Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jeanie Lambe was born on December 23, 1940 in Glasgow, Scotland. Her mother was a singer and her father played the accordion in the musical act Douglas, Nicol & Lamb. Her first public performances were with her parents and when she was seventeen, she became a member of the Clyde Valley Stompers.

She was the vocalist with the Alex Sutherland Sextet at Elgin’s Two Red Shoes Ballroom, where she kicked off the Two Red Shoes dances at age 19. Moving to London, England in 1960 Jeanie worked with a variety of jazz bands in the area, including those led by Alex Welsh, Kenny Ball and Charlie Galbraith. In 1964 she married tenor saxophonist Danny Moss and became more well known through her extensive performances at international jazz festivals.

Lambe has performed with modern and mainstream jazz musicians including Cliff Hardie and the UK All Stars Orchestra, Bobby Rosengarden, Monty Alexander, Ben Webster, Budd Johnson, Oscar Peterson, Wild Bill Davison, Kenny Davern, Joe Pass and Buddy Tate.

Suffering ill health, vocalist Jeanie Lambe, who recorded seven albums as a leader, passed away on May 29, 2020 in Perth, Australia at the age of 79.

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From Broadway To 52nd Street

Ridin’ High is a 1936 popular song, composed and written by Cole Porter, for the stage in his musical Red, Hot and Blue, with book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It premiered on Broadway in 1936 and the song was introduced by Ethel Merman.

The musical also introduced the popular song It’s De-Lovely as a romance duet sung by Ethel Merman and Bob Hope, in which they trace their romance from first kiss to marriage to a baby.

Nails O’Reilly Duquesne is a newly wealthy young widow. Loud and brassy, Nails is a former manicurist. She organizes a benefit for her favorite cause, the rehabilitation of ex-convicts. Together with her sidekick (an “ex-con” himself), Policy Pinkle, and her “square” boyfriend, lawyer Bob Hale, she embarks on a nationwide search for Bob’s old girlfriend, which is really the reason for the enterprise. The girlfriend, 18 years earlier, had sat upon a hot waffle iron and so had a unique “imprint”. However, the national lottery that Nails starts gets the attention of the Finance Committee, and they wind up in Washington DC in an even more complicated situation. The Supreme Court declares the lottery unconstitutional, because it would benefit the people.

History

During the out-of-town tryouts, the book was too long and did not blend with the music. The producer Vinton Freedley made numerous suggestions for overhauling the show, which were accepted by all except Porter, until he finally relented. Additional conflicts arose when Freedley assembled the cast and creative team behind the musical Anything Goes, hoping to repeat that show’s success. William Gaxton was part of that cast, however, he withdrew because Ethel Merman’s part was so large, so Bob Hope was cast. The next conflict came over billing for Jimmy Durante and Merman, which was resolved by having their names crisscrossed above the title.

The musical was first titled But Millions!, then Wait for Baby!, before settling on Red, Hot And Blue. The Broadway musical has no connection to the 1949 film musical of the same name with songs by Frank Loesser.

Benny Goodman, Chris Connor, Ella Fitzgerald, Michel Legrand, Kate Smith, Mark Murphy, Jeri Southern, Peggy Lee, Teresa Brewer, Carol Lawrence, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Cleo Laine, Sue Raney, Hod O’Brien, Robert Palmer, Rebecca Martin, Fay Claassen, and Stevie Holland.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Joseph Barry Galbraith, born on December 18, 1919 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Moving to New York City in the early 1940s he found work playing with Babe Russin, Art Tatum, Red Norvo, Hal McIntyre, and Teddy Powell. He played with Claude Thornhill in 1941–1942 and again from 1946–1949 after serving in the Army. In ‘53 he did a tour with Stan Kenton.

Having extensive work as a studio musician for NBC and CBS in the 1950s and 1960s, presented him with the opportunity to work with among others Miles Davis, Michel Legrand, Tal Farlow, Coleman Hawkins, George Barnes, John Lewis, Hal McKusick, Oscar Peterson, Max Roach, George Russell, John Carisi, and Tony Scott.

He accompanied on the recording of singers Anita O’Day, Chris Connor, Billie Holiday, Helen Merrill, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. He was a mentor to Ralph Patt^.

In 1961, he appeared in the film After Hours. In 1963-1964 he played on Gil Evans’s album The Individualism of Gil Evans, and in 1965 he appeared on Stan Getz and Eddie Sauter’s soundtrack to the 1965 film Mickey One.

As an educator he taught for five years from 1970 to 1975 at CUNY (City University of New York) and published a guitar method book in 1982. From 1976–77 Galbraith taught guitar at New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.

Guitarist and bandleader Barry Galbraith passed away from cancer at the age of 63 on January 13, 1983 in Bennington, Vermont.

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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager

Songs Of An Unknown Tongue

With the ever-mutating virus now spreading the Omicron variation, I am watching the detection and rise of this more contagious variants in South Africa, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Israel, Denmark, Botswana, Italy, Canada, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands. Suspecting that it is already in America, I am getting my booster as precaution, not necessarily to ward off, and continuing my vigilance in remaining socially distant and wearing my mask.

This week I have selected a talented British vocalist Zara Mcfarlane. Her fourth album, Songs Of An Unknown Tongue, was produced by Kwake Bass and Wu-lu, and released on July 17, 2020 on Brownswood Recordings. 

This album pushes the boundaries of jazz meshed with folk and spiritual traditions of ancestral Jamaica. Zara is a part of the British echelon that is converging young and older audiences still seeking the future of jazz.

Tracks | 48:27
   Side One

1. Everything Is Connected ~ 3:39
2. Black Treasure ~ 3:38
3. Broken Water ~ 3:54
4. Run Of Your Life ~ 3:11
5. Saltwater ~ 6:22

   Side Two

6. My Story ~ 6:37
7. Native Nomad ~ 6:07
8. State Of Mind ~ 4:52
9. Roots Of Freedom ~ 7:35
10. Future Echoes ~ 4:32

Players

• Zara Mcfarlane ~ Vocals
• Kwake Bass ~ Percussion, Drums, Drum Machine, Synths, Synth Bass, Guitar, Bass Guitar
• Wu~Lu ~ Percussion, Synths, Guitar, Bass Guitar
• Camilo Tirado ~ Percussion
• Lyle Barton: Rhodes, Biscuit Flute
• Idris Rahman ~ Tenor Saxophone
• Robin Hopcraft ~ Trumpet

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Claire Austin was born Augusta Marie on November 21, 1918 to Swedish-American parents in Yakima, Washington. She played in nightclubs throughout the northwest in the 1930s and toured with the Chuck Austin Band in the 1940s.

Retiring from professional singing by the early 1950s, Claire began working as an accountant in Sacramento, California. After singing with Turk Murphy, she frequently performed in San Francisco, California for two years. She remained active through the 1970s.

Vocalist and pianist Claire Austin, whose singing style has been compared to Peggy Lee, passed away on June 19, 1994.

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