Daily Dose Of Jazz…
June Richmond was born July 9, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois. She became one of the very first black singers to be featured regularly with a white band when she performed with Jimmy Dorsey’s Orchestra in 1938.
An enthusiastic vocalist who was excellent on blues but also effective on ballads, June was a popular attraction during the swing era although never a major name. She worked with Les Hite early on in California, toured with Jimmy Dorsey, was with Cab Calloway in 1938 and then became best known for her association with Andy Kirk’s Orchestra during 1939-42.
Richmond became a solo act after leaving Kirk and then from 1948 on mostly worked in Europe, at first based in France and then later on in Scandinavia. Her only recordings as a leader were a self-titled album on the Barclay label, four numbers in 1951 with Svend Asmussen and four songs on the album “Jazz In Paris” with the Quincy Jones Orchestra in 1957.
Vocalist June Richmond, who gained fame during the swing era, died of a heart attack at the age of 47 on August 14, 1962 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ella Johnson was born Ella Mae Jackson on June 22, 1919 in Darlington, South Carolina. She joined her brother Buddy Johnson in New York as a teenager, where he was leading a popular band at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.
Ella scored her first hit in 1940 with “Please, Mr. Johnson” with subsequent hits included “Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?”, “When My Man Comes Home” and “Hittin’ On Me”. Her popular 1945 recording of “Since I Fell For You” composed by her brother, led to its eventual establishment as a jazz standard.
She continued to perform with Buddy Johnson into the 1960s and her singing drew comparisons to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. In February 2004, she died in New York City of Alzheimer’s disease, at the age of 84.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
David Alden Lambert was born on June 19, 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts. His band debut was with Johnny Long’s Orchestra in the early 1940s and along with early partner Buddy Stewart; he successfully brought singing into modern jazz, concurrently with Ella Fitzgerald.
In the late 1950s Lambert teamed with wordsmith and vocalese pioneer Jon Hendricks. Annie Ross later joined the two vocalists and the trio lineup was a hit. After Ross left the group in 1962, Lambert and Hendricks went on without her by using various replacements, but the partnership ended in 1964.
Dave formed a quintet called “Lambert & Co.” which included the multiple voices of Mary Vonnie, Leslie Dorsey, David Lucas and Sarah Boatner. The group auditioned for RCA and was documented in a 15-minute documentary entitled Audition at RCA, and the Charlie Parker with Voices. It was one of the last images recorded of Lambert.
Lyricist and jazz singer Dave Lambert, an originator of vocalese best known for his work in Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, and who spent a lifetime experimenting with the human voice and expanding the possibilities of its use in jazz, was struck and killed by a truck on the Connecticut Turnpike while changing a flat tire, passed away on October 3, 1966.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ian Shaw was born June 2, 1962 in St. Asaph, Wales and received his music degree from the University of London. He began his professional career singing in the 1980s on the Alternative Cabaret Circuit, while playing in piano bars and at festivals in London and throughout Europe.
In 1990 he began touring Europe and recording with fellow singer Carol Grimes, ultimately collaborating with Claire Martin, Linda Lewis, Liane Carroll and Sarah Jane Morris. By mid-decade he was a regular performing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and two albums on the club’s Jazzhouse label – Ghosthouse and a Rodgers & Hart tribute Taking It To Hart.
In 1996, Shaw led his own “Very Big Band” on a UK tour and by the late 90s he was performing regularly in USA. In 1999 he released In A New York Minute the first of two albums on the Milestone label, followed by Soho Stories in 2001. He has worked with Cedar Walton, Lew Soloff and Eric Alexander. His next release in 2003, A World Still Turning saw him working with Billy Childs, Peter Washington and Mark Murphy.
Ian continues to work regularly with Claire Martin, co-hosting the 2004 BBC Jazz Awards and appearing on the BBC’s Big Band Special. He won in the Best Jazz Vocalist category at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2004 and 2007. He has cut three more albums – Drawn To All Things, Lifejacket and Somewhere Towards Love. In 2011 Splashpoint Records released The Abbey Road Sessions where Shaw backed by a band. Shaw continues to perform regularly at festivals and jazz clubs in the UK and around the world, has delved into film acting and mounting a one-man show.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pha Terell was born Elmer Terrell on May 25, 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri. He began singing in local nightclubs in the early 1930s as a singer, dancer, and emcee. Discovered by Andy Kirk, he was hired as the vocalist for his group the Twelve Clouds of Joy. Terrell sang with Kirk for eight years, from 1933 to 1941, and recorded with him extensively for Decca Records. One of the biggest hits was 1936’s “Until the Real Thing Comes Along”.
After 1941 Terrell moved to Indianapolis to play with Clarence Love’s territory band, then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a soloist. Jazz singer Pha Terrell passed away of kidney failure on October 14, 1945 in Los Angeles at age 35.
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