Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Dieter Antritter was born in Pforzheim, Germany on October 6, 1929. After the end of World War II he started first to learn guitar, then later he switched to soprano saxophone. A move to Stuttgart, Germany gave him the opportunity to connect with the local jazz-scene.
On holiday in Paris, France in 1949, he unsuccessfully attempted to meet Sidney Bechet. However, Dieter eventually met Charles Delaunay, who opened him to the possibility of jamming with contemporary jazz greats living in Paris that time. Improving his playing, he built up a network with a few well-known jazz musicians.
Returning to Stuttgart in 1952 he founded the Latin Jazz Band. He used his concerts as a platform for guest musicians from his Paris connection to perform. From this band the Quartier Latin Jazz Band emerged, which existed until at least 2009. During those years this band accompanied numerous guest soloists such as Michel Attenoux, Peanuts Holland, Mezz Mezzrow, Benny Waters and Nelson “Cadillac” Williams.
In 1960, this led to several recordings for Deutscher Schallplattenclub, all recorded in Stuttgart venues. Antritter was one of the world’s longest-serving bandleaders, who led his band for 63 years, from 1952 until his death in 2015.
Bandleader, soprano and alto saxophonist Dieter Antritter died on August 5, 2015 in Königsbach-Stein, Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rod Mason was born September 28, 1940 in Plymouth, England and as a young man played with the local Tamar Valley Jazz Band, in which his father, Frank “Pop” Mason, had played drums. At Kelly College, in Tavistock, England he played the bugle with the cadet corps, then the valve trombone. He played this in his father’s band until the trumpet player left, whereupon he replaced him using a brass-band style cornet.
He went on to play briefly with the Cy Laurie band from 1959 to 1960 and two years later went with Monty Sunshine who left the Chris Barber band to form his own group. Sunshine hired Mason on the recommendation of Kenny Ball. In the mid-1960s after leaving Sunshine, Rod worked in the family business and played occasionally, until a winning appearance on Hughie Green’s Opportunity Knocks TV talent show which led to a flood of offers.
A facial paralysis forced him to use other mouthpieces, which allowed him to extend the range of his instrument. In 1965, he established his own band. From 1970 he played in the Acker Bilk Paramount Jazz Band, before he founded a band together with Ian Wheeler in 1973. He recorded numerous recordings for the Reef label. The 1980s saw Mason playing in the Dutch Swing College Band. In 1985, he founded the Hot Five band and released a number of albums for Timeless Records and regularly toured Europe.
Trumpeter, cornetist, vocalist Rod Mason who recorded thirty-two albums as a leader, played his last gig in Kaarst, Germany in December 2016 and died three weeks later on January 8, 2017 after developing peritonitis and pneumonia.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John L. Thomas was born September 18, 1902 in Louisville, Kentucky but relocated to Chicago, Illinois as a child where he received his formal education. He slid into on-stage trombone performances with the Clarence Miller Orchestra around 1923. Between 1927 and 1928 he worked with Erskine Tate, leading to Louis Armstrong’s Hot Seven. He continued freelancing with a wide range of classic jazz bandleaders Freddie Keppard, Tate and Reuben Reeves.
He was briefly with McKinney’s Cotton Pickers in the Thirties and in 1937 he was part of a touring revue fronted by pianist and singer Nat King Cole. Thomas was once again with Tate as well as drummer Floyd Campbell’s outfit. During WWII he gave up his trombone case for a tool box in a defense plant.
His performance hiatus from playing took place prior to dropping out completely during the ’50s, as he did gig once again in a group led by guitarist Walter Dysett in 1944. Trombonist John L. Thomas died on November 7, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Richard Hawdon was born in Leeds, England on August 27, 1927 and first studied cello before moving to trumpet in his mid-teens. After a stint with the Yorkshire Jazz Band he relocated to London, England in 1951, signing on with Chris Barber’s famed New Orleans Jazz Band.
Hawdon replaced trumpeter Ken Colyer in the Christie Brothers Stompers in 1952, remaining with the group for close to two years. While his Louis Armstrong-inspired approach earned favor among traditional jazz purists, he developed a modernist sensibility influenced by Clifford Brown.
Bop and progressive jazz followed in 1954 as a member of Don Rendell’s group in addition to a stint as trumpeter and arranger with Tubby Hayes. He joined his first big band in mid-1956 with Basil and Ivor Kirchin and the next year he joined John Dankworth in 1957. This would be his longest and most rewarding career collaboration.
Beyond recordings with Dankworth, the group performed with Louis Armstrong, teamed with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, he wrote and arranged a number of Dankworth staples including Cool Kate and One for Janet. Hawdon went on to freelance with bandleaders Sid Phillips, Harry Gold, Oscar Rabin, Terry Lightfoot, and backed singers Tony Bennett and Eartha Kitt during a stint with the house band at the London cabaret Talk of the Town.
On the eve of the demise of jazz as the leading music of the era, Dick relocated to Yorkshire, England in 1967 and led the Batley Variety Club’s house band. A year later, he developed a jazz course at the new City of Leeds College of Music, and became head of the school’s Light Music Department in 1972. Hawdon also led his own jazz quintet throughout the 1980s, and after retiring from academia in 1993 he turned his attention to the bass, playing in a series of local groups.
Trumpeter and bassist Dick Hawdon died June 24, 2009.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alphonse “Alphonso” Trent was born on August 24, 1905 in Fort Smith, Arkansas and played piano from childhood, working in local bands in Arkansas through his youth.
He led his first band in the mid-1920s, possibly as early as 1923. In 1924 he played with Eugene Cook’s Synco Six, then took over leadership of the band until 1934. They played mostly in the American South and Midwest, as well as on steamboats.
Despite success in New York around 1930, Trent chose not to work further on the East Coast. He left music in the mid-1930s but returned with another band in 1938. His sidemen included Terrence Holder, Alex Hill, Stuff Smith, Snub Mosley, Charlie Christian, Sweets Edison, Mouse Randolph, and Peanuts Holland.
As a leader he only recorded eight sides: four in 1928, two in 1930, and two in 1933. His small recorded legacy has made him a somewhat obscure figure today, but the sophistication of his arrangements and the precision with which they were executed inspired awe in contemporaries.
Pianist and territory band leader Alphonso Trent, who performed in the biggest and finest hotels in the South, died on October 14, 1959.
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