Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Charles Phillip Thompson was born in Springfield, Ohio on March 21, 1918 and became a professional pianist from the age of 10. By age twelve Thompson was playing private parties with Bennie Moten and his band in Colorado Springs. During this time Count Basie played off and on with Moten’s band and at one of these shows Basie called the young Charles up to play.
Throughout his career has chiefly worked with small groups, although he belonged to the Coleman Hawkins/Howard McGhee band in 1944-1945. Throughout the 40s he recorded with Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon and J.C. Heard among others.
Thompson composed the jazz standard “Robbins’ Nest” and was dubbed Sir Charles Thompson by Lester Young. The swing and bop pianist, organist and arranger at age 98, passed away of colon cancer on June 16, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harold Jones was born on February 27, 1940 in Richmond, Indiana. His early professional years were spent drumming with the Count Basie Orchestra and over a five year span recorded fifteen albums before moving on to work with Sarah Vaughan. He toured the world with her, playing the White House five time. Natalie Cole enlisted him on her landmark album “Unforgettable” and subsequent tour.
He has played with such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Roger Williams, Nancy Wilson and Tony Bennett to Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Smith, Donald Byrd and Benny Goodman to Marlena Shaw, Billy Eckstine, Kay Starr, Carmen McRae and John Lee Hooker on the short list.
As an educator, Jones has held a position on the staff for the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of California in Los Angeles and leads drumming workshops at colleges and universities throughout the country.
He has performed on the Quincy Jones CD, “Count Basie and Beyond,” fronts his own 17-piece big band, The Bossmen, bringing the Basie swing style back by playing for community events and corporate occasions.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tiny Parham was born Hartzell Strathdene Parham on February 25, 1900 in Winnipeg, Canada. The pianist and bandleader grew up in Kansas City and worked at The Eblon Theatre, mentored by ragtime pianist and composer James Scott. He would later tour with territory bands in the Southwest before moving to Chicago in 1926.
He is best remembered for the recordings he made in Chicago between 1927 and 1930 working with Johnny Dodds along with several female blues singers and with his own band. Most of the musicians Parham played with are not well known in their own right, though cornetist Punch Miller, banjoist Papa Charlie Jackson, saxophonist Junie Cobb and bassist Milt Hinton are exceptions.
His entire recorded output for Victor are highly collected and appreciated as prime examples of late 1920’s jazz. Tiny favored the violin and many of his records have a surprisingly sophisticated violin solos, along with the typical upfront tuba, horns and reeds.
After 1930 he found work in theater houses, especially as an organist and his last recordings were made in 1940. The cartoonist R. Crumb included a drawing of Parham in his classic 1982 collection of trading cards and later book “Early Jazz Greats” of which Parham was the only non-American born so included in addition to the book’s bonus cd containing a Parham track.
Tiny Parham passed away on April 4, 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Eddie Higgins was born Edward Haydn Higgins on February 21, 1932 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and began study of piano with his mother. His professional career began in Chicago while attending Northwestern University. He played the most prestigious clubs in Chicago for more than two decades in the 50s and 60s with his longest tenure at the London House, playing opposite Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Errol Garner, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, and George Shearing among others.
As a leader he amassed a number of recordings during the Chicago years but as a sideman he added many more albums working with Wayne Shorter, Coleman Hawkins, Bobby Lewis, Freddie Hubbard, Jack Teagarden and Al Grey to name just a few.
Equally adept in every jazz circle Eddie was able to work in Dixieland, modal, bebop and swing as well as being a persuasive, elegant and sophisticated pianist whether he was soloing or accompanying a singer.
Higgins eventually moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, played in local clubs, performed the jazz festival circuit, toured Europe and Japan, and continued to record up until his death on August 31, 2009 at 77.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alvin “Junior” Raglin was born March 16, 1917 and started out on guitar but had picked up bass by the mid-1930s. He played with Eugene Coy from 1938 to 1941 in Oregon and then joined duke Ellington’s Orchestra, replacing Jimmy Blanton. Junior remained in Ellington’s employ from 1941 to 1945.
After leaving Ellington’s orchestra, Raglin led his own quartet, and also played with Dave Rivera, Ella Fitzgerald and Al Hibbler. He returned to play with Ellington again briefly in 1946 and 1955, however he fell ill in the late 1940s and quit performing.
Junior Raglin, swing jazz double bassist, died on November 10, 1955 at age 38, never having the opportunity to record as a leader.
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