Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Thomas Jefferson was born on June 20, 1920 in Chicago, Illinois. He played drums and French horn while young before switching to trumpet and was strongly influenced by Louis Armstrong. His professional career began when he was 14 playing with Billie and De De Pierce.
He played with Papa Celestin’s orchestra in 1936, as well as with New Orleans jazz musicians Sidney Desvigne and Armand “Jump” Jackson. The 1950s saw him working with Johnny St. Cyr, Santo Pecora, and George Lewis. In 1966, Andrew Morgan recruited Jefferson to play lead trumpet for the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. Subsequently, Jefferson led a jazz band which performed at the New Orleans jazz club Maison Bourbon.
Thomas recorded sparingly as a leader; sessions include dates for Southland Records in the 1960s and Maison Bourbon Records in the 1970s. Jefferson had a cameo as a jazz musician in the 1975 film Hard Times.
Trumpeter Thomas Jefferson, who recorded six albums as a leader and played Dixieland, died in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 13, 1986.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Theodore McCord was born May 17, 1907 in Birmingham, Alabama and was the twin brother of Castor McCord, also a reedist. While both brothers played tenor saxophone and clarinet, in addition Ted played alto saxophone.
As a student at Wilberforce University in the 1920s, he played in a student group led by Horace Henderson. He also played in Edgar Hayes’s group, the Blue Grass Buddies, and the McKinney’s Cotton Pickers and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band.
He can be heard playing on their sessions with Louis Armstrong. Other credits include recordings with King Carter and the singer Ollie Shepard.
Roping out of music in the Forties, saxophonist Ted McCord, who was principally active in the 1920s and 1930s, his date and place of his death is unknown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Leonard Arthur Barnard was born on April 23, 1929 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Before forming his own traditional jazz band in the late 40s he played drums in the family band. This band, one of the earliest Australian groups to make jazz records, was so popular that it remained active for more than two decades.
During this same period Barnard played with other groups ranging from jazz to dance music. He gigged and recorded with Ade Monsbourgh and Dave Dallwitz. In the early 1970s his relocation to Sydney, Australia saw him playing with many of the country’s leading musicians including Errol Buddle and John Sangster. Then he joined Galapagos Duck, a band led by Tom Hare.
On occasion Len played with bands led by his younger brother, Bob Barnard. By the late 90s he remained active playing and recording with a variety of artists including Janet Seidel. His playing and able use of brushes made him an accomplished mainstream drummer.
Drummer Len Barnard, whose playing was forceful yet had a discreet and propulsive swing, died on November 5, 2005 in Sydney.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Emile Joseph Christian born April 20, 1895 in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, was the younger brother of noted cornetist and bandleader Frank Christian. He played both cornet and trombone with the Papa Jack Laine bands. He went to Chicago, Illinois in late 1917 to play trombone with the Bert Kelly Jass Band. The following year he moved to New York City, replacing Eddie Edwards in the Original Dixieland Jass Band, touring England and making his first recordings with this band.
After a brief time in the Original Memphis Five, he returned to Europe and from 1924 into the 1930s, he played bass and trombone with various jazz bands. In Berlin, Germany he recorded, in Stockholm, Sweden he recorded with Leon Abbey’s band. In Paris, Nice and Aix-les-Bain, France he played with Tom Waltham’s Ad-Libs. In 1935 he played with Benny Peyton’s Jazz Kings in Switzerland.
Christian played in both Black and White bands in Europe and India before returning to the United States after the outbreak of World War II. The 1950s saw him moving back to New Orleans, where he played with the bands of Leon Prima, Santo Pecora, and Sharkey Bonano and his own band. In 1957 he toured with the Louis Prima Band and continued playing in New Orleans into 1969.
Trombonist and cornetist Emile Christian, who wrote a number of tunes and in his later years mostly playing string bass, died on December 3, 1973 in New Orleans at the age of 78.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Maria Faust was born on April 18, 1979 in Kuressaare,, Estonia. Growing up under the Communist regime she was classically educated, and at the conservatory there, she didn’t feel that there was room for her, musically. Yearning for something different in Tallinn, jazz and improvisational music took hold of her, but in order to develop further, she had to leave the country. With the help of the Danish Cultural Institute, she came to the Southern Danish Music Conservatory. Even in her new surroundings, she felt she did not fit into the world of jazz.
She plays and composes in non-traditional ways, and her big breakthrough came with her album, Sacrum Facere, which is Latin for human sacrifice. It was inspired by the culture of deported orthodox Russians. With collected work songs, hymns, and lullabies she merged the material with classical music and free improvisation. The album received universally positive reviews, and received two Danish Music Awards in 2014 for Jazz Composer of the Year and Jazz Crossover Release of the Year.
She has worked with John Parish and Mark Howard. She tours western Europe, the Balkan Peninsula, South America, China, and Russia. Saxophonist Maria Faust, who has recorded nine albums as a leader, continues to push the boundaries of music.
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