Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William Luther Johnson was born on September 30, 1912 in Jacksonville, Florida and studied piano as a child and began playing the alto saxophone at the age of 16. After working with lesser-known bands he studied in conservatories in Wisconsin and Illinois before attending Marquette University.
While in Milwaukee, Wisconsin he played with Jabbo Smith and others. He worked with Baron Lee and Tiny Bradshaw, and in 1936 joined Erskine Hawkins, with whom he performed into the early 1940s, recording with him from 1939 to 1942. He composed Tuxedo Junction with Hawkins and appeared with the band in the short film Deviled Hams in 1937.
Around mid-1946 he recorded under Bill Johnson and Orchestra, with several of the members becoming the Musical Notes. Bill Johnson and the Musical Notes recorded for Harlem, RCA, King, Regal, Tru-Blue.He recorded for Ronnex as the Bill Johnson Quartet, and the Bill Johnson Quintet for Baton. Over the years, there were many personnel changes, but Bill and Gus Gordon were on all the recordings.
In the Fifties failing health caused the breakup of the group, although he re-formed it on a couple of occasions. Alto saxophonist, clarinetist, and arranger Bill Johnson, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1957, transitioned on July 5, 1960 at 47 years old in New York City.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Samuel Benskin was born in The Bronx, New York on September 27, 1922 and made his professional debut around 1940 as piano accompanist to singer and guitarist Bardu Ali. He worked throughout the 1940s with among other jazz musicians Stuff Smith, Benny Morton and Don Redman. The 1950s witnessed Sammy leading his own piano trio, appearing as a soloist and accompanying singers Roy Hamilton, Dinah Washington and Al Hibbler. In 1954 he also joined a group, The Three Flames, which also featured Tiger Haynes.
By the end of the decade with a band credited as The Spacemen, Sammy recorded an instrumental, The Clouds, written and produced by Julius Dixson for his Alton record label. A departure from jazz, the song’s original vocals were removed and presented as an instrumental. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and No. 41 on the pop chart. The song was the first number one on any chart released by an African-American owned independent record label, predating Motown’s first No. 1 by a year.
From the 1960s Benskin worked primarily as a vocal coach, arranger and producer. In 1986, he recorded an album in Paris, France for Black & Blue Records, These Foolish Songs. Pianist Sammy Benskin transitioned in Teaneck, New Jersey on August 26, 1992 at 69.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Elmer Schoebel was born in East St. Louis, Illinois on September 8, 1896. Early in his career he played along to silent films in Champaign, Illinois. After moving on to vaudeville late in the 1910s, he played with the 20th Century Jazz Band in Chicago, Illinois in 1920.
1922-23 saw him as a member of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, then led his own band, known variously as the Midway Gardens Orchestra, the Original Memphis Melody Boys and the Chicago Blues Dance Orchestra, before joining Isham Jones in 1925. After returning to Chicago, Elmer played with Louis Panico and Art Kassel, and arranged for the Melrose Publishing House.
By the 1930s, Schoebel was writing and arranging, working as the chief arranger for the Warner Brothers publishing division. From the 1940s onward he did some performing with Conrad Janis, Blue Steele’s Rhythm Rebels (1958), and with his own ensembles in St. Petersburg, Florida. He continued to play up until his death.
Schoebel wrote a number of standards, including Bugle Call Rag, Stomp Off- Let’s Go, Nobody’s Sweetheart Now, Farewell Blues, and Prince of Wails. While a member of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings he wrote I Never Knew What A Girl Could Do, Oriental, and Discontented Blues.
Pianist, composer and arranger Elmer Schoebel, who as a leader only recorded one of his own compositions in 1929 titled Prince of Wails, transitioned on December 14, 1970.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Joki Freund was born Walter Jakob Freund on September 5, 1926 in Höchst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He began playing the accordion as a child, switching to tenor saxophone after World War II ended.
Early in the postwar era, he played with Joe Quitter, Carlo Bohlander, Gerry Weinkopf, Joe Klimm, and Jutta Hipp, before forming his own ensemble. He began performing with American musicians, including Donald Byrd, Art Taylor, and Doug Watkins during their European festival appearances.
He went on to play with and arranged for Albert Mangelsdorff in the jazz orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, and Erwin Lehn in the Süddeutscher Rundfunk orchestra. He played with the Frankfurt Jazz Ensemble on soprano saxophone in the 1970s, also performing as a leader around this time.
Saxophonist Joki Freund, who predominantly played in a quintet setting but also in orchestras or big bands, transitioned on February 15, 2012 in Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Zorn was born September 2, 1953 in New York City, New York and attended the United Nations International School, where he studied piano, guitar and flute from an early age. Exposed by his families musical tastes in classical, world, jazz, French chansons, country doo-wop and rock and roll records, he spent his teenage years exploring classical and film music, listening to The Doors and playing bass in a surf band. He explored experimental and avant-garde music as well as cartoon soundtracks and film scores. He went on to teach himself orchestration and counterpoint by transcribing scores and studied composition under Leonardo Balada.
After discovering Anthony Braxton’s album For Alto when he was studying composition at Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri, Zorn began playing saxophone and attended classes taught by Oliver Lake. While at Webster, he incorporated elements of free jazz, avant-garde and experimental music, film scores, performance art and the cartoon scores of Carl Stalling into his first recordings.
Leaving Webster after three semesters, John lived on the West Coast before returning to Manhattan where he gave concerts in his apartment and other small NY venues, playing saxophone and a variety of reeds, duck calls, tapes, and other instruments. He immersed himself in the underground art scene, assisting Jack Smith with his performances and attending plays by Richard Foreman
Zorn entered New York City’s downtown music scene in the mid-1970s, collaborating with improvising artists while developing new methods of composing experimental music. Over the next decade he performed throughout Europe and Japan and recorded on independent US and European labels. In 1986 he received acclaim with the release of his radical reworking of the film scores of Ennio Morricone, The Big Gundown, followed by Spillane, an album featuring his collage-like experimental compositions. Spy vs Spy and Naked City both demonstrated his ability to merge and blend musical styles in new and challenging formats.
Having spent time in Japan in the late 1980s and early ’90s John returned to Lower East Side Manhattan to establish the Tzadik record label in 1995, enabling him to establish independence, maintain creative control, and ensure the availability of his growing catalog of recordings. He prolifically recorded and released new material for the label, issuing several new albums each year, along with recordings by many other artists.
He performs on saxophone with the groups Naked City, Painkiller, and Masada but more often conducts bands like Moonchild, Simulacrum and several of his Masada-related ensembles. He composes concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, produces music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary, and tours Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer John Zorn continues his exploration of music and adds to his diverse repertoire.
Bestow upon an inquiring mind a dose of a New York City composer to motivate the perusal of the genius of jazz musicians worldwide whose gifts contribute to the canon…
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