Daily Dose Of Jazz…
James Bryant Woode was born September 23, 1926 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, for whom he was named, was a music teacher and pianist who had played with Hot Lips Page. He studied piano and bass in Boston, Massachusetss at Boston University and at the Conservatory of Music, as well as at the Philadelphia Academy.
He joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1955 and appeared on many of Ellington’s recordings, including Such Sweet Thunder and Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook, recorded in 1957. Jimmy performed at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival issued on Ellington at Newport. In 1960 he left the Orchestra to live in Europe.
An original member of The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, in 1995 he also toured with Lionel Hampton’s Golden Men of Jazz. 2003 saw Woode forming a trio with drummer Pete York and German jazz musician/comedian Helge Schneider, touring in Germany with his interpretation of jazz classics like Georgia and Summertime. As a consequence of his co-operation with Schneider, he also starred in the 2004 feature film Jazzclub in the role of a struggling jazz bassist.
Woode’s song Just Give Me Time was covered by Carola in 1966, first released on her album Carola & Heikki Sarmanto Trio, reaching the Finnish charts in 2004.
Bassist Jimmy Woode, who was born on the same day, the same month, the same year as saxophonist John Coltrane, died April 23, 2005, at age 78 at his home in Lindenwold, New Jersey, of complications following a surgery for a stomach aneurysm.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Doug Beavers was born September 22, 1976 in Bellflower, California. He received a BA in music from California State University, East Bay, an MA in composition from the Manhattan School of Music. He is the founder of the music production company and record label, Circle 9.
As a performer Doug has worked with Eddie Palmieri, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Mingus Big Band, Christian McBride, Paul Simon, and others. He also served as an adjunct professor at Los Medanos College and music faculty of Jazz Trombone at California State University, East Bay.
His most recent album recording,Sol, was released in 2020. In 2021, he received a New Jazz Works grant from Chamber Music America. Trombonist, arranger, composer and producer Doug Beavers, a Grammy Award-winning musician, is currently an adjunct faculty member at the College of New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harry Percy South was born on September 7, 1929 in Fulham, London, England. He came to prominence in the 1950s, playing with Joe Harriott, Dizzy Reece, Tony Crombie, and Tubby Hayes. In 1954, he was in the Tony Crombie Orchestra with Dizzy Reece, Les Condon, Joe Temperley, Sammy Walker, Lennie Dawes, and Ashley Kozak.
Returning from a Calcutta, India tour with the Ashley Kozak Quartet, he spent four years with the Dick Morrissey Quartet, where he both wrote and arranged material for their subsequent four albums. He formed the Harry South Big Band in 1966 with Latin, ballads and straight-forward swingers.
By the mid-1960s, he began working with British rhythm & blues singer and organist Georgie Fame, recording the album Sound Venture. He composed and arranged for Humphrey Lyttelton, Buddy Rich, Sarah Vaughan, and Jimmy Witherspoon and was musical director and arranger for Annie Ross.
He branched out into session work, writing themes for television and music libraries. He is credited with the arrangements used for Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Works Vol. 1 (1977). In 1981, he again arranged for Annie Ross and Georgie Fame in a collaboration on what was to be Hoagy Carmichael’s last recording, In Hoagland.
Pianist, composer and arranger Harry South, who was honored with an album released by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, died on March 12, 1990 in Lambeth, London at the age of 60.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mark Jay Levine was born on October 4, 1938 in Concord, New Hampshire and began playing the piano at the age of five, trombone in his early teens. Attending Boston University, graduating with a degree in music in 1960, he also studied privately with Jaki Byard, Hall Overton and Herb Pomeroy.
Moving to New York City in the Sixties he freelanced and then played with musicians Houston Person, Mongo Santamaría, and Willie Bobo from 1971 to 1974. Levine then moved to San Francisco, California and played with Woody Shaw for two years. His debut album was made as a leader for Catalyst Records in 1976.
He went on to play with the Blue Mitchell/Harold Land Quintet, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson, Luis Gasca, and Cal Tjader. From 1980 to 1983, he concentrated on valve trombone, but then returned to playing mainly the piano. He then led his own bands, and recorded for Concord as a leader in 1983 and 1985. From 1992 Mark was part of Henderson’s big band. He created a new trio in 1996 and recorded it for his own, eponymous label. His Latin jazz group, Que Calor, was formed in 1997.
He put on his educator hat in 1970, teaching in addition to private lessons at Diablo Valley College, Mills College, Antioch University in San Francisco, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Sonoma State University, and the JazzSchool in Berkeley. Levine wrote two method books: The Jazz Piano Book, and The Jazz Theory Book.
Pianist, trombonist, composer, author and educator Mark Levine, whose album Isla was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album, died of pneumonia on January 27, 2022 at the age of 83.
Get a dose of the musicians and vocalists who were members of a global society integral in the making and preservation of jazz for over a hundred and twenty-five years…
Mark Levine: 1938~2022 | Clarinet, Composer, Educator, Director, Producer
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Avery George Sharpe was born on August 23, 1954 in Valdosta, Georgia. His first instrument was the piano, which he started playing at eight years old. His mother was a pianist and church choir director and gave him lessons. In his youth he studied the accordion, electric bass, then double bass at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He studied double bass with Reggie Workman, and also studied with Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Horace Boyer and Fred Tillis.
He came to prominence under the tutelage of Archie Shepp and Art Blakey, played as a sideman with Yusef Lateef, Ricky Ford, and Joe Ford, among others. As an educator he is Artist Associate and Jazz Coach at Williams College. In addition he serves as Faculty Advisor for the Williams Gospel Choir, and has an affiliation with the Africana Studies department.
In 2004, he wrote a musical portrait for the stage for Chamber Music, and was featured with Jasmine Guy in the stage production of Raisin’ Cane. His composition January in Brazil is on McCoy Tyner’s Grammy winning big band album Journey.
Double and electric bassist, composer, educator and founder of the artist-owned record label, JKNM Records Avery Sharpe, who has released 14 albums as a leader and 40 as a sideman, continues to utilize all of his talents.
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