Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joki Freund was born Walter Jakob Freund on September 5, 1926 in Höchst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He began playing the accordion as a child, switching to tenor saxophone after World War II ended.
Early in the postwar era, he played with Joe Quitter, Carlo Bohlander, Gerry Weinkopf, Joe Klimm, and Jutta Hipp, before forming his own ensemble. He began performing with American musicians, including Donald Byrd, Art Taylor, and Doug Watkins during their European festival appearances.
He went on to play with and arranged for Albert Mangelsdorff in the jazz orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, and Erwin Lehn in the Süddeutscher Rundfunk orchestra. He played with the Frankfurt Jazz Ensemble on soprano saxophone in the 1970s, also performing as a leader around this time.
Saxophonist Joki Freund, who predominantly played in a quintet setting but also in orchestras or big bands, transitioned on February 15, 2012 in Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bob Greene was born on September 4, 1922 in New York City, New York. He was active early in his career in Dixieland jazz revival groups, working with Sidney De Paris, Baby Dodds, Conrad Janis, and Johnny Wiggs.
Leaving music for a period, he got a degree from Columbia University and worked in radio and speechwriting, including for Lyndon Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy. After Robert Kennedy’s assassination, he quit speechwriting and returned to jazz in the late 1960s again, working with Zutty Singleton. Focusing on music full-time, Bob worked in the early 1970s with Don Ewell, Albert Nicholas, and the Peruna Jazz Band.
He put together a traveling ensemble which paid tribute to the music of Jelly Roll Morton. They toured worldwide, recorded several albums and among his sidemen in this setting were Danny Barker, Tommy Benford, Herb Hall, Milt Hinton, and Johnny Williams.
The nephew of Paul Blum, a former intelligence officer, he spent time writing his uncle’s biography, which was published in 1998. Pianist and bandleader Bob Greene transitioned on October 13, 2013 in Amagansett, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Fred Hess was born in Abington, Pennsylvania on September 3, 1944 but was raised in New Jersey. He studied at Trenton State College with his early studies with saxophonist Phil Woods, a stint with bandleader Fred Waring, and composing music for the world premiere of a Sam Shepard play.
As a composer, his influences encompass avant-garde classical sources, as well as Anthony Braxton and the members of the AACM. Moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1981, he founded the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble. Fred then completed further studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, taking his doctorate in composition in 1991.
He recorded his debut album Sweet Thunder in 1991 and by 2012 had sixteen albums as a leader in his catalog. He was the Director of Music Composition at Metro State College in Denver, Colorado.
In addition to his own projects as a leader, BCME, The Fred Hess Group and the Fred Hess Big Band, he was the founding director of Denver’s Creative Music Works Orchestra and was a member of drummer Ginger Baker’s Denver Jazz Quintet, as well as ensembles led by trumpeter Ron Miles.
His playing was influenced by Lester Young, John Coltrane, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and Eric Dolphy. Tenor saxophonist Fredd Hess transitioned on October 27, 2018.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Abington saxophonist to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Philip William Seamen was born on August 28, 1926 in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. He began playing drums at the age of six, turning professional at the age of 18 by joining Nat Gonella and his Georgians in 1944. At 20 he spent a year with Gordon Homer Big Band at the Coronation Ballroom in Ramsgate. He joined the Tommy Sampson Orchestra in 1948 and by 1949, Seamen and tenor saxophonist Danny Moss formed a bebop quintet from within the ranks and was featured on a radio broadcast by the orchestra.
He then went on to play in the Joe Loss Orchestra for about 14 months before taking the top job with Jack Parnell from 1951 until midway 1954. Seamen, being much sought after during the 1950 played in Kenny Graham’s Afro-Cubists projects from 1952 to 1958, from 1954 onwards with the Joe Harriott Quartet, the Ronnie Scott Orchestra and Sextet. He was recruited opn countless sessions as well to perform with Dizzy Reece, Victor Feldman, Jimmy Deuchar, Kenny Baker, Vic Ash, Don Rendell, Stan Tracey, Laurie Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Josh White, to name a few.
In 1957 Phil was on his way to America with the Ronnie Scott Sextet as part of a Musicians’ Union exchange tour deal. Unfortunately the Southhampton custom officers found him in possession of drugs, killing his lifelong dream of visiting the States. In 1958, the West End production of West Side Story opened with him after Leonard Bernstein reputedly specifically asked for him, so the producers hired him.
During the first half of the 1960s, he worked often with Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott, played a couple of nights with Dexter Gordon at Ronnie Scott’s, and recorded with Carmen McRae. In 1964 he played R&B with Alexis Korner and Georgie Fame.
He started teaching in 1962, one of his pupils being Ginger Baker, who went on to influence a whole generation of rock drummers. However, his addiction to alcohol, heroin and other drugs hampered his health and career as many bandleaders refused to hire him with the exception of Freddie Hubbard in 1964 and Roland Kirk in 1967 with a UK tour. On October 13, 1972 drummer Phil Seaman transitioned in his sleep at his home in Old Paradise Street Lambeth, South London, at the age of 46.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a Burton upon Trent drummer to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Walker “Big Nick” Nicholas was born August 2, 1922 in Lansing, Michigan. Picking up the tenor saxophone during his teen years, he was strongly influenced by his hero, Coleman Hawkins. He started playing professionally during the 1940s with Hank and Thad Jones, Earl Hines, and Tiny Bradshaw prior to military service.
Once discharged from the Army late in the decade he went on to work with bands led by Sabby Lewis, J. C. Heard, and Lucky Millinder. He would go on to play with Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Charlie Parker, and Charlie Mingus.
Nicholas contributed the 16-bar solo to Dizzy Gillespie’s classic 1947 African-Cuban jazz composition Manteca. At that time, he also started playing with Hot Lips Page, a working relationship that continued until 1954. He then joined Buck Clayton in 1955.
Big Nick influenced a young John Coltrane to compose his tribute Big Nick, included on the 1962 album Duke Ellington & John Coltrane.
Saxophonist and singer Big Nick Nicholas transitioned from heart failure in Queens, New York on October 29, 1997 at the age of 75.
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