Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jacques Pelzer was born in Liège, Belgium on June 24, 1924, and got his inspiration from Benny Carter, then Charlie Parker and Lee Koni. His first exposure to jazz was after World War II when he joined the Bob Shots, a legendary Belgian bop band that included at various time pioneers such as Bobby Jaspar, René Thomas, and Sadi. He also played with other historical figures of Belgian jazz such as pianist/arranger Francy Boland, guitar and harmonica player Toots Thielemans, bassist Benoît Quersin. His work with René Thomas continued for several years, leading to several recordings.
Pelzer’s evolution in the Sixties and Seventies included free jazz and fusion, recorded the soundtrack of the film “Le Départ” with Don Chery, Philip Catherine, and Gato Barbieri. He had three tours of the United States with Chet Baker, resulting in a lasting friendship and musical partnership and ultimately met Dexter Gordon, Archie Shepp, Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, Philly Joe Jones and Bill Evans.
The next two decades saw Jacques returning to straight-ahead jazz, acoustic jazz, and bebop standards, modern compositions with an accent on lyricism and expression. Moving back to the studios in 1990 to record his CD Never Let Me Go with his band the Open Sky Unit along with Barney Wilen, Michel Graillier, Eric Legnini as guests. This recording received the Sax Prize for best jazz album of the year 1991.
Three magnificent Belgian jazz musicians, guitarist Philip Catherine, bassist Philippe Aerts, and drummer Bruno Castellucci joined for his final album Salute To The Bandbox. Alto and soprano saxophonist and flutist Jacques Pelzer passed away on August 6, 1994 in his hometown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Phillip Robert Lee was born on April 8, 1943 in London, England and studied guitar with Ike Isaacs as a teenager. He was a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, including their performance in the 1960 Antibes Jazz Festival. By the 1960s he was playing with John Williams and Graham Collier, was resident at Ronnie Scott’s Old Place, and in a band that included Bob Stuckey, Dudu Pukwana, and John Marshall.
During the 1970s, he played in jazz-rock bands such as Gilgamesh and Axel with Tony Coe and with Michael Garrick, Henry Lowther, and John Stevens. He recorded Twice Upon a Time in 1987 with Jeff Clyne.
Later in his career, he worked with Gordon Beck, Andres Boiarsky, Benny Goodman, Lena Horne, Marian Montgomery, Annie Ross, Dardanelle, Harry Edison, Ken Peplowski, Eddie Daniels, Jimmy Smith and the London Jazz Orchestra.
Phil Lee began playing jazz in the 1960s and. Since then he has recorded and appeared live with a vast range of musicians. including Pat Smythe, Duncan Lamont, Norma Winstone, Michael Garrick, Jimmy Hastings and Martin Speake. Phil has toured with Charles Aznavour, Michel Legrand, Gordon Beck and recently Jessye Norman.
In the 1970s he was a member of the fusion band Gilgamesh. His musicianship is held in high regard not only by fellow jazz players but also by musicians in other genres. His film credits include brief appearances in Eyes Wide Shut and Alan Plater’s TV film Misterioso and his playing featured in The Last of the Blonde Bombshells. Guitarist Phil Lee continues to perform, record and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Woody Witt was born on March 16, 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska and started on the clarinet in fourth grade and switched his focus to saxophone the following year. A professional musician from the age of 16, he studied at the University of Houston, earned a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas, and a doctorate from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music.
As a saxophonist, Witt has recorded ten albums as a leader and over twenty-five albums as a sideman. He has collaborated with major jazz artists such as Randy Brecker, Tim Hagans, Jim Rotondi, the late James Moody, David Liebman, and Tim Armacost, Conrad Herwig, Larry Ham, Joe LoCascio, Mark Levine, Louis Hayes, Adam Nussbaum, Billy Hart, and Nancy King. He has worked with the Houston Symphony and Houston Ballet and has been featured on major third-stream works that blend together jazz and classical music.
The winner of the 2010 Chamber Music America French American Cultural Exchange grant and the 2014 International Jazz Saxophone Competition in Taiwan, Woody is the booker and the artistic director at Houston’s top jazz club, Cezanne. He has taught at Houston Community College since 2000, is an Affiliate Artist at the University of Houston, and conducts a countless number of workshops and masterclasses throughout the United States, France, Romania, Germany, and Asia. Currently, saxophonist Woody Witt is involved in several different group projects.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joe Mooney was born in Paterson, New Jersey on March 14, 1911 and went blind when he was around 10 years of age. His first job, at age 12, was playing the piano for requests called in to a local radio station. He and his brother, Dan, played together on radio broadcasts in the late 1920s, and recorded between 1929 and 1931 as the Sunshine Boys and the Melotone Boys, both sang while Joe accompanied on piano. They continued performing together on WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio until 1936, after which time Dan Mooney left the music industry.
In 1937, he began working as a pianist and arranger for Frank Dailey, a role he reprised with Buddy Rogers in 1938. Through the early 1940s, Joe arranged for Paul Whiteman, Vincent Lopez, Larry Clinton, Les Brown, and The Modernaires. Putting together his own quartet in 1943, he sang and played the accordion with accompaniment on guitar, bass, and clarinet.
In the last half of the 1940s his group experienced considerable success in the United States. By 1946, a newspaper columnist wrote that Mooney’s music “has the most cynical hot jazz critics describing it in joyous terms, such as exciting, new, the best thing since Ellington, and as new to jazz as the first Dixieland jazz band was when it first arrived”. As for Mooney himself, the columnist wrote that he “played in virtuoso fashion … a fellow who knows not only his instrument, but jazz music, both to just about the ultimate degree.”
In the 1950s, Mooney sang with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra and played with Johnny Smith in 1953. After moving to Florida in 1954 he concentrated more on the organ and recorded in 1956. 1963 saw a group of friends form a company to produce a record, Joe Mooney and His Friends. He recorded again in the middle Sixties. Accordionist, organist, and vocalist Joe Mooney passed away after a stroke at age 64, on May 12, 1975, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie de Haas was born Edgar O. de Haas of Dutch descent on February 21, 1930 in Bandung, Java. His father was a flutist and played the ukulele and as a teenager, he became enthusiastic about jazz at the age of ten. A move from Java to the Netherlands in 1946 and it was while there he started playing bass in 1951.
He first accompanied Pia Beck, then Don Byas. He was on a European tour with Wally Bishop in 1952/53, accompanied Bill Coleman, 1954/55 Martial Solal, Zoot Sims/Henri Renaud, Dave Amram/Bobby Jaspar and Chet Baker on his European tours. In 1956 he played with Vera Auer and had his own trio. In 1957 he went to the United States.
In the United States, he initially played with Terry Gibbs, Miles Davis, Bernard Peiffer, Sal Salvador, Benny Goodman, Charlie Mariano/ Toshiko Akiyoshi, Blossom Dearie, Charlie Singleton, Chris Connor, Kenny Burrell, Roy Haynes, and Kai Winding, among others.
In 1962 he had his own quartet with Bobby Jaspar. In 1964/65 he was with Gene Krupa and in 1966/67 in Germany. He also spent a long time in France and other European countries, was in the backing band of Johnny Mathis in the early 1960s and accompanied Peter, Paul & Mary in the 1960s. 1964/65 worked in Gene Krupa’s big band and with Al Haig. Afterward, he worked as a freelance musician.
Since the 1960s he has been married to singer Geraldine Bey, who was then a member of the vocal group Andy & the Bey Sisters around her brother Andy Bey. 1968 saw him move to Chicago with his wife and later he regularly accompanied musicians in Chicago in the showcase. While living there he played with Von Freeman, with whom he also recorded, and Jodie Christian. In 1975 he performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival.
He is also on albums by Mezz Mezzrow, Dave Amram, Bob Wilber, Von Freeman, Chet Baker, Roy Haynes, Sonny Stitt, Louis Smith, Sir Charles Thompson and to hear Slide Hampton.
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