Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ernst “Nesti” Landl was born February 12, 1914 in Vienna, Austria. He studied at the New Vienna Conservatory in the 1930s and soon made a name for himself on the Viennese music scene.
In Vienna he accompanied the singer Adelaide Hall and was soon active as a musician in North Africa and Portugal. From 1943 he played in the Steffl Diele with Italian singer and guitarist Vittorio Ducchini, violinist Herbert Mytteis and French drummer Arthur Motta. Due to the audience response, recordings were made for Odeon, but due to the ” jazz focus ” there were initially almost no releases.
After the defeat of National Socialism he played in the Vienna Dance Orchestra and also founded the Hot Club Vienna as a studio band to record jazz songs for Elite Special with musicians such as Hans Koller and Viktor Plasil. Until 1958 Landl performed in Vienna mainly as a bar pianist . He then moved to Stockholm, Sweden where he worked until his death.
Pianist, bassist and drummer Ernst Landl died on December 4, 1983 in Stockholm.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Teddy Napoleon was born January 23, 1914 in New York City, New York. His first professional engagement was with Lee Castle in 1933, then played with Tommy Tompkins for several years before working as a freelance musician in New York.
In the 1940s he played in several big bands, including Johnny Messner and Bob Chester, before signing up with Gene Krupa in 1944. He worked with Krupa intermittently for the next fourteen years including on many of his big band releases in the 1940s, and in his trio settings with Charlie Ventura.
He also spent time working with Flip Phillips, Bill Harris, and Eddie Shu. Teddy moved to Florida in 1959 and led his own trio there, though he never recorded as a leader, however he did record a duo album with his younger brother Marty, also a pianist.
Swing jazz pianist Teddy Napoleon, who was the nephew of trumpeter Phil Napoleon, eventually returned north and died on July 5, 1964 in Elmhurst, New York.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Werner Dies was born on January 15, 1928 in Frankfurt, Germany. An autodidact on guitar and saxophone, he studied clarinet and composition starting in 1947. From 1947 to 1955 he played guitar in the dance band of Willy Berking, and was a member of the bands Hotclub Combo and Two Beat Stompers.
He led his own ensemble, went on a tour of Yugoslavia in 1955 and from 1955 to 1965 he was a member of Hazy Osterwald’s sextet, and also worked as a session musician and arranger. He toured with Joe Turner and, in 1968, Charly Antolini.
He had a hit in Germany in 1954 with Schuster bleib bei deinen Leisten (The Little Shoemaker) that spent eight weeks at #1 on the German hit parade starting in October 1954. He later worked for Howard Carpendale, Adam & Eve, Graham Bonney, and other singers, and produced easy listening music with his own ensemble, the Werner Dies Sax Band.
He wrote a treatise on clarinet improvisation that was published in 1967. He produced the group Bläck Fööss from 1973 to 2003. Tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, guitarist, composer, and arranger Werner Dies died on February 5, 2003.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Benny Strickler was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas on January 9, 1917 and took music lessons as a pre-teen and later played in a town band. After graduating high school, he became a professional musician and played with several territory bands in Arkansas and the Southwest. In 1935, with wife Frances in tow, he joined the migration from the Dust Bowl to the Golden State.
Benny established himself as one of the top trumpeters in Los Angeles, California. He played with bands led by Ben Pollack, Joe Venuti, Vido Musso and boxing champ/string bassist Max Baer. He even got an invitation from Artie Shaw, which he turned down.
He recorded his first recordings in 1937 with the Choir of Brass led by vocalist/pianist Seger Ellis. In 1941 he went to work with Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys and along with Danny Alguire and Alex Brashear and reedman Woodie Woods they shaped the swinging sound of the band between 1941-42. World War II broke them up with some enlisting, others drafted, however, Benny was exempted due to tuberculosis.
His illness worsened and was ultimately forced to quit playing. He returned to Arkansas, checking into a Booneville sanitarium. Trumpeter Benny Strickler, who played with the top Western Swing and Traditional bands, played sporadically until he succumbed to the tuberulosis and died on December 8, 1946.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Connell Elrick was born on December 29, 1903 in Aberdeen, Scotland. His first ambition was to be a doctor but financial constraints prevented this. Still in his teens, he began playing drums for local dance bands and by 1928 had formed his own band, the Embassy Band. The group swept the prizes in the All-Scottish Dance Band Championship that year.
Turning professional, George moved to London, England where he became friends with the crooner Al Bowlly, and began singing himself. He joined the Henry Hall Orchestra as a vocalist and drummer and their 1936 recording of The Music Goes Round and Round made him a star. Leaving Hall in 1937 he formed his own band, and two years later began his solo career, which was moderately successful through the years of World War II.
In 1948, he took a touring revue around Britain, and was asked by the BBC to stand in for two weeks as disc-jockey on the morning record request show Housewives’ Choice. The temporary job lasted almost twenty years, as his Scottish accent and liberal use of catchphrases became highly popular.
In later years, he became something of an impresario and acted as an agent for numerous musicians such as Mantovani. He was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats, and was also a life member of the Variety Club of Great Britain.
Drummer George Elrick, who published his autobiography titled Housewives’ Choice: The George Elrick Story, died on December 15, 1999.
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