Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Basia was born Barbara Stanisława Trzetrzelewska on September 30, 1954 in Jaworzno, Poland. Growing up in a musical household she enjoyed singing from an early age and had an extensive collection of vinyl records. Her mother played piano and gave her first music lessons.
She began singing professionally in various Polish bands in the late Sixties in a local band Astry. During her first year at Jagiellonian University, the manager of the popular Polish all-female band Alibabki asked her to join the group. She accepted, dropped out and toured with them in 1972 around Poland and abroad until 1974. She performed in Polish rock band Perfect.
Relocating to London, England with her partner in 1981 recorded demo tracks for various artists. It was there she met Danny White and his collaborator Mark Reilly. The trio performed as Bronze, but later changed the name to Matt Bianco and released their debut album Whose Side Are You On? that became a hit across Europe. This catapulted her rise to fame.
She signed on with Epic Records and enjoyed a successful international career between 1987 and 1995, particularly in the US where her first two albums Time and Tide and London Warsaw New York both sold more than a million copies. She released several successful albums throughout the 1990s and into the new century.
She took a lengthy hiatus due to personal tragedies, then made a comeback to regular recording and performing in the late 2000s. Vocalist Basia, currently releases her music through independent labels.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Monica Zetterlund was born Eva Monica Nilsson on September 20, 1937 in Hagfors, Sweden. She began by learning the classic jazz songs from radio and records, initially not knowing the language and what they sang about in English. Her hit songs included Swedish covers of Walking My Baby Back Home. Little Green Apples, Waltz for Debby, Hit the Road Jack, and Moon Over Bourbon Street, among many others.
She also interpreted the works of Swedish singer-songwriters Evert Taube, Olle Adolphson and Povel Ramel, as well as international jazz musicians/songwriters. She worked with Louis Armstrong, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Steve Kuhn and Quincy Jones, and in the Scandinavian jazz world with people like Georg Riedel, Egil Johansen, Arne Domnérus, Svend Asmussen and Jan Johansson.
In 1964, she recorded the jazz album Waltz for Debby, featuring Bill Evans, and was the most proud of. Her professional skill was amply demonstrated in her performance of the challenging Harold Arlen song, So Long, Big Time. Her rendition of Once Upon A Time In Stockholm, though not suitable for the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest, remained successful in Sweden.
She suffered from severe scoliosis which began after a childhood accident, and as a result was forced to retire from performing in 1999. On May 12, 2005, vocalist Monica Zetterland, as awarded the Illis quorum by the government of Sweden, died probably due to her habit of smoking in bed following an accidental fire in her apartment in Stockholm, Sweden at age 67.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Deborah Winters was born on September 15, 1966 in San Francisco, California and her childhood was immersed in music and dance with first influences from her drummer father, and a ballet dancer mother with the Oakland Metropolitan Ballet Company. Developing a passion for music, dance and theatre at a very early age, big band sounds rang through the house.
Moving around the country with her family as an adolescent, Deborah studied voice and guitar. She became influenced by singer/songwriters James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones. Her desire to sing and play the guitar led her to playing clubs and into the studio to record a few of her own compositions before graduating.
Her musical palate expanded to include jazz standards and contemporary musical forms. Performing around San Francisco she would go on to work with Tony Williams, Bobby McFerrin and his Voicestra group, Frank Martin, and Jose Neto. She released her debut recording, live “in session” on her Pure Passion Productions label. Her sophomore release Inspired, exhibits her introspective side. Her third release centers on big bands, traversing the expanse of jazz history.
Vocalist Deborah Winters continues to search for new ways to express her music in her evolution as a singer, guitarist and songwriter.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
May Alix was born Liza Mae Alix on August 31, 1902 in Chicago, Illinois and began her career as a teenager after winning a talent contest. She performed with the Jimmie Noone band in the clubs around the city. She later worked with bandleaders Carroll Dickerson, Duke Ellington, and Luis Russell.
She earned the nickname “Queen of the Splits” for the dance choreography included in her show, where she would do a split for every dollar thrown by a customer. Soon she joined Ollie Powers as a duo performing in cabarets.
1926 saw her recording with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, one being Big Butter and Egg Man, which became Armstrong’s first chart hit. She went on to collaborate with Jimmie Noone on half a dozen recordings for Vocalion Records at the end of the decade including Ain’t Misbehavin, My Daddy Rocks Me, and Birmingham Bertha/Am I Blue?.
During the 1930s and early 1940s, she performed mainly in New York City. Jazz singer Alberta Hunter sometimes recorded under the name “May Alix”, with the permission of the real May Alix.
Vocalist May Alix, who left show business in 1941, died on November 1, 1983.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frances Wayne was born Chiarina Francesca Bartocci or Clara Bertocci on August 26, 1924 in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from Somerville High School. Moving to New York City in her teens she sang in an ensemble led by her brother, saxophonist Nick Jerret.
In the early 1940s she recorded with Charlie Barnet’s big band, and in 1943 sang with Woody Herman’s band. Marrying Neal Hefti in 1945, Frances soloed in her husband’s big band formed in 1947. In addition to her solo career she sang with Hefti into the 1950s.
She later sang with smaller ensembles featuring Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Jerome Richardson, Richie Kamuca, John LaPorta, Billy Bauer and Al Cohn. On The Woody Herman Show broadcasted on the radio, Wayne was his female vocalist.
On February 6, 1978, vocalist Frances Wayne, who received the 1946 Esquire Award as Best New Female Vocalist, died after suffering from cancer over an extended period in her hometown at age 58.
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