Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Shu was born on August 18, 1918 in New York City. He learned violin and guitar as a child before picking up saxophone as a teenager. His first professional gigs were as a harmonica-playing ventriloquist. He played in military bands while serving in the Army from 1942 to 1945.
Following his discharge he played with Tadd Dameron in 1947, George Shearing, Johnny Bothwell, Buddy Rich, Les Elgart and Lionel Hampton from 1949–1950. He would play with Charlie Barnet, Chubby Jackson and Gene Krupa through the end of the decade.
In the 1960s Shu moved to Florida, playing locally as well as clarinet with Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars, as well as Hampton and Krupa again. He would freelance around New York City, the Virgin Islands and Florida. Though he only did a few sessions as a leader in 1949, 1954 and 1955, he also recorded frequently with Gene Krupa.
Though he never gained much fame, Eddie Shu, a multi-talented swing and jazz saxophonist, a valued sideman skilled on reeds and brass instruments, passed away on July 4, 1986 in Tampa, Florida.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Thurman Green was born on August 12, 1940 in Texas. A jazz trombonist, who primary performed in the bebop orientation, spent time playing in Los Angeles with swinging big bands, such as, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. He an occasional member of the Horace Tapscott Quintet, one of many groups headed by the late pianist that no one bothered to record. Thurman was open-eared enough to play quite credibly in free settings now and then.
Thurman recorded as a sideman with Willie Bobo, Donald Byrd and Bobby Hutcherson on the Blue Note label. In 1962, Green and baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett were jamming buddies at the Navy School of Music in Washington D.C. They soon went their separate ways but hoped to team up again some day.
It was thirty-two years later, in 1994, that Bluiett was able to give his old friend his first opportunity to lead his own record date with Dance of the Night Creatures that had pianist John Hicks, bassist Walter Booker or Steve Novosel and drummer Steve Williams. It is a shame that it took over four years for the music to finally come out because Green suddenly died at age 57 on June 19, 1997.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Russell Procope was born on August 11, 1908 in New York City and grew up in San Juan Hill, attending school with Benny Carter. His first instrument was the violin, but he switched to clarinet and alto saxophone. He began his professional career in 1926 as a member of Billy Freeman’s orchestra. At the age of twenty he recorded with Jelly Roll Morton and went on to play with bands led by Benny Carter, Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson, Tiny Bradshaw, Teddy Hill, King Oliver and Willie Bryant by the mid-Thirties.
Procope would play with Roy Eldridge, Bill Coleman, Frank Newton, Dizzy Gillespie, Dickie Wells and Chu Berry. He made his first trip to Europe in 1937 as part of Teddy Hill’s band with “The Cotton Club Revue,” an all-Black show, which during its European tour appeared at the London Palladium.
In 1938 Russell replaced Pete Brown in John Kirby’s sextet and made a name for himself until 1945 with a three-year interruption in the Armed Services during World War II. He joined the reed section of the Ellington orchestra in ’46 as an alto saxophonist but made his name and reputation as a clarinetist. During the summer of 1950 the band returned to Europe bringing him back once again as a member and he stayed until the bandleader’s death in 1974,
Playing alto saxophone he recorded the 1956 album “The Persuasive Sax of Russ Procope” under the London Records label. Although his early playing reflected the influence of Benny Carter, alto saxophonist and clarinetist Russell Procope, most highly regarded for his woody, understated clarinet solos, lyrical approach and forceful swinging attack, passed away on January 21, 1981.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
The Savoy Ballroom was a medium sized ballroom created for music and public dancing located between 140th and 141st Streets on Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York City. Owned by Jewish gangster Moe Paddon, who some say it was a front for Al Capone, it was in operation from March 12, 1926 to July 10, 1958. It is estimated that the ballroom generated $250,000 in annual profit during its peak years with an admission fee being 30 to 85 cents per person.
As the Savoy was a popular dance venue many dances such as the Lindy Hop became famous here. It was known downtown as the “Home of Happy Feet” but uptown, in Harlem, as “the Track”. Unlike the ‘whites only’ policy of the Cotton Club, the Savoy Ballroom was integrated, and white and black Americans danced together. Virtuosic dancers, however, excluded others from the northeast corner of the dance floor, now referred to as the “Cat’s Corner,” although the term was not used at the time.
The ballroom was 10,000 square feet in size, on the second floor and a block long. It could hold up to 4,000 people. Generally, the clientele was 85% black and 15% white. The ballroom had a double bandstand that held one large and one medium sized band running against its east wall. Music was continuous as the alternative band was always in position and ready to pick up the beat when the previous one had completed its set. The interior was painted pink and the walls were mirrored. The floor had to be replaced every 3 years due to its constant use. The Savoy was unique in having the constant presence of a skilled elite of the best Lindy Hoppers.
Chick Webb was the leader of the best-known Savoy house band during the mid-1930s and a teenage Ella Fitzgerald, fresh from a talent show win at the Apollo Theatre in 1934, became its vocalist. 1934’s big band classic, “Stompin’ at the Savoy” was named after the ballroom.
A famous “Battle of the Bands” or “cutting contest” happened when the Benny Goodman Orchestra challenged Chick Webb in 1937. Webb and his band were declared the winners of that contest. And in 1938 the Count Basie Band did the same. While Webb was officially declared the winner, there was a lack of consensus on who actually won that night. The Savoy participated in the 1939 New York World’s Fair, presenting “The Evolution of Negro Dance”.
Despite to save it, the Savoy and the nearby Cotton Club were demolished for the construction of a housing complex, Bethune Towers/Delano Village. On 26 May 2002, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller, surviving members of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, unveiled a commemorative plaque for the Savoy Ballroom on Lenox Avenue between 140th and 141st Streets.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ray Ellis, born July 28, 1923 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania became a well-known record producer, arranger and conductor. In the 1950s and 60s he produced easy-listening sessions for RCA Victor, MGM an Columbia, recorded such well known works as a leader “Let’s Get Away From It All” and “Ellis In Wonderland”.
Ray arranged such works as “A Certain Smile” for Johnny Mathis, “Broken Hearted Melody” for Sarah Vaughan and “Standing On The Corner” for the Four Lads, but his best known jazz orchestration is Billie Holiday’s “Lady In Satin”. He would collaborate with Lena Horne, Emmy Lou Harris, Barbra Streisand, Harold Land, The Drifters, Connie Francis and others
Ellis’ work encompassed all areas of music, from records to film, commercials, and television. His television theme music credits include NBC News At Sunrise with Connie Chung, The Today Show and the original Spider-Man cartoon series.
From 1968 to 1982 Ellis along with Norman Prescott composed and arranged nearly all of the background music for cartoon studio Filmation, composed and conducted the music for Fantastic Voyage, The Hardy Boys, Flash Gordon, The Archie Show and Sabrina The Teenage Witch. He was responsible for such game show themes such as Sale of the Century, Scrabble and Scattergories among others.
Ray Ellis prolific career ended with his death from complications from melanoma on October 27, 2008 in Encino, California.
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