Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Luckey Roberts was born Charles Luckyth Roberts on August 7, 1887 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was playing piano and acting professionally with traveling Negro minstrel shows in his childhood. Settling in New York City about 1910 he became one of the leading pianists in Harlem, and started publishing some of his original rags.
Roberts toured France and the UK with James Reese Europe during World War I, then returned to New York where he wrote music for various shows and recorded piano rolls. With James P. Johnson, he developed the stride piano style of playing about 1919.
His reach on the keyboard was unusually large and Luckey could reach a fourteenth, leading to a rumor that he had the webbing between his fingers surgically cut. Those who knew him and saw him play live denounced it as false, he simply had naturally large hands with a wide finger spread.
By the 1920s Roberts teamed up with lyricist Alex C. Rogers, co-wrote three Broadway musicals, Go-Go and Sharlee in 1923, and My Magnolia in 1926, the latter starred Adelaide Hall, a major black revue star.
Hisnoted compositions include Junk Man Rag, Moonlight Cocktail, Pork and Beans, and Railroad Blues. The Glenn Miller Orchestra recorded Moonlight Cocktail, and was the best selling record in the United States for ten weeks in 1942.An astute businessman, he became a millionaire twice through real estate dealings. Pianist and composer Luckey Roberts, who recorded piano solos with Willie “the Lion “ Smith, passed away on February 5, 1968 in New York City.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Cedric Wallace was born August 3, 1909 in Miami, Florida. Moving to New York City in the 1930s he played in a band led by Reggie Johnson at the Saratoga Club. Later in the decade he worked with Jimmie Lunceford before joining Fats Waller’s band from 1938-1942, the association for which he is best known. Wallace played with Waller at the peak of his popularity and plays on many of his biggest hits.
He would go on to record with Una Mae Carlisle, Maxine Sullivan, Champion Jack Dupree, Pat Flowers, Gene Sedric, and Dean Martin. During the Forties Cedric led his own ensemble in New York in the 1940s which featured Eddie Gibbs on bass for a time, and continued to perform into the 1970s.
Double-bassist Cedric Wallace passed away on August 19, 1985 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Dougherty was born July 17, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York. Playing drums from age 13, then started working with Billy Gusak before Dickie Wells’s band at 18 in Harlem, New York by the beginning of the 1930s. He gigged regularly up through 1940 with Kenny Watts & His Kilowatts. His recording career started as a sideman in the 1930s, with Taft Jordan, Frank Froeba, Mildred Bailey, Harry James, Billie Holiday, Frankie Newton, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis.
Alongside this he held a gig as the drummer for Keny Watts and his Kilowatts through 1940. He subbed for Dave Tough in the Bud Freeman Orchestra in 1940, then played with Art Tatum, Joe Sullivan, Benny Carter, Benny Morton, and others in the first half of the 1940s. He worked with James P. Johnson several times, including on 1944 recording sessions. His later work included recordings with Cliff Jackson, Mary Lou Williams, Clyde Bernhardt, Wilbur De Paris, Teddy Wilson, and Albert Nicholas. He was still active into the 1980s.
When he finally retired from full-time music decades later, he had amassed a list of credits that not only rivals the length of some short stories, but represented a thorough involvement in many different styles of jazz, vocal music, and rhythm & blues. Drummer Eddie Dougherty passed away on December 14, 1994 in Brooklyn.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Arthur “Traps” Trappier was born on May 28, 1910 in Georgetown, South Carolina and played with Charlie Skeets and Blanche Calloway in the late 1920s. After working steadily through the 1930s, he joined Fats Waller in 1941-42 before serving in the military during World War II.
He led his own trio in various hotels in New York City in the 1950s, and played as a sideman into the 1970s. Among those he played with are Josh White, Wilbur De Paris, Edmond Hall, Sy Oliver, Hot Lips Page, Buddy Johnson, Wingy Manone, Sidney Bechet, Benny Goodman, and Red Allen.
He recorded with Waller, Hall, Conrad Janis, Punch Miller, Mutt Carey, Tony Prenti, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Rex Stewart. Drummer Arthur Trappier passed away on May 17, 1975 in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rossano Sportiello was born in Vigevano, Italy on June 1, 1974 and began studying piano at the age of 9 under the tutelage of Italian classical pianist Carlo Villa and continued until his graduation in classical piano from the Conservatory in 1996. At 16, he was performing professionally at jazz venues in the Milan, Italy area, and in 1992, he joined one of Europe’s historic jazz bands, the Milano Jazz Gang. He toured with the group throughout Italy and West Europe until the end of 2000.
That same year, Sportiello met legendary jazz pianist and educator, Barry Harris, who became a mentor and good friend. Drawing international acclaim at the 2002 Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland while performing with the eight-piece, all-star American band led by Dan Barrett. In 2007, Rossano established himself in New York City and has performed with Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Kenny Davern, Bucky Pizzarelli, Bob Wilber, Warren Vache, Bob Cranshaw, Mickey Roker, Harry Allen, Howard Alden, Joe Wilder, Eddie Locke, Joe La Barbera, Scott Hamilton, Jake Hanna, Houston Person, Bill Charlap, Dick Hyman, and the list goes on.
As an educator, Rossano has given lectures on jazz and masterclasses on piano at institutions such as the University of Toronto Jazz Studies, University of Central Florida and Claremont College in California and has lectured as a professor in residence at the Master’s Lodge of St. John’s College, Cambridge, UK.
Stride piano player Rossano Sportiello lists his influences have been Harris along with Ralph Sutton, Dave McKenna and Barry Harris, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, Count Basie, Earl Hines, Ellis Larkins, and Bill Evans, to name a few. He continues to perform, record, and tour.
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