 1991 in Portland, Oregon. Her musical journey began when her father introduced her to improvised music at a young age. She started playing the clarinet at the age of ten, transitioning to tenor saxophone the following year. Her interest and curiosity for music blossomed in high school, becoming involved in a variety of performance groups, both within her school and in the community.
Nicole was chosen to be one of nineteen students from across the nation for the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, who embarked on a national tour that involved performances with Bobby Watson and Julian Lage, and concluded with a performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Wynton Marsalis.
After studying at William Paterson University, in 2011 Nicole returned to Portland where she was invited to record on Esperanza Spaulding’s Grammy-award winning album Radio Music Society. She now performs in multiple groups with multi-instrumentalist George Colligan, as well as her own jazz trio and several other improvisational ensembles, such as, the Alan Jones Storyline Sextet, Thomas Barber’s Spiral Road, and the Kerry Politzer Quintet.
2015 saw Glover releasing her debut album First Record, featuring pianist and trumpeter George Colligan, bassist Jonathan Lakey and drummer Alan Jones. She leads her own trio with bassist Tyrone Allen II and drummer Kayvon Gordon. This was followed with the release of Plays, and HighNote-Savant Records Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Throughout her musical career, Nicole has performed with Mulgrew Miller, Esperanza Spalding, Kenny Garrett, George Colligan, Geoffrey Keezer, Bennie Maupin, Bobby Watson, Mike Clark, Carl Allen, Kenny Washington, Al Foster, Victor Lewis, Lenny White, Joe Farnsworth, Reggie Workman, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ben Wolfe, Bill Stewart, Essiet Essiet, Mel Brown, Julian Lage, Obo Addy, Rob Scheps, Red Holloway, Terell Stafford, Helen Sung, Dana Hall, Scotty Barnhart, and Thara Memory, to name a few.
Glover is a member of Ural Thomas and Pain, Artemis led by Renee Rosnes, Ursa Major led by Christian McBride, and has toured with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.Tenor saxophonist, bandleader, composer, and educator Nicole Glover, who is on faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and has taught masterclasses and private lessons to students around the world, continues to fit performance in her busy schedule.
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