The Jazz Voyager
From Ann Arbor to the City of Brotherly Love is the travel plan for this Jazz Voyager as I head to Avenue of the Arts where culture and jazz lives. This trip is offering up a two-fer platter of entertainment at South Jazz Kitchen. Serving up elevated comfort food rooted in the food of the south for soul-satisfying dishes.
This Thursday I will be in the company of vocalist, songwriter, producer, musical theater actress and radio host Lori Williams who will be taking the stage. A layover is also going to have me returning to the club on Friday to give me the pleasure of seeing for the first time another amazing vocalist Sy Smith in person.
South Jazz Kitchen is located at 600 N. Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19130. For more information visit southjazzkitchen.com.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Scot Albertson was born on November 20, 1957 and raised in Norwalk, Connecticut. Early childhood saw him as a choir member of the Little Singers of Norwalk and would travel, sing and compete internationally with the choir for six years. After graduating college he served for six years as a police officer segueing for a year in Arizona on border patrol. Returning to Connecticut he started a very successful small business which sustained his lifestyle for nineteen years.
In 2000 he began taking vocal lessons with Richard Lissemore in New York City. Four and one half years later after intensive study, Scot released his debut album titled Got A Date With Fate with bassist Mark Egan, drummer Danny Gottlieb and producer, composer and pianist Jon Werking. Showcasing the music in 2005 at Danny’s Skylight Cabaret Room in New York City began his life as a career performer.
Since his debut performance, vocalist Scot Albertson has gone on to continue to perform around the city and metropolitan area.
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The Jazz Voyager
Heading west and coming in early to Ann Arbor, Michigan to investigate the African American Culture and History Museum, the Flight Museum and given time the Chelsea Area Historical Society Museum to see what the city and surrounding areas offer. The next leg of our tour stop of jazz clubs for a visit this week is the stylish lounge restaurant, Blue Llama. With Afro-Caribbean cuisine, designed by James Beard Award-winning Chef JJ Johnson paired with jazz, it creates a destination music venue.
On tap for entertainment is South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini bringing the African warrior code that is deeply reliant on music for motivation and healing to the bandstand. With a deep influence of McCoy Tyner and Coltran’s quartet he allows his vision to be heard.
The Blue Llama is located at 314 S Main Street, 48104. For more information visit https://bluellamaclub.com.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Fionna Duncan was born on November 5, 1939 in a temperance hotel in Garelochhead, Scotland a few weeks into the Second World War. The doctor had refused to come to the family home in Portincaple, on the shores of Loch Long, because a blackout was in operation. The youngest of three, she initially preferred to sing, although she later began to accompany herself on guitar and ukulele.
When she was six, the family moved to Rutherglen and it was there, thanks to Rutherglen Academy’s ballads and blues club, that she added folk and skiffle songs to the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas she sang at the local music society. By sixteen, while still at school, she was singing in talent competitions and with local jazz bands. One competition win resulted in an audition for television and the chance to make a recording.
A family trip to the United States had her singing on radio and television, and Riverside Records offered Fionna a recording contract. Not wanting to live in the States, a stipulation of the deal, she turned it down along with the chance to become label-mates with pianists Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans, and saxophonists Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. Back in Glasgow, Scotland appearances on the weekly TV show Skiffle Club with the Joe Gordon Folk Four, singing with the Steadfast Jazz Band, and another talent competition win and auditions, she met clarinettist Forrie Cairns.
With her mother’s blessing Fionna joined Cairns’ All-Stars whom she would go on to work into the 2000s. In 1959 she and Forrie were invited to join the Clyde Valley Stompers, a traditional jazz band and recorded the album, Have Tartan Will Trad.
She won the JazzBeat Award for Top Singer in 1960 met Louis Armstrong at his own insistence when they shared a bill, and also met Lena Horne and the Beatles. She continued touring until 1964, then took up residence in London, where she hosted the Georgian Nightclub in the West End, singing with Kenny Ball and Humphrey Lyttelton, among other prominent musicians of the time. Suffering five slipped discs and being hospitalized for a year, Fionna changed careers and trained as a hairdresser. However, the lure of the microphone and telling stories in song pulled her back to performing.
In 1985 she put together her own group with her partner, bassist Ronnie Rae, Ronnie’s son John on drums and Brian Kellock on piano. Together they became the house trio for Fionna’s Vocal Jazz Workshops, where she became a supportive mentor. if also quite a tough critic to a veritable legion of budding jazz singers as her workshops developed into a regular feature at Glasgow Jazz Festival. The festival’s late-night club also benefited from Fionna’s ‘strict but fair’ hosting skills for several years.
Vocalist Fionna Duncan continued to sing and teach into her seventies, was voted Best Jazz Vocalist and received a Lifetime Achievement award at the Scottish Jazz Awards, died at 83 on December 6, 2022.
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The Jazz Voyager
Staying on the West Coast the Jazz Voyager has taken a leisurely drive up the California coast along the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to that city by the bay where too many have left their heart. Along the way to San Francisco there will be a few stops to pick up something to eat and enjoy the scenic views. The ultimate destination for the weekend is a club located in the same building that was once the home of El Matador. It is now the home of Keys Jazz Bistro. Having enjoyed the drive I’ll be having the pleasure of listening to one of the last jazz interpreters of the Great American songbook, Mary Stallings. In a career that has spanned over 65 years, the international jazz vocal legend has earned a unique place in modern jazz. After decades of performing around the globe alongside a who’s who of talented collaborators, while quietly accumulating a series of thoughtful and well respected recordings, she still continues to challenge her boundaries and creative potential. Keys Jazz Bistro is located at 498 Broadway, 94133. For more information visit https://keysjazzbistro.com.
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