Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ronnie Lang was born July 24, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. Sometimes spelled Ronny, his professional début was with Hoagy Carmichael’s Teenagers. He went on to play for a year with Earle Spencer in 1946, then with Ike Carpenter, and Skinnay Ennis the following year.
Gained attention during his two tenures with Les Brown’s Orchestra between 1949–50 and 1953 to 1956, he recorded with the Dave Pell Octet in the mid-1950s. During this time he moved to California and attended Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences studying music and woodwinds.
By 1958 he had become a prolific and busy studio musician in Los Angeles, often employed by Henry Mancini. Ronnie played the iconic sax melodic line in Bernard Herrmann’s score for the 1976 movie Taxi Driver. He also recorded with Pete Rugolo, Bob Thiele, and Peggy Lee.
Alto saxophonist Ronnie Lang, who also played flute and clarinet in the bop, progressive, big band, swing idioms, is now retired at 92.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Danny Barcelona was born on July 23, 1929 in Waipahu, a community of Honolulu, Hawaii. A self taught percussionist, by the age of 18 in his final year in high school, he was already playing music with trombonist, singer, and bandleader Trummy Young, joining his Hawaii All-Stars in the early Fifties. When Young left to join Louis Armstrong’s combo in 1952, he assumed leadership of the band, a sextet known as the Hawaiian Dixieland All-Stars. They would tour the Hawaiian Islands, Japan and the rest of the Far East.
Danny was introduced to Louis Armstrong by Young in 1956 and upon his recommendation, in 1958 at the age of 27 became Armstrong’s drummer for 15 years. As a Filipino-American, Armstrong would frequently introduce him to audiences as The Little Filipino Boy, then follow up by calling himself the Little Arabian Boy.
He appears on more than 130 of Armstrong’s recordings including Hello, Dolly! and What a Wonderful World. He toured with Armstrong and Young around the world until illness took Armstrong and he returned to Hawaii. There he became a longtime performer at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel, and worked for many years at Harry’s Music Store and the Easy Music Center.
In 1979, he returned to the mainland and settled with his family in Monterey Park, California. Drummer Danny Barcelona transitioned in Monterey Park on April 1, 2007, due to complications from cancer at the age of 77.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lou McGarity was born Robert Louis McGarity on July 22, 1917 in Athens, Georgia. He started out playing violin when he was seven and didn’t switch to trombone until he was 17. He studied at the University of Georgia from 1934-36, gigged locally around the South and toured with Ben Bernie from 1938-40
He hit the big time with Benny Goodman from 1940-42, becoming the first trombonist to play both with the big band and his smaller groups. During the war years 1942-44 he worked with Raymond Scott’s Orchestra at CBS, and after military service teamed up with his friend and fellow trombonist Cutty Cutshall and rejoined Goodman in ‘46.
Lou was a busy studio musician in New York City beginning in 1947 while performing in clubs at night with Eddie Condon and playing Dixieland with the Lawson/Haggard band. He worked with Bob Crosby in the mid-’60s andwas a member of the World’s Greatest Jazz Band at the end of the 1960s. He recorded with Urbie Green, J.J. Johnson, Kenny Davern, Jimmy McPartland, Charlie Parker, Cootie Williams and Bobby Hackett among others.
Trombonist Lou McGarity, who recorded as a leader and played in the big band, swing and Dixieland genres until bad health shortened his life, transitioned on August 28, 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Barbara Jordan was born on July 13, 1951 in Montreal, Canada and when she was in her last year of high school she realized her singing ability. Her high school music teacher, Iwan Edwards, encouraged her to audition for the lead role of Laurie in the musical Oklahoma. Getting the part she received her first lessons in stage presence and delivering a song. She joined the high school choir, and took a vocal music class in her last year of high school.
Joining an acapella choir outside of school, she also spent five years in this choir performing around Montreal and touring Western Canada and competed in the Eisteddfod in Wales. Her professional musical career began as a folk singer prior to becoming a multi-lingual vocalist with several leading disco, pop and country/western bands in and around the Montreal area.
Settling in Toronto, Canada she has acquired a reputation over the years singing traditional and swing. She has continuously performed in clubs around the Toronto area, New York, and New Orleans, as well as at various jazz festivals in Ontario, Montana, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, Florida; Newcastle, England and Paris, France.
Trad jazz, dixieland and swing vocalist Barbara Jordan, whose influences were Mildred Bailey, Peggy Lee and Lee Wiley, continues to lead her quartet and appear regularly.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lyle “Rusty” Dedrick was born on July 12, 1918 in Delevan, New York. His first call to jazz came when he was in a music store in Buffalo, New York and heard a Louis Armstrong record. So taken was he that he bought the record, then returned home to save money for a record player. After brief studies at Fredonia State Teachers College, he spent a two-year jazz apprenticeship working with the band known as “Mr. And Mrs. Swing,” the Red Norvo/Mildred Bailey Orchestra, featuring the arrangements of a young Eddie Sauter.
He followed this with two stints with Claude Thornhill (1941-42 and 1946-47) and the chance to play a book by Gil Evans. This experience, plus private studies with Paul Creston and Stefan Wolpe, were good preparation for a long career in the New York City jazz commercial music field.
His credits included writing and/or playing with Maxine Sullivan, Lee Wiley, Lionel Hampton and others, along with radio and television studio work with Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, Sid Ceasar and more. At the same time, Rusty was recording his own LPs.
In 1971 Dedrick joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music as Director of Jazz Studies. He guest conducted many all-county high school jazz bands, as well as the prestigious American Jazz Orchestra. Swing and bebop jazz trumpeter, arranger, composer and educator Rusty Dedrick, who recorded three albums as a leader, transitioned on December 25, 2009 in Summitville, New York
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