Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Barry Martyn was born Barry Martyn Godfrey in London, England on February 23, 1941. He began learning drums in 1955 and was leading his first band the following year. His first recordings were made in 1959.
His first visit to New Orleans, Louisiana was in 1961 where he studied under Cie Frazier, and founded Mono Records. He toured Europe with many famed New Orleans jazz personnel, including George Lewis, Albert Nicholas, Louis Nelson, Captain John Handy, and Percy Humphrey.
Moving to Los Angeles, California in 1972 he founded the Legends of Jazz, an ensemble which made several worldwide tours and recorded extensively. Returning to New Orleans in 1984 he worked with George Buck, reissuing much of the Circle Records back catalogue. He played with Barney Bigard in 1976, and recorded many dates as a leader.
Drummer Barry Martyn died on July 17, 2023 at the age of 82.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Wellman Braud was born on January 25, 1891 in St. James Parish, Louisiana and settled in New Orleans, Louisiana. In his early teens he was playing the violin and the upright bass and leading a trio in venues in the Storyville District before 1910.
Moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1917 by 1923 he was performing in London, England with the Plantation Orchestra, doubling on bass and trombone. His next move was to New York City, where he played with Wilber Sweatman’s band before joining Duke Ellington.
Braud was the first to utilize the walking bass style that has been a mainstay in modern jazz. His vigorous melodic bass playing, alternately plucking, slapping, and bowing, was an important feature of the early Ellington Orchestra in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1936 he co-managed a short-lived Harlem club with Jimmie Noone, and recorded with the group Spirits of Rhythm from 1935 to 1937.
He would go on to play with the bands of Kaiser Marshall, Hot Lips Page, and Sidney Bechet and returned for a while to Ellington in 1944. In 1956 Wellman joined the Kid Ory Band and in the late 1950s, he joined the Barbara Dane Trio. Doing so he turned down opportunities to return to Duke Ellington’s band and tour with Louis Armstrong.
Upright bassist Wellman Braud, who is a distant relative of the Marsalis brothers on their mother’s side, died on October 29, 1966 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 76.
Duke Ellington postumously paid tribute to Braud, with the composition Portrait of Wellman Braud on his 1970 album New Orleans Suite.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Peter Sidney Mulligan who was known by Mick, was born on January 24, 1928 in Harrow, Middlesex, England. He began playing trumpet while a student at Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood and entered into the family wine company, but became an alcoholic and eventually was pushed out of the business by his relatives.
Forming his Magnolia Jazz Band in 1948, he met George Melly soon afterwards and they became close associates who performed together for many years. Mulligan’s orchestra included Roy Crimmins, Ian Christie, and Archie Semple that rivalled Humphrey Lyttelton’s band in popularity on the British trad jazz circuit.
While he booked excellent side men, Mick was not a top-flight musician and his own playing was often hampered by intoxication; their recording legacy is spotty because their releases were irregular and generally for small labels. He and Melly’s antics were drunken and scandalous outings, making them regular tabloid figures in the 1950s.
Breaking up his band in 1953 he reformed it a year and a half later, continuing with the new group into 1962 and was part of the biggest trad jazz event to be staged in Britain at Alexandra Palace. By the early 1960s, rock and roll had whittled the enthusiasm for trad jazz to nearly nothing and Mulligan disbanded the Magnolia Jazz Band. He went on to manage Melly, who was launching a solo career. He played occasionally into the 1970s, but mostly retired to run a grocery store. Later in life he became interested in horse racing, and owned or part-owned several race horses, including the prize-winning horse, Forever My Lord.
Trumpeter and bandleader Mick Mulligan, who was best known for his presence on the trad jazz scene, suffered a stroke at age 78 and died in Chichester, West Sussex, England on December 20, 2006.
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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…
Al Belletto was born on January 3, 1928 and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated from Warren Easton Charter High School before entering Loyola University New Orleans studying music and then earning a master’s degree from Louisiana State University.
Belletto played with Sharkey Bonano, Louis Prima, Wingy Manone and the Dukes of Dixieland in the 1940s and 1950s. He went on to lead his own band and record several albums on Capitol Records from 1952. Along with his ensemble they became part of Woody Herman’s band for U. S. State Department tours of South America in 1958 and 1959.
In the Sixtiess, Al worked at the New Orleans Playboy Club fronting the house band and serving as Musical/Entertainment Director, booking nationally known acts into the venue.
Saxophonist and clarinetist Al Belletto, who recorded six albums as a leader, died on December 26, 2014 in Metairie, Louisiana.
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