Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Guy Eugène Hilarion Pedersen was born on June 10, 1930 in Grand-Fort-Philippe, France. Coming from a family of popular musicians, their story begins in 1855 with all members of his maternal family being fiddlers from father to son. His uncles and his grandfather played all the balls of the region and his great-grandfather composed Tiger Rag, a jazz standard.
He began studying music theory around 1943 at the age of 13, taking free lessons at the Roubaix conservatory until 1952. Already passionate about jazz, he listened to Hugues Panassié ‘s radio broadcasts and bought his first American records by Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Lee Konitz. In 1950 he won the prize for best double bass player at the Brussels, Belgium competition, then Jazz Hot in Paris, France and decided to become a musician.
Beginning in Paris with singer Fats Edward, he went on to play with pianist Henri Renaud and drummer Jean-Louis Viale at Tabou, and at Ringside founded by Sugar Ray Robinson. Guy followed this working with Jacques Hélian and Claude Bolling to learn the trade of a large orchestra. From 1955 to 1966, he was a member with drummer Daniel Humair of one of Martial Solal trios, recording the historic Jazz à Gaveau in 1962.
Pedersen and Humair then joined the Swingle Singers to record the group’s second album. They traveled around the world with them, even passing through the White House in 1966. By 1973 he was touring with Baden Powell, recording over a dozen records with him. Between 1973 and 1980, he recorded seven albums and toured frequently with Jean-Christian Michel .
Leading an active career as a studio musician during this period he also appeared on television variety shows accompanying the group Les Troubadours. The late Sixties saw him composing, writing a lot of music for short films. Some of his recordings on Tele Music and Montparnasse 2000 are now cult, especially among disc jockeys.
A serious heart attack in 1977 sidelined the bassist from music and retiring permanently, he became a professional antique dealer. Double bassist, composer and antique dealer Guy Pedersen transitioned on January 4, 2005 in Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, France at the age of 74 years old.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Michael Stephans was born in Miami, Florida on June 9, 1945. He has performed and recorded with artists including Dave Liebman, Bennie Maupin, Joe Lovano, Bob Brookmeyer, Don Menza, and Alan Broadbent.
Stephans’ first solo recording, Om ShalOM, was critically lauded in 2007 by UK critic Tom Barlow as an album of the year in the December 2007 – January 2008 issue of Jazzwise.
He has received multiple composition grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1974, this association afforded him the opportunity to write the large ensemble composition Shapes and Visions for vibraphonist Karl Berger, which was performed at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
In his role as a poet Michael has been published in The Note and Inscape, and received the Rachael Sherwood Poetry Prize by the English department at Cal State Northridge. He is the author of Experiencing Jazz: A Listener’s Companion, and Experiencing Ornette Coleman: A Listener’s Companion.
He is a professor who has taught at Pasadena City College, the University of Miami, and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Drummer Michael Stephans continues to pursue his career in jazz.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mick Hutton was born on June 5, 1956 in Chester, United Kingdom. Making a name for himself in the British jazz scene, he worked with a number of musicians and groups including but not limited to Harry Beckett, Julian Argüelles, Iain Ballamy, Django Bates and Ken Stubbs of First House, the Chris Biscoe Sextet and Bill Bruford’s Band Earthworks.
A hand injury forced Mick to abandon the upright bass and he started working as bass guitarist, percussionist, and synthesizer player and as a composer. He works with his own band of saxophonist Andy Panayi, pianist Barry Green, and drummer Paul Robinson. With his quartet, including saxophonist Iain Ballamy, pianist Ross Stanley and drummer Paul Robinson, he frequently visits venues around the world.
Throughout his career Hutton has performed with Alan Barnes, Peter Erskine, Tina May, Jim Mullen, John Scofield, Alan Skidmore, Tommy Smith, John Taylor, Stan Tracey, and Kenny Wheeler. In 2002 he recorded on Robin Williamsons album Skirting the River Road, and the same year he played in a trio with Martin Speake and Paul Motian, recording Change of Heart.
Bassist, guitarist, percussionist and composer Mick Hutton, who also plays synthesizer, continues to perform and record.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Kenny Dennis was born May 27, 1930 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and began his musical career in the United States Army Band, playing drums in three bands from 1948-1952. After being discharged, he connected with junior high school mate, pianist Ray Bryant and became part of The Ray Bryant Trio along with Jimmy Rowser on bass. They became the house trio at the North Philadelphia Jazz Club, Blue Note where they played with Kai Winding, Chris Connor and Sonny Stitt among others.
Moving to New York City he worked with Miles Davis, Phineas Newborn, Jr., Billy Taylor, Erroll Garner, Charles Mingus, Johnny Griffin, Slide Hampton and Sonny Rollins. In 1957, Dennis performed in Sonny Rollins’s Trio with bassist Wendell Marshall at Carnegie Hall, a historic performance that was commemorated in 2007 with a 50th anniversary concert.
Dennis migrated to California, when Miles Davis recommended him to Lena Horne. There he recorded with Davis, Michel Legrand, Charlie Mingus, Gerald Wilson, poet Langston Hughes and Nancy Wilson, the latter he married and they had a son. He would also record with Oscar Brown Jr., Langston Hughes, Dodo Greene, Roy Ayers, Mal Waldron and Burt Bacharach.
Since 1997 drummer Kenny Dennis, who never recorded as a leader, has been an assistant director of the Lab Band at the award winning Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
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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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