Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joseph Copeland Garland was born on August 15, 1903 in Norfolk, Virginia and studied music at Shaw University and the Aeolian Conservatory. He started by playing classical music but joined a jazz band, Graham Jackson’s Seminole Syncopators, in 1924, where he first recorded.
He had a long run of associations as a sideman on saxophone and clarinet from 1925 to the end of the decade with Elmer Snowden, Joe Steele, Henri Saparo, Leon Abbey Charlie Skeete and Jelly Roll Morton. By the 1930s he was playing and arranging with Bobby Neal and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band from 1932 to 1936. When Lucky Millinder replaced him, he joined Edgar Hayes in 1937, then Don Redman the following year, and Louis Armstrong from 1939 to 1942.
In the 1940s, he played with Claude Hopkins and others, and then returned to Armstrong’s band mid decade for two years. Following this he played with Herbie Fields, Hopkins again, and Earl Hines. In the 1950s, he went into semi-retirement.
Garland wrote a number of well-known swing jazz hits, including Serenade To A Savage and Leap Frog. He is credited as the composer with lyricist Andy Razaf for In the Mood which became a Glenn Miller hit. Saxophonist, composer, and arranger Joe Garland transitioned on April 21, 1977 in Teaneck, New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Armando Joseph “Buddy” Greco was born Armando Joseph Greco to an Italian-American family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 14, 1926. His mother introduced him to piano at age four and as a child he sang on the radio, and in his teens performed in the city’s night clubs. Sixteen saw him hired by Benny Goodman and spent four years touring the world with the Goodman orchestra, playing piano, singing, and arranging. Becoming acquainted with Great Britain in 1949 he spent many years performing in numerous clubs. He moved to Essex, keeping his Palm Springs property as a vacation home.
In 1951 he started his recording career, signing with labels such as Coral, Kapp, Epic, and Reprise. 1969 saw Buddy form a duo with jazz guitarist Ron Escheté. He opened a small club in Palm Springs, California which became popular for celebrities to dine. After closing it, he moved to England.
In 2008, he and singer Lezlie Anders toured the UK, performed with the BBC Big Band and at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. He was the first Las Vegas headliner to star at a British casino when he performed at the Circus Casino, and he performed a tribute to Frank Sinatra for BBC Radio 2 with the 42-piece BBC Concert Orchestra. He toured the UK with the Swinging Las Vegas Legends show beginning in July 2010.
In 2010, Greco and his wife Lezlie produced the stage show Fever! The Music of Miss Peggy Lee, which met with critical acclaim at its London West End opening. They continued to perform and tour for the next seven years. Vocalist Buddy Greco transitioned on January 10, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the age of 90.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager is still taking the variants very seriously and wearing his mask and social distancing as conditions present themselves. There is no evidence that stipulates that this is over and recommendations are still in place to wear your mask when in indoor public spaces.
Standing On The Rooftop is the sixth studio album by jazz vocalist Madeleine Peyroux. It was produced by Craig Street and released on June 14, 2011 on the Decca/Universal record label. All songs except 1, 6, 8, & 11 were written by Madeleine Peyroux 2 to 5, 7, 9, 10, 12 to 15.
The fifteen songs were recorded in February 2011 at several studios – Sear Sound in New York City on February 14~17 and Motherbrain Studio in Brooklyn, NY on February 26th, with additional recording at Downtown Music Studios and Wild Arctic in NYC, Vel Studios~ Brooklyn, Phantom Vox~Los Angeles, The Odd Bedroom, Basement & Garage and Sterling Sound. The mixing was done by Kevin Killen (tracks: 5 to 8), Matthew Cullen (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 9 to 12), and Tony Maserati (tracks: 2, 13 to 15)
This was the first album of Peyroux with Decca Records and her first with producer Craig Street, interrupting her longtime collaboration with Larry Klein. Standing on the Rooftop featured originals, along with three covers, Martha My Dear, I Threw It All Away and Love In Vain, plus Marc Ribot’s Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love. It also paired Peyroux with new songwriting partners.
Track List | 56:36- Martha My Dear (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) ~ 2:32
- The Kind You Can’t Afford (Peyroux, Bill Wyman) ~ 3:59
- Leaving Home Again (Peyroux, Wyman) ~ 3:35
- The Things I’ve Seen Today (Peyroux, Jenny Scheinman) ~ 3:44
- Fickle Dove (Peyroux, Scheinman) ~ 3:28
- Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love (music by Marc Ribot, lyrics by W. H. Auden) ~ 3:23
- Standing on the Rooftop (David Batteau, Peyroux) ~ 5:46
- I Threw It All Away (Bob Dylan) ~ 3:15
- The Party Oughta Be Comin’ Soon (Peyroux) ~ 5:00
- Superhero (Jonatha Brooke, Peyroux) ~ 3:21
- Love In Vain (Robert Johnson) ~ 3:40
- Don’t Pick a Fight with a Poet (Peyroux, Andy Scott Rosen) ~ 4:28
- Meet Me in Rio (Peyroux) ~ 3:51
- Ophelia (Batteau, Peyroux) ~ 5:12
- The Way of All Things (Peyroux) ~ 4:02
- Madeleine Peyroux ~ vocals
- John Kirby ~ keyboards
- Glen Patscha – keyboards
- Patrick Warren ~ keyboards
- Allen Toussaint ~ piano
- Jenny Scheinman ~ violin
- Christopher Bruce ~ guitar
- Marc Ribot ~ guitar
- Meshell Ndegeocello ~ bass guitar
- Charley Drayton ~ drums
- Mauro Refosco ~ percussion
- Creative Director ~ Pat Barry (3)
- Design Concept [Package Coordination] ~ Rafael Hernandez (2)
- Design [Graphic] ~ Rebecca Meek
- Engineer ~ Matthew Cullen
- Photography By [Cityscape Panorama] ~ Keith Sirchio
- Photography By [Portrait] ~ Mary Ellen Mark
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James “Plunky” Branch was born on July 20, 1947 in Richmond, Virginia and educated in the city’s segregated schools. He then attended Columbia University in New York City, but by 1971 he had moved to San Francisco, California. It was here that he formed Juju, a musical group that combined rhythm and blues, jazz, soul, and African musical influences.
He founded the band Plunky & Oneness, which began as Juju in 1971 which he renamed twice, Oneness of Juju and Plunky & the Oneness of Juju, before it was given its current name in 1988. One of Plunky & Oneness’ songs, Every Way But Loose, is featured on the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, playing on fictional radio station Paradise FM.
Branch is the president and founder of the independent record label N.A.M.E. Brand Records, through which he has released 25 albums. As a studio musician Plunky has worked for The Cosby Show and has appeared on several avant-garde jazz albums.
As an educator he has been Director of the Jazz Ensemble at Virginia Union University as well as an instructor of Afro-American Music History at Virginia Commonwealth University.
He has been the recipient of two NEA Jazz Fellowships and was appointed to the Governor’s Task Force for the Promotion of the Arts in Virginia. In 1999 he was recognized by Richmond Magazine as Musician of the Year for 1999. J. Plunky Branch continues to perform, record, compose and produce.
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
This Jazz Voyager is still being very cautious about masking indoors and social distancing as the new B variants are cropping up around the world and are now hitting the shores of America. In light of these occurrences, today we are going to listen to the 1955 Ethel Ennis album recorded titled Lullabies For Losers that was released the same year on the Jubilee record label.
The cover was designed by Si Leichman, the liner notes were written by Mort Goode, and the photography by Charles Varon.
Track List | 37:32
- Love For Sale (Cole Porter) ~ 3:19
- Dreamer~Dreamer (Irving Caesar, Oskar Strauss) ~ 4:30
- Blue Prelude (Gordon Jenkins, Joe Bishop) ~ 3:00
- Off Shore (Leo Diamond, Michael H. Goldsen) ~ 3:55
- Casually (Alan McCarthy, Richard Freitas) ~ 3:57
- Hey Jacques (Eden Ahnez, Wayne Shanklin) ~ 3:03
- Lullaby For Losers (Robert Stringer) ~ 3:00
- Say It Ain’t So, Joe (Al Frisch, Kathleen G. Twomey, Fred Wise) ~ 2:58
- You Better Go Now (Bickley Reichner / Robert Graham) ~ 3:29
- Blue Willow (Vic Harrington) ~ 3:23
- Bon Voyage (DeSylva-Brown-Henderson) ~ 4:18
- Ethel Ennis ~ Vocal
- Hank Jones ~ Piano
- Eddie Biggs ~ Guitar
- Abie Baker ~ Double Bass
- Kenny Clarke ~ Drums
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