Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Frank Rehak was born on July 6, 1926, in New York City and started on piano and cello before switching to trombone. He was a member of the Gil Evans band and worked with Miles Davis, appearing with Davis on the broadcast The Sounds of Miles Davis.

As a leader he recorded Jazzville Vol. 2 on the Dawn label but as a sideman he had a prolific career. He recorded with Tony Bennett, Al Cohn, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Quincy Jones, Gene Krupa, Hugo Montenegro, Cat Anderson, Ernestine Anderson, Charlie Barnet, Big Maybelle, Art Blakey, Bob Brookmeyer, Ruth Brown, Cándido Camero, Chris Connor, Urbie Green, Johnny Hartman, Michel Legrand, Melba Liston, Mundell Lowe, Teo Macero, Carmen McRae, Red Mitchell, Whitey Mitchell, Blue Mitchell, André Previn, Gerry Mulligan, Kai Winding and the list goes on.

Along with a failed marriage to nightclub dancer Jerri Gray, he also had a heroin addiction, which combined with other financial problems led to his withdrawal from music. With that, he lapsed into relative obscurity.

In an effort to deal with these issues he spent time at Synanon, which led to his mention in Art Pepper’s autobiography. Trombonist Frank Rehak passed away on June 22, 1987 in Badger, California.

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