Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Thornel Schwartz Jr. was born on May 29, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the Landis Institute for piano, but became known as a jazz guitarist starting in the 1950s. He was Freddie Cole’s guitarist early in the decade, then worked with Jimmy Smith and Johnny Hammond Smith later in the decade.
The 1960s saw Schwartz recording with Larry Young, Jimmy Forrest, Charles Earland, Byrdie Green, Sylvia Syms and extensively with Jimmy McGriff. In the 1970s he recorded with Groove Holmes.
Though he is known as Thornel on recordings and standard jazz reference works, having recorded one album as a leader and twenty-six as a sideman, his name is spelled Thornal on his social security application, as is his father.
Electric guitarist Thornel Schwartz Jr., who played on the recordings of many Philadelphia jazz musicians, especially electronic organ players, died on December 30, 1977 in his hometown.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frederick L. Guy was born in Burkeville, Virginia on May 23, 1897 and was raised in New York City. He played guitar and banjo with Joseph C. Smith’s Orchestra.
In the early 1920s, Guy joined Duke Ellington’s Washingtonians, switching from banjo to guitar in the early Thirties. He remained with Ellington’s orchestra until 1949.
Retiring from music he moved to Chicago, Illinois and for twenty years ran a ballroom. On December 22, 1971 he committed suicide. He was 74 years old.
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sergio Lara was born on May 21, 1959 in Mexico City, Mexico and started playing guitar at age nine. Very early he discovered and began studying several musical styles with his greatest influences being John McLaughlin, Jorge Strunz, Paco de Lucia, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Sam Bush and David Grisman, among others.
Lara appeared on the international music scene in 1983 with the release of his first solo album titled Sergiology. During the following years he formed his own band, New Acoustic Unit, in Nashville, Tennessee and San Antonio, Texas. In 1994 he released a sophomore album Guitarras Hermanas, the first one for Higher Octave Music. This album of all original music, also included a new instrumental version of the very popular and romantic song Sabor a Mi.
1996 saw Sergio releasing his next product titled Two Guitars-One Passion, which received worldwide attention because of its original combination of different musical styles. Throughout the balance of the 1990s he recorded two more albums with instrumental versions of classic songs and his original compositions.
Omn the new millennium he continued to record albums for his new independent label Fusion Acustica Music. With a career that covers many years and more than ten albums under his name, he has shared the stage with Al Di Meola, Larry Carlton, Bireli Lagrene, Dr. John, Craig Chaquico, Joe Sample, Strunz & Farah, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Paquito D’Rivera, Julio Iglesias and Ray Charles.
Guitarist Sergio Lara continues to explore new possibilities inside the world of contemporary instrumental music and sharing improvisation.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mike Elliott was born on May 18, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois to a studio musician father and a blues singer mother. Raised in Colorado he learned guitar at a young age and was playing professionally by the time he was sixteen. It was in Colorado where he studied guitar with Johnny Smith.
He formed his first jazz group and in 1964 was on the road. He moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota two years later, and in the Seventies he helped found the jazz fusion group Natural Life, which included saxophonist Bob Rockwell, bassist Billy Peterson, pianist Bobby Peterson, and drummers Bill Berg and Eric Kamau Gravatt.
The 1980s saw him moving to Nashville, Tennessee and becoming manager of Gibson Professional Musical Services and holding clinics with Les Paul, Howard Roberts, and Elliot Easton. Mike did session work, engineering, producing, arranging, and songwriting. In the middle of the decade he teamed up with songwriter musician Jim Pasquale to form Magic Tracks Recording Studio.
Remaining in Nashville until 1998 he worked with Johnny Cash, Mickey Newbury, Chubby Checker, Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood, Joe Diffie, Earl Klugh, Vic Damone, Steve Earle, Crystal Gayle, and Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Gruitarist Mike Elliott died on September 14, 2005. A Mike Elliott Scholarship Award for excellence in guitar was established in his honor.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bernard Sylvester Addison was born on April 15, 1905 in Annapolis, Maryland. At an early age, he learned mandolin and violin, and after moving to Washington, D.C. in 1920 he played banjo, initially with Claude Hopkins.
Moving to New York City he worked with Sonny Thompson and recorded for the first time in 1924. During the 1920s, he dropped the banjo for the acoustic guitar. The 1920s and 1930s saw Bernard playing with Louis Armstrong, Adelaide Hall, Fletcher Henderson, Bubber Miley, Art Tatum, and Fats Waller. Addison recorded with Red Allen, Coleman Hawkins, Horace Henderson, Freddie Jenkins, Sara Martin, Jelly Roll Morton, and Mamie Smith.
In 1936, John Mills of the Mills Brothers died, and Addison replaced him on guitar. For two years he toured and recorded with the Mills Brothers, increasing his popularity. After departing the Mills Brothers, he had little trouble finding work. He went on to record with Benny Carter and Mezz Mezzrow.
He played with Stuff Smith and recorded with Billie Holiday. In 1940, he recorded with Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. He began to lead bands until he was drafted during World War II. In the late 1950s, he reunited with Henderson and played guitar for the Ink Spots. He performed at the Newport Jazz Festival with Eubie Blake in 1960 and recorded a solo album as a leader, Pete’s Last Date, and unfortunately was reissued under the name of saxophonist Pete Brown.
Guitarist Bernard Addison, who spent the remaining thirty years of his career teaching, died on December 18, 1990 at 85 in Rockville Centre, New York.
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