Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ronald Wayne Laws was born on October 3, 1950 and raised in Houston, Texas. He is the fifth of eight children and started playing the saxophone at the age of 11. He went on to attend Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, for two years.
In 1971 he journeyed to Los Angeles, California to embark upon a musical career. He started performing with trumpeter Hugh Masekela and the following year joined Earth, Wind & Fire, where he played saxophone and flute on their album Last Days and Time. Eighteen months later he decided to become a solo artist. Laws released his debut album Pressure Sensitive on Blue Note Records in 1975.
His first two albums charted on Billboard and by his third album, Friends and Strangers in 1977 was certified gold. Ronnie produced and sang on his sister Debra’s 1981 album Very Special. He would go on to play saxophone through the Eighties on albums by Ramsey Lewis, Sister Sledge, Deniece Williams, Jeff Lorber, Alphonse Mouzon, and Howard Hewett. In the 1990s he recorded with Norman Brown and again with Earth, Wind & Fire.
Saxophonist, flutist and vocalist Ronnie Laws, who has also worked with Guru, Brian Culbertson, and the Crusaders, also influenced Boney James and Norman Brown, and continues to explore the boundaries of his talent.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Celia Malheiros was born on October 2, 1960 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and from early childhood she was immersed inthe world of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion. She was introduced to the schools of samba, bossa nova, choro, baião, frevo and indigenous music, as well as Tropicália and political revolutionary movements.
By 18 she was completely supporting herself through music she composed, playing at festivals, theatrical productions, nightclubs, radio and TV shows. She scored films, taught music and led bands to perform her music.
Moving to the U.S. she settled in San Francisco, California where she performed and competed in street carnaval, winning numerous awards. Malheiros spent thirteen years as the music director, arranger and performer with the Brazilian All Star Big Band with Elza Soares, Emilinha Borba and Walter Wanderley. She went on to tour the U.S. opening for the likes of Tony Benett, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Santana and Ray Charles.
Touring internationally as a solo artist and leading her band tRIO, she has accepted commissions by the Wheaton College Choir and the Akat Dance Company. Celia lectures, holds clinics and master classes around the world. She has been a composer in residence at the OMI International Music Program in New York City and artist in residence twice at Massachusetts’ Wheaton College.
Ever vigilant about bringing awareness to the plight of the Amazon’s indigenous and forest, her latest album is also a one woman show. She has more than 50 musicians on each of her albums. Vocalist Celia Malheiros is writing her memoirs.
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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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The Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager has taken a couple of days to drive thirteen hundred miles from Detroit to Denver having never seen Iowa and Nebraska first hand with a stop in Chi-town for a little jazz on the way. The destination is Dazzle, an intimate 140 seat that can be expanded to another hundred. Located in the Denver Arts Complex, the venue has hopefully reached its final location.
This week I get to see one of my favorite vocalists who has taken the torch and soared to prominence on the jazz scene, Jazzmeia Horn. She won the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition before being signed to Concord Records and releasing her Grammy nominated debut album, A Social Call.
Dazzle’s address is 1080 14th Street, Denver, CO 80202. For more information visit https://www.rudysjazzroom.com.
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